title: Black deaf individuals' reading skills: influence of ASL, culture, family characteristics, reading experience, and education.
abstract: Previous research on the reading abilities of Deaf individuals from various cultural groups suggests that Black Deaf and Hispanic Deaf individuals lag behind their White Deaf peers. The present study compared the reading skills of Black Deaf and White Deaf individuals, investigating the influence of American Sign Language (ASL), culture, family characteristics, reading experience, and education. (The descriptor Black is used throughout the present article, as Black Deaf individuals prefer this term to African American. For purposes of parallel construction, the term White is used instead of European American.) It was found that Black Deaf study participants scored lower on measures of both reading and ASL. These findings provide implications for possible interventions at the primary, secondary, and college levels of education.
authors.affiliation: Gallaudet University, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Candace
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: M Diane
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Millicent M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Musyoka
authors.forename: Melissa L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Gizelle L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.forename: Selina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agyen
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hauser
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D060345:Education of Persons with Hearing Disabilities; D004519:Education, Special; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004522:Educational Status; D005191:Family Characteristics / Q000208:ethnology*; D005195:Family Relations / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D011932:Reading; D012813:Sign Language; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult