Global Trends in Education and Literacy for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (Virtual Panel)

Source: https://allchildrenreading.org/event/cies-2022/

Research shows that children experience greater reading success when learning in their local spoken or signed language. According to UNESCO, children taught in a language they understand are more likely to enroll and succeed in school, and their parents are more likely to communicate with teachers and participate in their children’s learning.

And yet, of the estimated 32 million deaf children globally, 80% do not have access to education and only 2% receive education in sign language. Without early access to language, children fail to develop social and cognitive skills at the same rate as their peers, hindering their ability to learn to read and write and isolating them from society over the course of their lives. Research shows that early exposure to sign language and multilingualism, combined with strong family support for sign languages, best prepares children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) for effective participation in society. In this panel we will look at some of the ongoing work to support the growth of foundational literacy and early grade reading skills for DHH children and their families globally. We will provide a retrospective on some of the EdTech solutions developed under All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development to support DHH children and their families. An overview of deaf education will also be provided, including some of the current challenges facing deaf education professionals, and some of the existing work to create accessible and culturally relevant sign language tools, materials and resources in Asian and African contexts. Additionally, we will present on existing work to create foundational literacy skills for DHH children and their families using Sign Language Rhyme and Rhythm and Shared Bilingual Reading Strategies.