Reading among diverse DHH Learners: What, how, and for whom?

STUDENTS WHO are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) face challenges in learning to read. Much has been written about the relative importance of the different factors associated with success in reading, but these factors are disputed within the literature on DHH readers. The Center on Literacy and Deafness, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, is engaged in a nationwide project to identify child-by-instruction interactions related to instructional factors that are malleable within the classroom context. In the present article, the authors describe the project, present the conceptual model on which it is based, explain the processes and procedures used to choose assessment tools, and discuss their theoretical view of how reading and instruction might differ based on an individual student’s language and level of functional hearing.