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What Makes a Good Speechreader as the ability to see fine detail and identify speech movements accurately and rapidly. The second is synthetic ability, and the third is flexibility. They defined flexibility as the ability to make quick changes in one's perception ofthe message ifthe original decision proves inaccurate. For example, an isolated sentence may look very much like another sentence having a different meaning. Example A. I have to go. Example B. I have a cold. As conversation continues, the speechreader may realize that the first interpretation of what was seen doesn't make sense. Ifthe speechreader is flexible in thinking, he or she can quickly substitute the second possibility which looks the same but makes better sense. Although the skills ofsynthetic thinking and flexibility are intellectual or mental skills, they are not related to general intelligence. Analytic thinkers are often highly intelligent people. None ofthe research studies designed to evaluate the relationship between speechreading and general intelligence have found any relationship between the two. A number of other factors have been looked at as predictors of speechreading skill. They include Amount of training. Most authorities feel that the more training a person receives, the better a speechreader he or she becomes. Jeffers and Barley (1971) stated that maximum improvement occurs after one to three years of training, depending on the individual, but that the speechreader must continue to practice if the skill is to be maintained. Even though most people improve with training, the rate ofimprovement and the level ofskill achieved vary considerably. People start at different levels ofskill for reasons we don't fully understand , and they don't necessarily make the same amount ofimprovement as others in the same training program. There are individual differences. 5 Therefore, a person in a speechreadingtraining program should evaluate only his or her own improvement without comparison to anyone else. Language comprehension. Language comprehension means (a) knowledge of vocabulary, (b) knowledge of grammar, and (c) knowledge of everyday and idiomatic expressions. Language comprehension is essential to good speechreading because so much of speechreading involves the ability to use context. Since much of what people see is confusing and ambiguous, they have to use the redundancies or rules of language to decide which one of several possibilities fits into a conversation. Therefore, the better they know their language, the easier speechreading becomes. Research on deaf children shows positive relationships between language proficiency and speechreading skill. Similar relationships, however , have not been found in adults. Apparently, a basic level of language proficiency is needed for good speechreading, but development of language skills above that basic level does not seem to further improve learning of speechreading. See Jeffers and Barley (1971) for further discussion of this issue. Duration ofhearing loss. It is logical to think that people who have been hearing impaired for the longest time are the best speechreaders because their need has existed longer. This bit of logic is based on the assumption that the need to use the visual channel assures skill development. The research literature, however, does not show this relationship. When speechreading skills of hard-of-hearing adults were compared based on how long they had been hearing impaired, no relationship was found between speechreading skill and duration ofloss. Those people who had their hearing losses the longest were not necessarily the best speechreaders. Among the deaf children, the older children tended to be the better speechreaders . However, when language skill was controlled so that it was similar among different What Makes a Good Speechreader as the ability to see fine detail and identify speech movements accurately and rapidly. The second is synthetic ability, and the third is flexibility. They defined flexibility as the ability to make quick changes in one's perception ofthe message ifthe original decision proves inaccurate. For example, an isolated sentence may look very much like another sentence having a different meaning. Example A. I have to go. Example B. I have a cold. As conversation continues, the speechreader may realize that the first interpretation of what was seen doesn't make sense. If the speechreader is flexible in thinking, he or she can quickly substitute the second possibility which looks the same but makes better sense. Although the skills ofsynthetic thinking and flexibility are intellectual or mental skills, they are not related to general intelligence. Analytic thinkers are often highly intelligent people. None ofthe research studies designed to evaluate the relationship between speechreading and general intelligence have found any relationship between the...

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