Early Childhood Mathematics for Children who are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing: Amplifying Opportunities to Develop Foundational Math Skills

Mathematics is an integral part of early childhood education and development. Mathematic proficiency is not only foundational for success in school, but children also use mathematical knowledge in everyday experiences. The knowledge children gain in math concepts and language used is applicable across all domains of learning (Utah State Office of Education, 2013). Math concepts are developed early in life and preschoolers possess a natural curiosity for math, as well as a natural ability to do math (Linder, Powers-Costello, & Stegelin, 2011). Mathematical skills allow children the ability to make sense of the world, building a foundation for later success in school (NAEYC & NCTM, 2002; NCTM, 2007). Early experiences with math are different than traditional math instruction for children in a K-12 educational setting. The focus is not the worksheets of addition and subtraction commonly associated with math. Rather, it is the notion that math happens informally in every day events as children use mathematical concepts to make sense of their world (Pagliaro & Kritzer, 2013). Historically, children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) have shown slower achievement than their same-aged hearing peers across academic domains, including math proficiency (Pagliaro & Kritzer, 2013; Zarfaty, Nunes, & Bryant, 2004; Edwards, Edwards, &Langdon, 2013). In order to promote successful integration in a mainstream educational setting and minimize the risk of academic delays, it is essential that early learning experiences build on academic foundations (Yoshinaga-Itano, 2004, Cole & Flexer, 2011). This project focused on 1) the best practices of mathematics for early education, 2) delays children who are DHH face in mathematics, 3) improving math-based experiences for children who are DHH, and 4) the positive effects of parent involvement