Impact of visual processing skills on reading ability in Chinese deaf children

Reading activity involves visual processing in nature. Compared with hearing people, visual processing may be more critical for deaf people. However, much less research has explored the impact of visual processing on the reading ability of deaf children, and the mechanism underlying this relationship is unclear.

This study aimed to examine whether and how visual processing skills predict reading ability in elementary school deaf children in China.

A total of 118 Chinese deaf children (mean age = 14.60 years) from grades 4-6 were tested on the tasks of visual-graphic processing, visual-orthographic processing, word segmentation, reading comprehension, and reading fluency.

The results showed that after chronological age was controlled, visual-graphic processing and visual-orthographic processing significantly predicted Chinese deaf children's reading ability. Specifically, visual-orthographic processing played a mediating role in the effect of visual-graphic processing on reading ability, whereas word segmentation played a mediating role in the effect of visual-orthographic processing on reading ability. However, the mediating role of word segmentation, as well as the chain mediating effect of visual-orthographic processing and word segmentation in the influence of visual-graphic processing on reading ability, were not significant.

These findings emphasized the importance of visual processing skills in reading activity and offered potential mechanisms underlying the contribution of visual processing skills to reading ability in Chinese deaf children.