Reading Together: Tips for Parents of Children with Hearing Loss or Deafness
You'll find sharing books together is a great way to bond with your son or daughter and help your child's development at the same time. Give your child a great gift that will last for life — the love of books.
Infants and toddlers
Helping your child love books
You'll find sharing books together is a great way to bond with your son or daughter and help your child's development at the same time. Give your child a great gift that will last for life — the love of books.
Hearing loss ranges from partial to total deafness. Some children can hear better with a hearing aid, cochlear implant, or FM system. Others cannot. Hearing loss may last only a short time, or it may never go away. Some children are born with hearing loss. Others develop it later in life. These factors affect the challenges your child will face in learning to read.
Tips for reading with your infant or toddler
Each time you read to your child, you are helping her brain to develop. So read to your child every day. Choose books that you think your child will enjoy. Books that rhyme or repeat the same sound are good for helping your child learn the sounds letters and words make.
Since younger children have short attention spans, try reading for a few minutes at a time at first. Then build up the time you read together. Your child will soon see reading time as fun time!
Here are some things you can try:
- Read the same story again and again. This will help your child catch words he may have missed before. Explain the story as needed.
- Make sure your child can see your face and the pictures. This will help your child follow the story, even if he doesn't catch all the words.
- Have your child turn pages, touch the pictures, and lift the flaps. This will give your child practice using his hands, which gets him ready to sign.
- Use simple sign language as you read.
Suggested books for your infant
Choose board books with simple signs. Some titles include:
- Baby Signs, by Joy Allen
- My First Book of Sign Language, by Joan Holub
- Books by Annie Kubler, such as My First Signs and Sign and Sing Along: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Suggested books for your toddler
- Books by Anthony Lewis, such as Meal Time, My First Animal Signs, and Play Time
Preschool and school-age children
Helping your preschooler or school-age child love books
When you read to your child often and combine reading time with cuddle and play time, your child will link books with fun times together. So continue to read to your child every day. Choose books that you think your child will enjoy and look fun for you to read.
Here are some things you can try:
- Read the same story again and again. This will help your child catch words he may have missed before. Explain the story as needed.
- Make sure your child can see your face and the pictures. This will help your child follow the story, even if he doesn't catch all the words.
- Use stuffed animals to act out the story.
- Continue to teach your child to sign.
Suggested books for your preschooler or school-age child
- Each Peach Pear Plum, by Allan and Janet Ahlberg
- Jamberry, by Bruce Degen
- Sheep in a Jeep, by Nancy Shaw
Books to help children and parents learn more about hearing loss
For children
- Jordan Has A Hearing Loss, by Jillian Powell (Ages 4–8)
- Taking Hearing Impairment to School, by Elaine Ernst Schneider (Ages 5–10)
- A Button in Her Ear, by Ada B. Litchfield (Ages 5–10)
- Can You Hear a Rainbow? The Story of a Deaf Boy Named Chris, by Nicola Simmonds (Ages 4–8)
- I Have a Sister — My Sister Is Deaf, by Jamie Riggio Heelan (Ages 4–8)
For parents
- Choices in Deafness: A Parents' Guide to Communication Options, by Sue Schwartz
- Language and Literacy Development in Children Who Are Deaf, by Barbara Schirmer
- Literacy and Your Deaf Child: What Every Parent Should Know, by David Stewart and Bryan Clarke
- Literacy Learning for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, by Lyn Robertson and Carol Flexer
- When Your Child is Deaf: A Guide for Parents, by David Luterman
For more information
- Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf — (202) 337-5220
- American Society for Deaf Children — (866) 895-4206
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association — (800) 638-8255
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — (800) CDC-INFO
- National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities — (800) 695-0285
- Raising Deaf Kids — (215) 590-7440
- Download this article as a PDF.*
- Download the full development guide as a PDF.*
*To view this file, you will need a copy of Acrobat Reader. If it is not already installed on your computer, you can download it from the Adobe website.
Developmental Disabilities Literacy Promotion Guide for Pediatric Healthcare Providers. ©2010 Reach Out and Read, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
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Nice read! Taking care of a child with hearing loss is always a challenge on many levels. Parents who have deaf or hard of hearing kids, they often have to face a unique set of obstacles. Teaching a hard of hearing child is not an easy task at all. Hidden Hearing specialists say that hearing plays an important role in child's life as it helps in social, emotional, and cognitive development. Hearing loss can affect the ability of child to speak and understand the language. No doubt hearing is an essential tool of learning, playing and developing social skills. Without hearing a child cannot imagine the surrounding world. Parents should help in their teaching to strong their vocabulary, development, learning and overall ability to communicate. It can definitely improve the hearing of hard of hearing child.