Journey Towards Literacy
Not on My Watch
By Summer Wright, Nevada H&V
I’m a self-proclaimed nerd, I love (KISS-FIST) to read. I can get lost in a book for hours and forget the world exists. When given our son’s diagnosis of severe-profound sensorineural hearing loss, we were also given many apologies and statistics. One such statistic was that our child would not read past the third or fourth-grade level with his deafness. Read at a fourth-grade level because of deafness? No way, no how, not on my watch. Something bigger than deafness would have to get in the way of literacy for him. Challenge accepted.
Cue the doubts.
How will he ever learn to read? He can’t hear the phonics (how I taught my typically-hearing daughter to read). How is this going to work? I am not cut out for this; I do not have the education for this; maybe they were right, maybe he is going to cap out on his reading level. Literacy was usually the topic I brought up to any professional we met, and it is still on the forefront of conversations with educational professionals.
Cue reality.
At the time these questions and doubts began, he was ONE! What if I focused on language in general rather than literacy at this age? Wouldn’t language evolve into literacy as he grew? Perhaps that is what all the professionals were trying to impress upon me every time I asked the question. “Get the printed word everywhere” was basically the suggestion. We had a never-ending supply of books; we labeled our house like a preschool classroom. We were (and still are) determined that this boy would read one day. We took each suggestion given to us, and did our best to implement it, however that looked in our day-to-day life. Out grocery shopping? He had the list and we would spell, sign, etc. each item as we went through the store (when time allowed). At home watching a movie? We turned on the closed captions. Driving in the car? We attempted to sign the names of stores we passed, or fingerspell street names. We went to the library and allowed him to pick out the books, and helped to find books with subject matter that he was interested in. We asked questions about what he was reading and would ask for expansion if he gave us a two-word answer. We talked about everything! He could probably make a decent living as a handyman from random tidbits of knowledge he has gathered.
We also did our best to implement “15 Principles for Reading to Deaf Children” (Schleper, 1997). Some of these strategies were not comfortable for us. They almost felt awkward to put in place, but we gave it a whirl. The best “principle” on that list? Number 15: “Expect the child to become literate!” Throw those statistics out the window! We were told the curriculum switch from 2nd to 3rd grade would be a challenge as children go from learning to read, to reading to learn. Here come the comprehension tests to show how well he can truly read. Is he really understanding what he is reading? Here comes the reading ceiling where most professionals expect him to stall.
Current situation: we have a nine-year old boy who does not necessarily share my love for reading but one who can read. On grade level! He’s also not afraid to display his skills, as seen during our recent Nevada Hands & Voices Reading Week event. He and two of his deaf/hard of hearing peers served as amazing role models for peers and parents alike reading in front of the group. We wished we could share with you the magic moment where it all “clicked,” when we knew he would be a successful reader, comprehending almost any printed word you put in front of him. We can’t pinpoint that moment. We can say we worked hard with the resources we’d be given and hoped for the best. Now heading into 4th grade this fall, time will tell how far past this statistic he will go. However, in our home, we got rid of that dreadful statistic. We also got rid of the words can’t, won’t, and never in association with hearing loss. We do not have a clue of what the future holds for our child, but we have hope, we have joy, we have frustrations at new situations; but we also see no limits, especially not those placed on us by the opinions of others. ~
Editor’s note: Wright serves on the Board of Directors and is the chairperson for Public Relations and Outreach.
H&V Communicator – Fall 2020