Paired

Associate Learning in Deaf Readers

Amanda Strasser, B.S., B.A.1, Daniel Koo, Ph.D.1, Karen Garrido-Nag, Ph.D.2, Lawrence Pick, Ph.D.2
1Department of Psychology, 2Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences

Introduc?on

Method

10% of profoundly deaf readers, (many without a strong oral

English background) have an 8th grade reading level, which is
equivalent to their hearing peers (Traxler, 2000).

In hearing individuals, reading ability is associated with paired-

associate learning (Hulme, Goetz, Adams & Snowling, 2007).

Like reading, deaf individuals have signicant variance in their

English verbal memory (Kelly, 1995).

Factors inuencing literacy and verbal memory in the deaf

popula?on: parental deafness use of supports, level of hearing
loss, and use of technological assistance (Yoshinaga-Itano, 2006).

The Signed Paired Associate Test (SPAT), an American Sign

Language analog of the Wechsler Memory Scales-R Paired
Associates, was normed to assess paired-associate learning in
deaf ASL-users (Pollard, Rediess, & DeMa^eo, 2005). The SPAT has
seven hard to remember pairs and seven easy to recall pairs. The
test was normed on 38 healthy deaf adults and 35 adults with
neuropsychological disorders

Purpose: To assess paired associate learning in procient and

developing deaf undergraduate readers with a high level of ASL
uency. Addi?onally, selected demographic factors known to
impact reading ability were also examined in rela?on to SPAT
performance.

Par?cipants

42 undergraduate deaf signers

Variable

Male : Female
Age M (SD)
Range of Hearing Loss
L Ear : R Ear
WRMT-III Raw Reading Cluster M (SD)
WASI-II Raw Verbal M (SD) : Non-verbal M (SD)
ACT Reading M (SD) : English M(SD)

Developing

All par?cipants were administered the following tests by a graduate

assistant uent in ASL and trained in the tes?ng of deaf individuals:

Demographics QuesOonnaire
Signed Paired Associates Test (SPAT)
Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, 2nd EdiOon (WASI-II)
Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests, 3rd EdiOon, Reading
Comprehension Cluster (WRMT-III)

Procient

8:13

4:17

22.52 (3.80)

22.19 (2.93)

Severe-Pro : Profound

Severe-Pro : Severe-Pro

158 (17)

204 (16)

110 (13) : 105 (10)

106 (13) : 106 (13)

24 (5) : 20 (5)

18 (4) : 15 (4)

Predictors

Addi?onal correla?ons were conducted to conrm reading literacy skills in

deaf. WRMT-III skill is highly correlated with ACT Reading performance (r
= .526, p < .001) and ACT English performance (r = .532, p < .001). The
WRMT-III is also highly correlated with verbal and nonverbal por?ons of
the WASI.
Correla?ons between developing/procient WRMT-III performance and
selected reading factors (listed below) was run in order to determine the
role of demographic factors on verbal memory.

Deaf Parent
Support Services
Years in College
Hearing Aids

Results
Trial

Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria

ASL primary and preferred language

Hearing loss prior to 2 years of age

No cochlear implant

Right-handed

Mean

Developing

SPAT Trial 1 D
P
SPAT Trial 2 D
P
SPAT Trial 3 D
P
SPAT Trial 4 D
P
SPAT Delay Free D
P
SPAT Delay Cued D
P
SPAT Total Delay D
P

21
21
21
21
21
21
21
21
20
21
20
21
20
21

9.29
11.14
11.71
13.05
12.52
13.52
12.67
13.48
8.60
9.38
4.25
4.52
13.35
13.90

SD

3.304
1.905
3.621
1.717
3.156
1.569
3.230
1.569
2.873
1.830
1.517
1.778
1.663
0.301

T
-2.232*
-1.525
-1.300
-1.033
-1.044
-0.529
-1.504

This table displays developing and procient deaf undergraduate recall of the 14 pairs.
*p < .05

Procient

20
15
10
5
0

Deaf Parent
Support Services
Years in College
Hearing Aids

Delayed Delayed
Free
Cue

Total
Delay

Pearson R

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.09
-0.034
-1.09
-0.224

0.572
0.83
0.496
0.154

Conclusion
Developing deaf readers acquired paired-associates at a slower rate
during ini?al trial of a Signed Paired Associate Test. This suggests
that procient readers are be^er to make paired associa?ons
without prac?ce.
No signicant dierence on all other trials, indica?ng performance
between the groups was similar with prac?ce.
Learning was similar to procient deaf readers on later learning trials
and delayed recall.
These results parallel established learning paLerns in hearing
readers and do not appear to vary based on level of reading ability.
Therefore, this test should not be used to make assumpOons about
a deaf individuals reading ability.
Paired-associate learning was not associated with the selected
demographic factors that inuence reading. Further sugges?ng that
for deaf individuals the paired associates test is not associated with
reading.

References
Hulme, C., Goetz, K., Gooch, D., Adams, J., & Snowling, M. J. (2007). Paired-associate learning, phoneme
awareness, and learning to read. Journal of experimental child psychology, 96(2),
150-166.
Kelly, L. P. (1995). Processing of bo^om-up and top-down informa?on by skilled and average deaf readers
and implica?ons for whole language instruc?on.Excep9onal children.
Luckner, J. L., Sebald, A. M., Cooney, J., Young, J., & Muir, S. G. (2005). An examina?on of the evidence-
based literacy research in deaf educa?on.American Annals of the Deaf, 150(5), 443-456.
Meadow-Orlans, K., Spencer, P., Koester, L., & Steinberg, A. (2004). Implica?ons for interven?on with
infants and families. The world of deaf infants: A longitudinal study, 218-228.
Pollard Jr, R. Q., Rediess, S., & DeMa^eo, A. (2005). Development and valida?on of the Signed Paired
Associates Test. Rehabilita9on Psychology,50(3), 258.
Yoshinaga-Itano, C. (2006). Early iden?ca?on, communica?on modality, and the development of speech
and spoken language skills: Pa^erns and considera?ons. Advances in the spoken
language development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children, 298-327.

Acknowledgements: This research was funded by a Priority Grant from Gallaudet Research Ins?tute. For their invaluable help with data collec?on and coding a special thanks goes to:
Donna Guardino, Timothy Ainger, Carmen Jamis, Krys?n Cook, Mariah Ransom, Katherine Glalelter Shu Han Guo, and James Waller.