Reading Comprehension of Deaf Adolescent Residential School Students and Its Relationship to Hearing Mothers' Communication Strategies and Skills

A nationwide study was conducted to examine the relationship between prelingually deaf adolescents' reading comprehension scores and their hearing mothers' communication strategies and skills. Subjects included 201 students from six randomly selected residential schools for the deaf. Correlation coefficients, stepwise multiple regression analyses and analysis of covariance showed that for this group of subjects, method of communication used by mothers had no significant relationship with their deaf children's reading comprehension scores. No significant relationship was found between reading comprehension of the children of mothers who used manual communication and the age of the child when the mother began to sign. A potential relationship was found, however, between reading comprehension scores and signing skill levels of mothers who used manual communication.