The signed reading fluency of students who are deaf/hard of hearing

Reading fluency in deaf children whose primary mode of communication is visual, whether English-like or American Sign Language, is difficult to measure since most measures of fluency require a child to read aloud. This article opens the discussion of a new construct, namely, signed reading fluency (i.e., rendering of printed text in a visually fluent manner) in children with hearing loss whose primary means of expressive language includes some form of sign. Further, it describes the development of an assessment rubric to measure signed reading fluency. A comparison of fluency scores and scores on tests of vocabulary and text compre-hension of 29 middle school students who attended a school for the deaf indicated that signed reading fluency, as defined and measured by this instrument, correlates highly both with word and passage comprehension. The National Reading Panel (NRP) defines fluency as the ability ‘‘to read orally with speed, accuracy, and proper expression.’ ’ (NICHHD, 2000, html version). A considerable body of literature exists delineating the relationship between spoken language and literacy (Perfetti & Sandak, 2000), oral reading fluency, an