The relative contributions of speechreading and vocabulary to deaf and hearing children's reading ability.
Deaf students need both vocabulary and lip-reading to read well—screen both, not just vocabulary.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sheppard et al. (2016) asked two simple questions. Do deaf children rely on lip-reading when they learn to read? Does this skill matter for hearing children too?
They gave reading accuracy and comprehension tests to both deaf and hearing students. They also measured each child’s lip-reading skill and vocabulary size.
What they found
For deaf children, both vocabulary and lip-reading explained unique parts of reading success. Strong lip-readers scored higher even after vocabulary was taken into account.
For hearing children, lip-reading only helped with accuracy, not with understanding what they read. Vocabulary still ruled comprehension for them.
How this fits with other research
Irwin et al. (2022) seem to disagree at first glance. They found that autistic children ignore the speaker’s face and rely only on sound. Elizabeth’s deaf group, in contrast, actively use the face. The gap is real: autism reduces visual-speech use, while deafness makes it vital.
Foti et al. (2015) widen the lens. Their meta-analysis shows that most children with reading disabilities have broad memory and language deficits. Elizabeth narrows the focus, telling us that for deaf students the missing piece can be as specific as ‘watch the mouth.’
Soltani et al. (2013) and Scalzo et al. (2015) echo the same method. They used regression to show that phonological awareness and rapid naming predict reading in students with mild ID. Elizabeth swaps the predictor set—lip-reading and vocabulary—for deaf learners, extending the same logic to a new population.
Why it matters
Check lip-reading skill during your intake assessment for any deaf client. A quick story-retell while the speaker’s voice is muted gives you a rough score. Pair the result with a vocabulary test; if either is weak, add mouth-shape drills and signed vocabulary goals to the reading program. For hearing clients you can skip the lip-reading probe unless accuracy alone is stalled.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Vocabulary knowledge and speechreading are important for deaf children's reading development but it is unknown whether they are independent predictors of reading ability. AIMS: This study investigated the relationships between reading, speechreading and vocabulary in a large cohort of deaf and hearing children aged 5 to 14 years. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: 86 severely and profoundly deaf children and 91 hearing children participated in this study. All children completed assessments of reading comprehension, word reading accuracy, speechreading and vocabulary. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Regression analyses showed that vocabulary and speechreading accounted for unique variance in both reading accuracy and comprehension for deaf children. For hearing children, vocabulary was an independent predictor of both reading accuracy and comprehension skills but speechreading only accounted for unique variance in reading accuracy. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Speechreading and vocabulary are important for reading development in deaf children. The results are interpreted within the Simple View of Reading framework and the theoretical implications for deaf children's reading are discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2016 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2015.10.004