Visual phonics, a system of 46 hand-shapes with equivalent symbols, when used together are called "cues." These cues couple with the 46 phoneme sounds of spoken English. Visual phonics was originally developed by a mother for her deaf son to aid in teaching speech and reading. This study was designed to compare students in two different districts' Regional Day School Program for the Deaf (RDSPD), one group of students who received the support of visual phonics implemented in their academic reading curriculum and one group of students who did not receive visual phonics implemented within their academic reading curriculum. In this study the reading Lexile scores of six students identified as deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) and enrolled in a RDSPD within public schools were examined over a period of three years. The researcher examined the students beginning in their Kindergarten through second grade school years. The Lexile scores comparison over the three years sought to determine if there was improvement in reading levels between the two groups when visual phonics was implemented. The results of the study indicated students who are D/HH benefit from the incorporation of visual phonics when incorporated within their reading curriculum. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]