A Case Study of the Preventing Academic Failure Orton-Gillingham Approach With Five Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Struggling deaf readers, like struggling readers with dyslexia, share similarities in their difficulty with phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Orton-Gillingham instruction is used to remediate these difficulties among hearing readers, but data is needed on its effectiveness with deaf students. Five subjects, who were severely deaf or hard of hearing, participated in a year long case study analyzing the impact of an Orton-Gillingham approach, supported with Cued Speech, on the development of their reading skills. Participants ranged from kindergarten to Grade 5, had additional learning, language, and socioeconomic challenges, and were mainstreamed in a public school district. Data were obtained in the fall, winter, and spring of one academic year from assessments (DRA, DIBELS, PAF), interviews with classroom teachers, and field notes. Results demonstrated that all five students made a year of growth, or more, on their reading achievement, similarly to expected yearly progress of students without disabilities. Results indicated that Orton-Gillingham instruction, supported with Cued Speech, may mitigate reading challenges among severely deaf or hard of hearing students in the mainstream. Additional studies are needed to verify the results in different educational settings.