The "Potential" Contributions of Cognitive Behavior Modification to Literacy Training for Deaf Students

This article will address the background and "potential" use of Cognitive Behavior Modification (CBM) as an approach for increasing literacy skills among deaf people. We highlight the word "potential" because most CBM interventions with the deaf have been quite preliminary. But before we consider this "potential" let us first examine the role illiteracy plays for both deaf and hearing adults as they enter the workforce today.

For many decades, the literature has documented significant academic and employment underachievement among the deaf population. The itemization of this underachievement, relative to their hearing counterparts, sets the stage for the present proposal and represents a "call to action" for all who are interested in nurturing literacy in deaf children and adults. Consider the following findings on the relative levels of academic underachievement of the deaf population.

1. Thirty percent of students with hearing impairment exit school without a diploma or certificate (Nash, 1992).

2. The average math achievement level at secondary school graduation for deaf students is only at the sixth to seventh grades (Allen, 1986).

3. The reading achievement test scores of deaf children continue to lag far behind those of hearing students, with reading achievement test scores remaining at approximately the third-grade level (Allen, 1986).

While many members of the deaf community rise above these academic limitations, for those who do not the financial, social, and personal consequences can be substantial. A major contributing factor to the bleak employment picture is an individual's level of literacy. We are using this term "literacy" in its broadest meaning to include not only the comprehension of prose in its various forms, but also literacy in reading the demands and expectations of social and employment situations.