How can I support deaf children to learn phonics?

Our guidance is that deaf children can use phonics to read – but signing or other technologies should be in place to help.

Many people with hearing impairments do produce sounds, and these are helpful for them as they create words and blend, but the accurate production of the phonemes is as important as the coding of the graphemes. After all, these children still will need to read print.

The SEND materials will be useful for these children, as there will be images associated with most words. Head over to the SEND area of the website for programme content.

Cued articulation is also a useful tool when teaching phonics.

Here are a couple of useful videos:

• Here is a video of the signs.
• This video will help with cued articulation to support the development of speech sounds.