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FINGERSPELLING OUR WAY TO READING

Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading is an evidence-based, supplementary literacy program for deaf and hard of hearing students in kindergarten to second grade. The program has two components: a three-day-per-week fingerspelling program, and a complementary two-day-per-week reading comprehension program.

Jerrin-FOWTRTranscript

Based on evidence that fingerspelling may provide a pathway to decoding words and strengthening print recognition by building phonological awareness, a team from the National Research and Development Center on Literacy and Deafness (CLAD) developed the Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading program.

Often, one would assume phonological awareness is the awareness of sounds and the ability to work with them. With both phonological awareness and orthographic awareness—knowing letter positions, combinations, and sequences that make a word—people are able to decode words. But what about signing deaf and hard of hearing children? The research team found that deaf and hard of hearing children link their mental phonological representation through fingerspelling to a mental orthographic representation.

While hearing students and deaf and hard of hearing students who have auditory access to and use spoken English can develop phonological awareness through sound, researchers have found that deaf and hard of hearing students who use sign language can develop phonological awareness through fingerspelling. For signing deaf and hard of hearing students, fingerspelling provides an alternative pathway to sound-based phonological awareness (Lederberg et al., 2019).

Fingerspelling phonological awareness allows deaf and hard of hearing students to be able to manipulate the sublexical structure of words. Identifying and understanding these structures can assist students with word identification and be transformative in developing reading skills. These structures include:

  • Syllables (e.g., ed-u-ca-tion, re-cy-cle)
  • Onset or beginnings of words (e.g., bat, black, strip)
  • Rimes (e.g., stick, fight, black)

 

This innovative program is a supplementary literacy program for deaf and hard of hearing students in kindergarten to second grade that focuses on developing fingerspelling phonological awareness, printed word analysis, and multiple opportunities to read target words in sentences and original stories.

The fingerspelling component provides a pathway to decoding words and strengthening print recognition through intensive work on word analyses of word families; fingerspelling phonological awareness activities; and repeated practice to sign, fingerspell, read, and write the target words.

The reading comprehension component provides a pathway for understanding connected English text through repeated opportunities to read target words in meaningful sentences and stories, applying comprehension strategies when reading original stories, and explicit analysis of ASL-to-English text.

Reference
Lederberg, A. R., Branum-Martin, L., Webb, M. Y., Schick, B., Antia, S., Easterbrooks, S. R., & Connor, C. M. D. (2019). Modality and interrelations among language, reading, spoken phonological awareness, and fingerspelling. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 24(4), 408-423. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enz011
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Curriculum Training

To implement the Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading program in your learning environment, you must be trained to use the program. The Clerc Center provides an 8-hour in-person curriculum training or two 4-hour virtual sessions on consecutive days. If your school or organization is interested in hosting a training, the fee for the training is $1,250. If you are interested in attending the scheduled training sessions that the Clerc Center provides throughout the year, the fee is $125 per participant. Please note the maximum number of participants for the two different training formats: 25 participants in person and 15 participants virtually. All fees go to the trainers for their time and expertise.

If you are interested in becoming a coach or a trainer for the program:

In-school coaching

In order to implement the Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading (FOWTR) program, all teachers must attend an eight-hour training before gaining access to the curriculum. We offer workshops in states across the country. We also recognize that schools and programs may have an ongoing need for a local coach; therefore, we have established a coaching program for individuals who want to become certified coaches in their area. The following is an outline of the minimum requirements to become a certified FOWTR coach.

Trainee’s tasks:

  1. Attend a full-day FOWTR training.
  2. Teach FOWTR and video record at least two lessons of fingerspelling and reading comprehension to share with the trainer. The trainer will review the videos and provide feedback for each lesson.

Note: The trainee may require additional feedback and support from the trainer before being certified after the above tasks have been completed.

Trainer’s tasks ($100/hour):

  1. Watch unit videos and provide feedback (2-4 hours).
  2. Meet with trainee to discuss notes on important points from the training as well as give feedback on the videos (2 hours).
  3. Certify that the trainee is ready to coach others.

Total estimated time/cost: 4-6 hours x $100 hour = $400-$600 investment

Our estimate of costs should be considered a minimum. The trainer may suggest further training for the trainee to become a certified coach. The trainer will provide this extra training at a cost of $100/hour.

Certified coaches can provide coaching for teachers in their area at their discretion. Fees for coaching must not be more than what the Clerc Center’s FOWTR trainers charge. Coaching in other states must be coordinated with the Clerc Center and have prior approval.

Train the Trainer Program

In order to implement the Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading (FOWTR) program, all teachers must attend an eight-hour training before gaining access to the curriculum. We offer workshops in states across the country. We also recognize that schools and programs may have an ongoing need for a local trainer; therefore, we have established a train-the-trainer program for individuals who want to become certified trainers in their area. The following outlines the minimum requirements to become a certified FOWTR trainer.

Trainee’s tasks:

  1. Attend a full-day FOWTR training (8 hours)
  2. Teach a minimum of one school year of the FOWTR program and video record two lessons of fingerspelling and two lessons of reading comprehension to share with the coach
  3. Deliver (virtually) the FOWTR training with selected key slides to the coach
  4. Follow up with the coach for feedback as necessary

Note: The trainee may require additional feedback and support from the coach before being certified after the above tasks have been completed.

