Development of Language and Literacy in DHH Elementary-School Children Amy R. Lederberg, Mi-young Webb, Brenda Schick, Poorna Kushalnagar, Carol Connor, Shirin Antia, Susan Easterbrooks, Lee Branum-Martin AERA, Philadelphia PA April 7, 2014

Georgia State University Amy Lederberg, Susan Easterbrooks, Mi-Young Webb, Lee Branum-Martin, Kathy Sterwerf- Jackson, Victoria Burke, Michelle Gremp, Sandy Huston University of Arizona Shirin Antia, Catherine Creamer, Christina Rivera University of Colorado-Boulder Brenda Schick, Beth Dierschow, Nancy Bridenbaugh Rochester Institute of Technology Poorna Kushalnagar Arizona State University Carol Connor University of British Columbia Joanna Cannon University of North Florida Caroline Guardino Grant R24C120001

Simple View of Reading R= D X C R = Reading comprehension D = decoding words C = linguistic competence

What abilities are important during early reading? Phonological Awareness Language Literacy

Research questions 1.What are the components of DHH children’s early reading skills? 2.Are our assessments valid and reliable indicators of our proposed constructs? 3.Does the structure depend on what language acquiring? (ASL, Spoken English, both)

Sample Eligibility criteria – Kindergarten through second grade – At least a 45 DB loss BE-PTA or a cochlear implant – No severe disabilities as reported by teacher Variety of settings—state schools for the deaf, private schools, public schools Schools-Sample of convenience Children representative of school populations

Sample

Diverse sample N = 318 children 39% have a cochlear implant 27% have at least one deaf parent 53% white,15.5% African-American, 7% Asian, 3% Native American or Alaskan Native Ethnically---34% Hispanic 53% girls

Teacher report Type of class 68 % self-contained (DHH only) classrooms 15% inclusion (with hearing students) 14% taught a resource class N = 128 teachers

Language used in Classroom Spoken English41% ASL and spoken English20% ASL17% ASL, spoken, and signed English12% Spoken and signed English7% ASL, signed English2% Signed English0

Sample n =318 Mode/Languagen Sign136 Spoken English106 Spoken and Sign75

Assessment Protocol Details available from Children were assessed on a large battery of tests in the fall Assessments were primarily adapted for those used with hearing children

Language Battery Vocabulary – Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test – WJ Expressive Vocabulary Language comprehension – CASL passage comprehension (done in “best language) English Syntax Tests spoken or signed – Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language-3 --receptive – Clinical Evaluation of Language Functions-4 Word structure-productive ASL Syntax – Schick ASL Receptive Test

Language Do these assessments that measure very different aspects of language measure one underlying construct? Does this construct differ for children who use spoken language, signed language, or both?

Statistical Methods Confirmatory factor analysis using Mplus Examined model fit for each of the latent constructs – For whole sample – For three subsamples defined by mode/language Model fit determined by CFI, TLI, SRMR

Signing Children CELF- word structure did not load on factor

Bilingual Children CELF- word structure did not load on factor

Spoken language children

Phonological Awareness Spoken Phonological Awareness – Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing Blending Elision Sound Matching – WJ Word attack Fingerspelling PA Schick FS-PA Test – Imitation – Blending – Elision

Spoken and bilingual children

Signing Children

Literacy battery Woodcock Johnson-III Letter word ID Passage Comprehension Writing Fluency Reading Fluency Spelling

Whole Sample

Structure of Early Reading Literacy Phonological Awareness Language Code- Related Skills or Language

Spoken and bilingual

Signing Children

Conclusions Assessments good measures of underlying constructs Structure of early literacy skills resemble those of hearing children But nature of sublexical skills and language unique to DHH children, especially those who sign Is PA more important than language? Wrong question—given high intercorrelations