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What are our goals?
Reading research has focused on mappings between auditory representations of spoken language and written words. However, this is a limited view of language. Visual spoken language input (visual speech/ lipreading) is increasingly being recognized as important to language development and reading development not only in deaf children, but also in hearing children. The importance of sign language knowledge to reading development in deaf children is also well established.
This project will examine the contribution visual speech and also sign language to literacy in young deaf children and then follow their development over 3 years. Hearing children will also be studied, to compare to the deaf children and also to establish the extent to which visual communication also plays a role in hearing children’s reading development.
What deaf children will be recruited?
120 3 to 4yrs old who were born severely or profoundly deaf or identified as deaf before the age of 3yrs. All deaf children can be involved in the research project, regardless of language preference or background.
What hearing children will be recruited?
250 hearing 3 to 4 years old.
What will the children be asked to do?
Children will be tested on a range of language and literacy tests at 6 time points over 3 years.
Impact?
The research project will further our understanding of how visual language inputs support early reading development in both deaf and hearing children.
This study has been approved by the UCL Research Ethics Committee, Project ID: 3612/012
Information Sheet and Consent form
If you have any queries please contact: visualCR@ucl.ac.uk