Reading and Dyslexia in Deaf Children
In this presentation Ros Herman will discuss the challenges in identifying and supporting deaf children with dyslexia. Current research will be described, including the application of standardised tests for dyslexia and the results from a recent study conducted by Ros and colleagues.
Description
The development of standardised tests for dyslexia has paved the way for the identification of dyslexia in hearing children and stimulated research into effective interventions. However, there are no such tests or interventions for deaf children, some of whom may also be dyslexic. In this learning module, Ros Herman will explore reading profiles in deaf children and discuss challenges surrounding the identification of dyslexia in this group. Research using measures developed for hearing children and others specifically for deaf children will be described. Finally, in the absence of an evidence base for deaf children, recommendations for supporting those with reading difficulties will be discussed.
Accessibility
This On-Demand presentation is delivered in spoken English with captioning.
Completion
Participants who successfully complete this On-Demand Presentation will receive a certificate noting 1 hour of professional learning.
Course Flyer
Learning Outcomes
Participants will:
- Understand the nature of dyslexia
- Be aware of the reading research on deaf children and challenges identifying dyslexia
- Know how to select and use appropriate measures to test for dyslexia in deaf children
- Know how to interpret assessment findings
- Be aware of ways to support deaf children with dyslexia.
Presenters
Ros Herman is a Professor of Child Language and Deafness at City University of London. Her research interests include language development and assessment in deaf children, language impairments in British Sign Language (BSL) users, evaluating communication interventions, and literacy development and disorders in deaf individuals.
Ros is a qualified Speech and Language Therapist and the Director of the Sign Language and Reading Assessment Clinic, an outreach clinical service at City University, where she offers assessments of deaf children and adults' BSL and literacy skills. Ros recently completed a European Erasmus+ project with Dr Joanna Hoskin to develop online training for Deaf Language Specialists in three spoken and signed languages. Ros is a research associate at the Deafness, Cognition and Language research centre at University College London and is currently collaborating with Dr Fiona Kyle on a funded longitudinal investigation into early predictors of literacy difficulties in deaf and hearing children.