Fingerspelling is an integral part of American Sign Language (ASL) and it is also an important aspect of becoming bilingual in English and ASL. Even though fingerspelling is based on English orthography, the development of fingerspelling does not parallel the development of reading in hearing children. Research reveals that deaf children may…

The paper examines the role of morphological (word) cues in reading and considers the implications for deaf students. Theories on the importance of decoding and morphological comparison in competent reading comprehension are reviewed, and studies on how successful deaf readers learn morphological cues are described. Findings show that deaf readers…

Deaf children come from all races, classes, and backgrounds, but as a group they have a hard time learning to read and write. The more hearing a child has, the better the child performs on tests of reading ability. Parents who can communicate well with their deaf children help them to perform well at school, but beyond "good"…