TY - JOUR
T1 - The current state of early literacy for deaf and hearing children
T2 - A survey of early childhood educators
AU - Moses, Annie M.
AU - Golos, Debbie B.
AU - Roemen, Brynn
AU - Cregan, Gabrielle E.
PY - 2018/9/1
Y1 - 2018/9/1
N2 - Children, from birth, acquire literacy within various contexts, including in early childhood educational settings. In the United States, there has been renewed attention from the public, the government and educators to increase the quality of early childhood education. Particular focus has been on settings serving children who are at risk for of later literacy failure. This can include deaf children who typically fall well behind their hearing peers in literacy during the school years and beyond. However, little is known about the frequency and types of literacy experiences offered to deaf children as compared to those offered to hearing children. The current investigation aimed to account for the literacy activities and materials provided to hearing and deaf children through a survey of early childhood educators (N = 155) who work primarily with one of these populations. Descriptive statistics and Chi-Square Tests of Independence comparisons indicated that, although there is room for improvement in both populations, deaf children in particular may not be receiving access to high quality literacy activities in EC settings. Based on the study’s findings, directions for future research and also the preparation and continued development of all early childhood educators are identified.
AB - Children, from birth, acquire literacy within various contexts, including in early childhood educational settings. In the United States, there has been renewed attention from the public, the government and educators to increase the quality of early childhood education. Particular focus has been on settings serving children who are at risk for of later literacy failure. This can include deaf children who typically fall well behind their hearing peers in literacy during the school years and beyond. However, little is known about the frequency and types of literacy experiences offered to deaf children as compared to those offered to hearing children. The current investigation aimed to account for the literacy activities and materials provided to hearing and deaf children through a survey of early childhood educators (N = 155) who work primarily with one of these populations. Descriptive statistics and Chi-Square Tests of Independence comparisons indicated that, although there is room for improvement in both populations, deaf children in particular may not be receiving access to high quality literacy activities in EC settings. Based on the study’s findings, directions for future research and also the preparation and continued development of all early childhood educators are identified.
KW - Early childhood education
KW - childcare and development
KW - deaf children
KW - early childhood literacy
KW - literacy practices
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85050976814&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85050976814&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1468798416671173
DO - 10.1177/1468798416671173
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85050976814
SN - 1468-7984
VL - 18
SP - 373
EP - 395
JO - Journal of Early Childhood Literacy
JF - Journal of Early Childhood Literacy
IS - 3
ER -