The Impact of Visual Phonics on the Phonological Awareness and Speech Production of a Student Who Is Deaf: A Case Study

The researchers explored the effectiveness of Visual Phonics as a reading instructional tool when used in conjunction with a modified version of the Fountas and Pinnell Kindergarten Phonics Curriculum (Fountas & Pinnell, 2002) with a preschool student who was deaf. The study participant was a 4-year-old deaf child who had a cochlear implant. The goal of the study was to determine whether the student's phonological awareness and speech production improved over the course of a 6-week intervention. Identical pre- and postintervention tests were administered to measure the extent of any improvement. It was found that Visual Phonics used with a phonics-based curriculum significantly increased phonological awareness and speech production.