Code-related skills in preschool DHH children (Werfel et al., 2023)

<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this longitudinal investigation was to compare the developmental trajectories of code-related emergent literacy skills of children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) who use amplification and spoken language across the preschool years.</p> <p><strong>Method:</strong> Thirty children who are DHH and 31 children with typical hearing completed a language and emergent literacy assessment at 6-month intervals from age 4 through 6 years. Growth curve analysis was used to compare developmental trajectories between groups of the code-related skills of phonological awareness, phonological memory, phonological recoding, alphabet knowledge, and conceptual print knowledge.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> Growth across the preschool years was observed on all code-related emergent literacy skills across groups. Children who are DHH scored consistently lower than children with typical hearing on phonological awareness, phonological memory, and conceptual print knowledge; no group differences were observed for phonological recoding or alphabet knowledge. No interactions of time and group were significant.</p> <p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Children who are DHH exhibit consistent deficits in phonological awareness, phonological memory, and conceptual print knowledge across the preschool years and begin formal literacy instruction with a weaker foundation in emergent literacy skills. Future work should focus on optimizing emergent literacy interventions for children who are DHH during the preschool years.</p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S1.</strong> This document contains materials for the experimental phonological awareness assessment.</p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S2.</strong> This document contains materials for the experimental digit span assessment.</p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S3.</strong> This document contains materials for the experimental nonword repetition assessment.</p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S4.</strong> This document contains materials for the experimental rapid naming assessment.</p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S5.</strong> This document contains materials for the experimental letter knowledge assessment.</p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S6.</strong> Sensitivity analyses: phonological processing growth models including nonverbal IQ and maternal education covariates.</p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S7.</strong> Sensitivity analyses: print knowledge growth models including nonverbal IQ and maternal education covariates.</p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S8.</strong> Sensitivity analyses: phonological processing growth models including age of amplification. </p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S9.</strong> Sensitivity analyses: print knowledge growth models including age of amplification. </p> <p>Werfel, K. L., Reynolds, G., & Fitton, L. (2023). A longitudinal investigation of code-related emergent literacy skills in children who are deaf and hard of hearing across the preschool years.<em> American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 32</em>(2), 629–644. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_AJSLP-22-00169" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_AJSLP-22-00169</a></p>