Research in Action: Grapheme-Phoneme Connection for Preschoolers who are d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing By: Susan Head

Literature Review Topic Research Question Rationale Literature Findings Conclusions from the Literature Literature Review

Research Topic: Letter Knowledge & Grapheme-Phoneme connections of preschoolers who are d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Letter knowledge includes being able to: Recognize letters in their lowercase and uppercase forms (receptive letter identification) Name the letters (expressive letter identification) Recognizing that letters make sounds (both receptive and expressive phoneme identification) Grapheme-Phoneme Connections: The connection between individual written letters or groups of written letters (graphemes) and the sound that the letter or letters produce sounds (phonemes). Requires the prior knowledge of how letters look and what they are called. So that the phonemes can be connected to graphemes.

Research Topic: Teaching Letter Knowledge and Grapheme-Phoneme Connections to Preschoolers who are DHH Phonemic awareness and phonics skills are not dependent on the mode which they are presented in, which is to say that the way phonemes are presented can be in verbal speech or visual modality, (Wang, Spychala, Harris & Oetting, 2013, p. 108). See the Sound: Visual Phonics: A system of hand-cues and written symbols used to visually represent phonemes and how the mouth and tongue move to produce them by speaking. It IS supplement literacy instruction of students who are DHH. NOT a mode of communication or an aid to communication.

Research Question: “How will the use of Visual Phonics hand-cues to supplement phonics instruction designed for typically hearing preschoolers, affect the identification of grapheme- phoneme connections and production of individual single letter phonemes of a preschooler who is hard of hearing?” There are two parts: how VP can aid in learning grapheme-phoneme connections and how it can help with verbally producing phonemes of individual letters.

Rationale for Choosing the Topic Most of my students are d/Deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). Our curriculum stresses early literacy skills. So... What parts of early literacy might be the most difficult for my children? What are the predictors for later reading success? The National Reading Panel (National Institute of Child Health and Development [NICHD]) asserted in 2000 that the two best indicators of reading success for children during the first two years of reading instruction are phonemic awareness and letter knowledge (as cited by Smith & Wang, 2010 and Wang, Spychala, Harris & Oetting, 2013 ).

Rationale for Choosing the Topic Phonemic Awareness: “the ability to hear and manipulate the [individual] sounds (phonemes) in spoken words and the understanding that spoken words and syllables are made up of sequences of speech sounds,” (Yopp, 1992). Auditory access is implied as crucial to accessing letter knowledge which includes: recognizing that letters make sounds. How can I give my students access to phonemic awareness and letter knowledge in a visual modality? Supplement my phonics instruction with See the Sound: Visual Phonics. To be able to hear assumes auditory access to phonemes as they are spoken.

Literature Findings: All four studies included the use of Visual Phonics to supplement a different early literacy or phonics curricula as their intervention (independent variable). Each study found their intervention to be effective in improving the early literacy skills being targeted in preschoolers who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing. The degree of hearing loss, how/if hearing loss was corrected and communication mode varied across the participants in each of the four studies, which is similar to my classroom.

Literature Findings: Dependent Variables Teaching the participant eleven new words with one of the selected beginning consonant sounds and with one of the selected vowel sounds in the medial position, (Smith and Wang, 2010). The number of grapheme-phoneme connections correctly spoken by the child, (Beal-Alvaraz, Lederberg and Easterbrooks, 2012). Improvement of many early reading skills from instruction in a phonics based reading curriculum of preschool students who are d/Deaf and hard of hearing independent of their degree of hearing loss, mode of communication or use of amplification (Wang, Spychala, Harris and Oetting, 2013).

