Couvee S, Wauters L, Knoors H, Verhoeven L, Segers E. Predicting variation in word decoding development in deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
READING AND WRITING 2023:1-23. [PMID:
37359028 PMCID:
PMC10175058 DOI:
10.1007/s11145-023-10444-0]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children may experience difficulties in word decoding development.
AIMS
We aimed to compare and predict the incremental word decoding development in first grade in Dutch DHH and hearing children, as a function of kindergarten reading precursors.
METHODS AND PROCEDURES
In this study, 25 DHH, and 41 hearing children participated. Kindergarten measures were phonological awareness (PA), letter knowledge (LK), rapid naming (RAN), and verbal short-term memory (VSTM). Word decoding (WD) was assessed at three consecutive time points (WD1, 2, 3) during reading instruction in first grade.
OUTCOMES AND RESULTS
The hearing children scored higher than the DHH children on PA and VSTM only, although the distribution of WD scores differed between the groups. At WD1, PA and RAN predicted WD efficiency in both groups; but PA was a stronger predictor for hearing children. At WD2, LK, RAN, and the autoregressor were predictors for both groups. While at WD3, only the autoregressor was a significant predictor.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
WD development in DHH children on average shows similar levels as in hearing children, though within the DHH group more variation was observed. WD development in DHH children is not as much driven by PA; they may use other skills to compensate.
Collapse