Literacy program for teachers of the deaf

Literacy is a skill that most Western nations view as part of the normal educational system. The importance of literacy cannot be understated. UNESCO found that a child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5 than a child born to an illiterate woman.

The 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) revealed that 78% of grade 4 learners in South Africa have poor reading skills. It is likely to be even worse at schools for the deaf.

In South Africa there are no requirements for teachers to teach at a school for the deaf apart from having a teacher's qualification. Teaching qualifications in South Africa have no elements of deaf pedagogy. The result of this is deaf children that are functionally illiterate. There choices in life are severely limited. 

I live with my family in a residential school for the deaf. The kids in the dorm are in no way cognitively deficient, but the teachers' lack of knowledge and skills are causing a ripple effect that spirals into increased life challenges.

We came upon a literacy program that was developed by Colorado University. This evidence-based research program was very successful in several countries and is aimed at struggling deaf learners. It is ideal for us to implement in South Africa.

The program is for the first 3 years of school and mimics popular literacy methodologies. Many deaf children cannot hear the sounds well enough to be taught in the traditional manner. This program is called the Fingerspell Your Way To Reading program and uses the manual alphabet in stead of sounds to great success.

The program consists of all the necessary materials to teach the lessons. This includes videos, PowerPoints, flash cards, and assessments.

We would need to translate the program's content from American Sign Language to South African Sign Language, do teacher training and monitoring, and distribute the program materials.

There are 43 schools for the deaf in South Africa and this resource is aimed at all of them. We plan to pilot the program at several schools to see how effective it is in our structures and rural environments.

The solution is targeted at teachers of the deaf. These teachers have no knowledge or skills in how to teach literacy to deaf children and this program addresses that shortage.

The impact on the deaf children will be immense. Knowing how to read and write will increase your opportunities exponentially.

Our team consists of 7 people, 5 deaf and 2 hearing. All of us are intimately involved in the lives of deaf children and deaf education. We have a campus where we care for multiply disabled deaf people. On this same campus we have a school for the deaf.

I live with the deaf children who attend this school. I have to help them with their homework and they can't read basic English. My daughter is hearing and while she is 3 years younger than the boys in the dorm, she can easily read the work the school sends to them. 

We also reached out to teachers at all schools for the deaf and teachers replied "Please help me to teach them English, I don't know what I'm doing."

We intend to pilot this program at several schools for the deaf with control groups to make 100% sure that the expected outcome is reached.

We need support to get the content translated and to train all of the teachers for the deaf in educating deaf children. We want the teachers at schools for the deaf to be appropriately trained to in turn better educate the deaf children.

South Africa is quite a large country and many of the schools are in very rural areas which makes it a costly exercise to reach those schools.

The solution is simple yet incredibly innovative. In stead of using old methods to teach deaf children to read and write, the use of the manual alphabet, or fingerspelling, proved to have remarkable results. 

Using fingerspelling with specific mannerisms and patterns showed the same neurological changes that was seen in hearing children.

Increasing literacy rates in deaf children will result in literate deaf adults which will change several stereotypes of deaf people and really have an unprecedented impact.

The impact goals are deaf people who are literate. This solution is aimed at children at schools for the deaf in their first 3 years. Eventually the program will be expanded to later years of school.

Quality education has an impact on all spheres of your life. An improved education will drastically increase your quality of life and impacts employment, poverty, inequality and sustainability.

Specific measurements in the short term are language assessments as the deaf children go through their school career. Measurements in the long term will primarily revolve around employment and further education of deaf people. Of course we anticipate that deaf adults who are literate will be more easily employed and access further education.

Our activities and outputs directly correlates to improved outcomes for deaf children. UNESCO determines literacy as having a 50% impact on whether or not a baby lives past the age of 5. By all measurements literacy is a common feature of all success metrics.

Our activities are working with the literacy program material. Adapting the content to South African Sign Language, South Africa culture and context, and liaising with schools for the deaf. Our outputs will be programs that can be implemented at schools for the deaf with the outcome of deaf children with increased literacy.

The use of fingerspelling to replace sounds in teach deaf children to read is a marvel. The children achieve the same phonological awareness as hearing children even without any sound. This is a marvelous breakthrough.

Classroom technologies we are not very familiar with apart from a computer, projector and common software. If there is something that could have an impact in our schools, we would appreciate advice.

Our team of 7 is made up of 5 deaf people and 2 hearing people. Of these 7, 1 is a black deaf man, 3 are white men (2 deaf) and 3 white women (2 deaf).