The current state of early literacy for deaf and hearing children: A survey of early childhood educators

Abstract

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.