Literacy Resources for Teaching Deaf Children

Despite the commonly acknowledged difficulty deaf children have in learning English, there is no shortage of resources for helping them to learn better.

Literacy Teaching Methods

At a parent-teacher meeting, my child's instructor told me that the class was using a tool called "Manipulative Visual Language (MVL)." According to the teacher, this technique helps deaf children to visualize the sounds they can not hear. Kidsworld Deaf Net has an article on the use of MVL, "Manipulative Visual Language: A tool to help crack the code of English." This article, which was originally published in Odyssey in Fall 2003, can be downloaded as a PDF file. It is also part of an entire collection of articles on literacy, "Keys to English Print."

Literacy Products

The Clerc Center product catalog includes an entire section on literacy. Products available include a book on using dialogue journals, posters, and a writer's handbook for deaf students.

Several companies develop literacy products or resources for deaf children, including:

• The Institute for Disabilities Research and Training, which has computer software with signed stories and games plus companion books, that feature Paws the dog, and the Con-SIGN-tration memory game series.
• DeafSoftware.com offers with ASL translations of stories.
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) came up with Cornerstones, program from PBS using video stories to teach literacy to young deaf and hard of hearing children.
• GirlsandBoysTown.org produces the Read With Me video series of ASL translations of well-known young children's literature.

Deaf Literacy Websites

The DeafEd.net website allows registered users to search for literacy material in the documents docsearch. Literacy is one of the "topical focus" choices in the search engine. Among the documents available for download are teacher problem/solution documents. One that I downloaded myself was titled "Encouraging Reading for Enjoyment." One of my deaf children has been particularly resistant to reading, even reading for pleasure although he sees me enjoying my comic books and newspapers all the time.

Also at Gallaudet University is the Signs of Literacy project website. This project examined the relationship between ASL and literacy. The publications and presentations bibliography includes some downloadable material. (Note: this may be a "forgotten" website as parts of it seem incomplete).

Deaf School Products

Some schools for the deaf have taken things into their own hands, developing educational products. For example, the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf developed "Click and Write," a simple writing program that aids deaf students in putting together sentences.

Books on Deaf Literacy

Several books have been published that address literacy in deaf people:

• Language and Literacy Development in Children Who Are Deaf (2nd Edition) (compare prices)
• Literacy and Deaf People: Cultural and Contextual Perspectives (compare prices)
• Literacy and Your Deaf Child: What Every Parent Should Know (compare prices)
• Literacy Learning for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (compare prices)
• The Words They Need: Welcoming Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing to Literacy (compare prices)

Literacy Articles

There are numerous articles addressing literacy. Over a hundred were found through the Eric.Ed.Gov website, a database of educational materials. Articles can be downloaded. One article on literacy for deaf-blind people was found on the DBLink.org website.

Literacy at About Deafness

Although it is not a literacy resource, there is a section at About Deafness called the Literary Corner that was set up to encourage deaf people to write. Another article discusses the use of music in deaf education.