Literature Findings: Results The participant made significant gains in identifying the beginning consonant sounds, the beginning letters, producing the sounds in whole words and matching beginning consonant sound to beginning letter (Smith and Wang, 2010). All participants in their studies had similar progress in acquisition of grapheme-phoneme connections (GPCs) after they were taught and mastered the 14 GPCs targeted by producing the corresponding phoneme when showed the grapheme and were able to maintain them throughout the study and for 20 weeks after the study (Beal-Alvaraz et al., 2012). Wang et al., (2013) found that the participants showed marked improvement across all early reading skills tested with the use of Visual Phonics to supplement a phonics based curriculum

Research Findings: Generalization and Extension Each study found that their participant was able to generalize or extend what they learned through the intervention. Transfer the use of Visual Phonics hand-cues to the whole class instruction on phonics and use them on his own to help himself produce the correct sounds in words (Smith and Wang, 2010). All participants gained between four and six additional GPCs that were not taught explicitly (Beal-Alvaraz et al., 2012). Each of their participants was found to have attained grade-level or higher reading levels when their follow-up was conducted though they had not had further Visual Phonics aided instruction for months (Wang et al., 2013).

Research Findings: Conclusions Though each article was testing the effectiveness of a different curriculum with the use of Visual Phonics for preschoolers who are DHH, ALL of them: Achieved positive results in terms of literacy skills of their participants. Succeeded in attaining the results that they were seeking, whether they were looking only at phonemic awareness and grapheme-phoneme connections or a wide range of early literacy skills. Limitation and Gaps in Research: The number of participants was a limitation, but this is also explained by the fact that hearing loss is a low incidence disability (Smith & Wang, 2010, Beal-Alvaraz et al., 2012, and Wang et al., 2013). None of the studies used a control group, which is necessary for researchers to increase the rigor of their studies and rule out the effects other external factors.

Target population and Participant Intervention description and procedures Collaboration plan Proposed data collection tools Proposed data analysis methods Research dissemination plan Research Plan

Target Population Preschool children- 3-5 years of age who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing who attend a center based preschool classroom. Participant: A three year nine-month-old girl who is hard of hearing and uses bilateral hearing aids Whom uses a combination of speech and American Sign Language to communicate. Two days per week, in an ECSE preschool classroom provided by public school system of her county of residence. Each week- one hour of services with a teacher of the Deaf and an hour of speech language services.

Intervention Procedures Materials: Projector and laptop Letterland ABC Story Phonics book- pictures also to be projected onto the whiteboard. Miniature items for each letter. Visual Phonics letter posters to be posted on the classroom walls. Have Fun Teaching phonics songs on YouTube- ABCs and individual letters

Intervention Procedures: Setting: ECSE classroom- on the circle time carpet in front of the whiteboard. 3-4 children total, depending on the day. 15 minute phonics lessons. Staff- Teacher, Classroom Instructional Assistant and Speech Therapist (on Mondays). Targeted Letters: The participant was taught the letters “a” and “b,” previously. Intervention stage will target the letters “c,” “d,” “e,” “f,” “g,” “h,” and “i.”

Intervention Procedures: Every Lesson All instructions, questions and other speech of the teacher or speech therapist will be signed by the classroom instructional assistant in American Sign Language. A phonics song video of the whole alphabet, by Have Fun Teaching will be played. A phonics song video for the targeted phoneme of the week by Have Fun Teaching will be played. During both songs, the teacher and speech therapist (on Mondays only) will sit on the floor in front of the whiteboard and show the Visual Phonics hand-cues as the phonemes are said in the songs.

Intervention Procedures: Every Lesson The participant will be prompted to verbally produce the target phoneme of the week, at least four times. The teacher or speech therapist will show her the Visual Phonics hand-cue for the phoneme and produce the phoneme as an example for the participant. The participant’s pronunciation will be corrected by asking her to listen again and watch the Visual Phonics hand-cue. She will be allowed to feel the throat or the air coming out of the mouth of the teacher or speech therapist, if she cannot produce the phoneme correctly after listening again and seeing the Visual Phonics hand-cue.

