Back to: Module: Helping Students Read
Edward is a student in Mrs. Thompson’s first-grade class. Mrs. Thompson leads the class in a phonics lesson, but Edward struggles to make sense of it because he has partial hearing loss. Despite using cochlear implants and sitting close to Mrs. Thompson, so that he can hear her more clearly, Edward isn’t making progress. As you work through this unit and reflect on the module, think of additional supports that you might provide for Edward. Remember that phonics draws the connection between what we hear and what we see on the page. To put this another way, phonemic awareness is a necessary prerequisite for learning phonics. But hearing impairments can interfere with our phonemic awareness. Brainstorm strategies for helping Edward improve his phonemic awareness.