Promoting Independent Literacy for ASL Readers With Disabilities

Abstract

This chapter presents instructional strategies designed to cognitively engage and empower DHH students with disabilities who use American Sign Language. These strategies build on psycholinguistic abilities that each student brings to the reading task. Skills are developed through teacher scaffolding and modeling, to demonstrate effective decision-making for decoding and meaning-making. Students engage in a continuum of practices that increase their participation in the reading process through a gradual release of responsibility. These strategies are applied to several DHH students with disabilities. The first two were observed across several years, providing evidence of their reading improvement and their learning trajectories to support more accurate future planning. Each student's reading is examined using the miscue procedure and a scored retelling. Based on these results, reading strategies are identified to address key areas of need that enhance their competence and reading independence. The chapter concludes with how these practices promote high expectations and achievement.