Intervention Procedures: Lesson 1 (Mondays) The picture from Letterland of the letter of the week will be projected on the whiteboard. The participant will be asked what the letter is, by the teacher using verbal speech and American Sign Language. She will be asked where the different items that begin with the target letter are in the picture. After she locates each item in the picture she will be asked to imitate the sign of the word, as shown by the teacher and instructional assistant and to name the item verbally after she hears the word and is shown Visual Phonics hand-cue to emphasize the first phoneme

Intervention Procedures: Lesson 2 (Tuesdays) She will be presented with miniature items that begin with the target letter of the week. The participant and her classmates will take turns choosing a miniature item out of the cup. For each miniature item, she will be asked to imitate the sign of the word, as shown by the teacher and instructional assistant and to name the item verbally after she hears the word and is shown Visual Phonics hand-cue to emphasize the first phoneme.

Collaboration Plans: My speech therapist will join us on Mondays for the phonics lesson. She will also show the Visual Phonics hand-cues at the times mentioned in the Intervention Procedures. Each day, a note is sent home with the participant to tell about what she has learned at school and allow them to reinforce her learning at home. In the daily note, the teacher will list the targeted letter of the week

Data Collection: Pretest/posttest model for data collection with an additional data point midway through the intervention stage. The pretest will be given the week before the intervention begins. The pretest will show the participant’s base knowledge and allow for later comparison with the mid-point test and posttest. A mid-point test will be given after seven weeks on the targeted grapheme-phoneme connections that have been taught, to check her acquisition of these. The posttest will be given seven weeks later, at the end of intervention. All grapheme-phonemes connections will be tested- what she learned from the intervention and what she may have learned on her own or through generalization.

Data Collection: A checklist with a column for each letter upper and lower case and the phonemes. Only lowercase letter and phoneme columns used. There is a place for the date at the top of each column. Each response for the letter name and phoneme will be marked with a check for a correctly receptively identified letter or phoneme with a plus (+) for letters and phonemes expressively named or produced by the participant. The participant will be given a choice of two cards and asked “Give me (letter). What does (letter) say?” and “Which letter says (phoneme)? What letter is it?” to test both receptive and expressive letter knowledge. Teacher will provide ASL handshapes for letters and Visual Phonics hand-cues for phonemes. Each test will be given in the same manner to ensure results are consistent and not affected by any tester differences.

Data Analysis: At pretest, midpoint test, and posttest, totals will be gathered for the number of phonemes, letter names, and grapheme-phoneme connections the participant can identify. The three data points will be graphed in line graphs, so the totals can be compared visually for each piece of letter knowledge to determine the success of the participant’s acquisition. Additionally, a list of known phonemes, letter names and grapheme-phoneme connections will be presented for each data point.

Research Dissemination: I would like to share the data and findings with my school community, fellow graduate students and graduate my professors. My principal has asked to see my data to show the efficacy of the Letterland pictures on letter knowledge acquisition. I will share my research with my speech therapist and the other teachers at my school who teach students who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing that request to see it. I will also share my research with my fellow graduate students and graduate professors through my research presentation.

References: Beal-Alvarez, J. S., Lederberg, A. R., & Easterbrooks, S. R. (2012). Grapheme-phoneme acquisition of deaf Preschoolers. Journal Of Deaf Studies & Deaf Education, 17(1), 39-60. Easterbrooks, S.R., Lederberg, A.R., Miller, E.M., Bergeron J.P., & Conner, C. (2008). Emergent literacy skills during early childhood in children with hearing loss: Strengths and weaknesses. Volta Review, 108, 91-114. International Communication Learning Institute. (2011). What is See the Sound- Visual Phonics? Retrieved from: http://seethesound.org/visual_phonics.html

References: Smith, A., & Wang, Y. (2010). The impact of visual phonics on the phonological awareness and speech production of a student who is deaf: a case study. American Annals Of The Deaf, 155(2), 124-130. Wang, Y., Spychala, H., Harris. R., & Oetting, T. (2013) The effectiveness of a phonics-based early intervention for deaf and hard of hearing preschool children and its possible impact on the reading skills in elementary school: A case study. American Annals of the Deaf, 158(2). 107-120. Wendon, L., (2003). Letterland ABC. Surrey, England: Letterland International.