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 SterwerfJackson, 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
Literacy
Language
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 English
41%
ASL and spoken English
20%
ASL
17%
ASL, spoken, and signed English
12%
Spoken and signed English
7%
ASL, signed English
2%
Signed English
0
Sample n =318
Mode/Language
n
Sign
136
Spoken English
106
Spoken and Sign
75
Assessment Protocol
Children were assessed on a large
battery of tests in the fall
Assessments were primarily adapted for
those used with hearing children
Details available from
www.clad.gsu.edu
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
WJ Picture
Vocabualry
.83
Expressive OneWord Picture
Vocabulary
.32
.12
.94
Language
.65
.84
CASL – Passage
Comprehension
.57
TACL – Elaborated
Phrases
.30
ASL Receptive Test
.33
.82
CELFword
structure
did not
load on
factor
Bilingual
Children
Expressive OneWord Picture
Vocabulary
.10
CASL – Passage
Comprehension
.13
TACL – Elaborated
Phrases
.32
ASL Receptive Test
.29
.95
.94
Language
.82
.84
CELFword
structure
did not
load on
factor
Vocabulary
WJ-Picture
Vocabulary
.28
Expressive OneWord Picture
Vocabualry
.04
.85
.98
.84
CASL – Passage
Comprehension
Spoken
language
children
.27
.86
Syntax
.83
.87
TACL – Elaborated
Phrases
.31
CELF-Word
Structure
.24
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
CTOPP Elision
.30
.83
CTOPP Blending
.88
Spoken
Phonological
Ability
.79
Spoken
.23
and
bilingual
children
CTOPP Sound
Matching
.37
WJ Word Attack
.23
.88
Fingerspelling of
Words
Signing
Children
.64
.60
Fingerspelling PA
Elision
.16
Fingerspelling PA
Blending
.38
CTOPP Sound
Matching
.33
.92
Fingerspelling &
Phonological
Ability
.79
.82
Literacy battery
Woodcock Johnson-III
• Letter word ID
• Passage Comprehension
• Writing Fluency
Reading Fluency
Spelling
WJ Letter-Word ID
.10
WJ Passage Comp
.13
Reading Fluency
.32
WJ Writing Fluency
.48
Spelling
.29
Whole Sample
.95
.94
Literacy
.82
.72
.84
Structure of Early Reading
Literacy
Phonological
Awareness
Language
or
CodeRelated
Skills
Language
Spoken and
bilingual
WJ Letter-Word ID
.09
WJ Passage Comp
.10
Reading Fluency
.34
CTOPP Blending
.32
CTOPP Sound
Matching
.32
.96
Literacy
.95
.81
.91
.83
Spoken
Phonological
Ability
.75
.82
.90
WJ Word Attack
.19
.83
Expressive OneWord Picture
Vocabulary
.31
TACL – Elaborated
Phrases
.35
CELF-Word
Structure
.31
.83
Language
.81
.83
WJ Letter-Word ID
.10
WJ Passage Comp
.18
Reading Fluency
.30
Fingerspelling of
Words
.48
Fingerspelling
Elision
.41
Fingerspelling
Blending
.28
.95
.91
Code-Based Skills
.83
.72
.77
.85
.88
Expressive OneWord Picture
Vocabulary
.16
TACL – Elaborated
Phrases
.27
ASL Receptive Test
.32
.92
Language
.86
.82
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