Coach’s tasks ($100/ hour):

  1. Watch unit videos and provide feedback (2-4 hours)
  2. Meet with the trainee to discuss notes on important points from the training as well as give feedback on the videos (1-2 hours)
  3. Watch the trainee practice a full training session using the slides and provide feedback (4 hours) 
  4. Certify that the trainee is ready to train others

Total estimated time/cost:  8-10 hours x $100 hour = $800-$1,000 investment

Our estimate of costs should be considered a minimum. The coach may request further training (e.g., more teaching; more practice in training seminars) for the trainee to become a certified trainer. The coach will provide this extra training at a cost of $100/hour. 

Certified trainers can train teachers in their area at their discretion. Trainers must purchase their own training materials at cost. Fees for the training must not be more than what the Clerc Center’s FOWTR trainers charge. Training in other states must be coordinated with the Clerc Center and have prior approval.

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The Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center at Gallaudet University is a federally funded center with exemplary elementary and secondary education programs for deaf and hard of hearing students and is tasked with developing and disseminating innovative curricula, instructional techniques, and products nationwide while providing information, training, and technical assistance for parents and professionals to meet the needs of deaf and hard of hearing students from birth to age 21.

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FINGERSPELLING

Our Way to Reading

Training Request

Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading | Training Request 2

Please complete this form to provide us with specific information about your training request. The National Programs and Outreach team will follow up with you based on your input. Please note that the Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading curriculum is designed for kindergarten to grade 2 reading levels.

Please complete this form to provide us with specific information about your training request. The National Programs and Outreach team will follow up with you based on your input. Please note that the Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading curriculum is designed for kindergarten to grade 2 reading levels.

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About Us

Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center 

The Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center has partnered with the original creators and research team of the Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading (FOWTR) program to ensure the program stays accessible to educators across the United States. The Clerc Center will provide the platform for this program and maintain support for product management, technical assistance, evaluation, and dissemination (e.g., teacher training workshops). However, the research team maintains the intellectual property rights and legal rights to the FOWTR program.

 

Center on Literacy and Deafness 

The U.S. Department of Education–Institute of Education Sciences (IES) funded the establishment of the National Research and Development Center on Literacy and Deafness (CLAD), the first of its kind, to focus on deaf and hard of hearing children. CLAD aims to identify child and instructional factors that affect reading growth in this population and to develop individualized interventions specifically designed for deaf and hard of hearing struggling readers in kindergarten to second grade. 

CLAD collaborated with researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, Georgia State University, the University of Arizona, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the University of California–Irvine.

According to the investigators, the focus on deaf and hard of hearing children is important given that poor literacy outcomes have long characterized the deaf and hard of hearing  population, despite the fact that most of these students have typical intellectual potential. 

The deaf and hard of hearing population is diverse, requiring researchers to investigate different ways deaf and hard of hearing children learn to read. A FOWTR study done by the research team included students from various linguistic backgrounds, including those who use cochlear implants or have auditory access, with varying levels of access to sound sufficient for learning to read using spoken phonological-based approaches. It also included deaf and hard of hearing students who use American Sign Language (ASL) as a first language learning to read through print alone. Each population faces challenges associating their language of communication (spoken English or ASL) with printed English.

Research Team

IES, through a five-year grant, authorized the establishment of the Special Education Research and Development Center on Reading Instruction for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. CLAD’s FOWTR research team is a collaboration between two institutions: the University of Colorado-Boulder and Georgia State University

University of Colorado–Boulder

Brenda Schick, PhD, Professor
Nancy Bridenbaugh, MA, Project Director
Rachel Boll, MA, Research Associate


Georgia State University

Amy Lederberg, PhD, Professor
Victoria Burke, PhD, Research Scientist
Melissa Brasic, MA, Research Associate


Other Contributors

Susan Easterbrooks, PhD, Georgia State University
Shirin Antia, PhD, University of Arizona
Carol Conner, PhD, Arizona State University

FINGERSPELLING

Our Way to Reading

READING MATERIALS REQUEST

We provide materials electronically to those who have purchased them from the publishing company. If for some reason you no longer have access to the materials, we can share the files with you through Google Drive after you fill out this form. Please note that all files are in PowerPoint format. We acknowledge the need to convert them into Google Slides, and we are currently working on this. However, the files may not be available until 2024.

Request for Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading Materials

We provide materials electronically for those who have made the order. If for some reason you no longer have access to the materials, we could share the files with you through Google Drive after you fill out this form. Please note that all files are in PowerPoint format. We acknowledge the need to convert them into Google Slides and we are currently working on them and they may not be available until 2024.

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Max. file size: 128 MB.

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Which level are you asking for in the Reading Comprehension component?(Required)

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A woman with dark, curly hair is reading a book to three deaf or hard of hearing boys. The two boys on the left are in Pre-kindergarten and the third boy is a toddler. The middle boy in a short-sleeve button up shirt is using American Sign Language with the woman reading.

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