Interactive Reading with Young Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children in eBooks Versus Print Books

Interactive storybook reading is effective in enhancing deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children's emergent literacy skills. The current digital era gives parents more opportunities to read books with their child. From an early age on, interaction between parent and child during literacy activities is very important for the development of emergent literacy skills. The purpose of the present study was to explore the opportunities of eBooks on a tablet for interactive reading with young DHH children. Parent and child interactive behavior in reading print books was compared to eBooks in 18 parents and their 1- to 3-year-old DHH child. All parents followed an interactive reading program after which their interactive reading behaviors were observed while reading print books and eBooks with their child. Results mainly showed similar interactive reading behaviors in parents and children when reading print books or eBooks, except for a lower occurrence of pointing to pictures/objects in the parent behavior when reading the eBooks. These results give parents and professionals even more opportunities for interactive storybook reading with DHH children, and thus more opportunities to enhance their language and literacy skills. Tablets can be easily taken with you making eBooks accessible for interactive reading wherever you are.