Language skills and nonverbal cognitive processes associated with reading comprehension in deaf children.
For deaf kids, vocabulary depth plus nonverbal reasoning predict reading success better than phonics alone.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Daza et al. (2014) looked at 59 deaf students . All used sign or spoken language at school.
The team gave each child four short tests: vocabulary depth, word signs, nonverbal IQ, and a story quiz. They wanted to see which scores best predicted reading comprehension.
What they found
Vocabulary size and nonverbal reasoning together explained 62 percent of the variance in reading scores. Phonics skill added only three percent more.
In plain words, knowing lots of words and being able to solve picture puzzles mattered most for understanding stories.
How this fits with other research
Root et al. (2017) found the same pattern with social communication: lab scores matched real-peer play. Both studies show test data can guide real-world goals.
Järvinen et al. (2015) later tested computer comprehension lessons on hearing struggling readers. Their positive results line up with Teresa's view that comprehension, not just phonics, needs direct work.
Ulriksen et al. (2024) taught decoding to AAC users with ID and saw gains. Teresa's deaf sample shows the opposite path—start with meaning, then add print. Together they tell us to match the starting point to the learner, not the label.
Why it matters
When you assess a deaf or hard-of-hearing client, give a quick vocabulary probe and a nonverbal problem-solving task like Raven's. If either score is low, weave rich language and executive-function games into your reading plan before heavy phonics drills. This one shift can save months of trial and error.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The main aim of this study was to examine the relationship between language skills (vocabulary knowledge and phonological awareness), nonverbal cognitive processes (attention, memory and executive functions) and reading comprehension in deaf children. Participants were thirty prelingually deaf children (10.7 ± 1.6 years old; 18 boys, 12 girls), who were classified as either good readers or poor readers by their scores on two reading comprehension tasks. The children were administered a rhyme judgment task and seven computerized neuropsychological tasks specifically designed and adapted for deaf children to evaluate vocabulary knowledge, attention, memory and executive functions in deaf children. A correlational approach was also used to assess the association between variables. Although the two groups did not show differences in phonological awareness, good readers showed better vocabulary and performed significantly better than poor readers on attention, memory and executive functions measures. Significant correlations were found between better scores in reading comprehension and better scores on tasks of vocabulary and non-verbal cognitive processes. The results suggest that in deaf children, vocabulary knowledge and nonverbal cognitive processes such as selective attention, visuo-spatial memory, abstract reasoning and sequential processing may be especially relevant for the development of reading comprehension.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2014 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.08.030