Deaf Students and the Qualitative Similarity Hypothesis

The difficulty that deaf and hard-of-hearing students have in attaining language and literacy skills has led many scholars to attribute their struggle to a developmental deficit. However, in this groundbreaking study, the contributors present the powerful research findings of the Qualitative Similarity Hypothesis, which debunks such theories by showing that all students learn language and literacy skills in a similar manner, but at different ages and paces. Showcasing a dozen noted scholars, this book describes the study's implications for the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing children and offers reason-based practices for improving their English language and literacy development.