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As school personnel, you play a critical role in the language-to-literacy journey for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), ages 0-5. These early years are a crucial window for brain development, especially for language learning, and the support you offer can shape the way a child understands, communicates, and eventually learns to read and write. Your work helps ensure that each child has full access to language so they can develop strong communication skills and have a foundation of language that is kindergarten ready.
Beyond supporting the child, you are also guiding families through important decisions, helping them feel informed, empowered, and connected to a team that truly understands their journey. By creating language-rich environments, supporting consistent language access, and modeling responsive interactions, you’re laying the groundwork for lifelong learning. Your partnership with families during this stage can make a powerful difference—not just in the classroom, but in every part of a child’s future.
The Michigan Language Milestones for DHH can help you guide families in what to expect as their child grows and develops language. The milestones are not intended as a screening tool or assessment, but rather a tool to coach families and assist them in monitoring and tracking their child’s language development. Michigan Language Milestones for DHH [PDF]
The LEAD-K Michigan Advisory Committee has recommended eleven assessments for assessing language development and the stages toward English literacy for DHH children ages 0-5. The collection of recommended assessments provides multiple perspectives when looking at language and allows for teams to select which measures are most appropriate for individual children.
It is important when assessing language that teams pair tools with observations and robust language and narrative samples. For DHH children, additional language supports may be needed despite an overall average language score on a norm-referenced measure. Individual subtests that measure language the child learns incidentally may score below average revealing possible missing foundational information that is required for further literacy development. DHH children may continue to need language support even if their scores fall in the low average range.
It is national best practice to closely monitor a deaf/hard of hearing child’s language progress and access: Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Therefore, conducting language testing at 6-month intervals is recommended.
The recommended assessments are listed below.
Watch for more information regarding reporting language assessment data for the LEAD-K Michigan Annual Report.
The resources provided in this section are offered to guide school personnel in delivering high-quality, equitable support for DHH children. These tools offer evidence-based principles and best practices that align with current research on language access, early intervention, and educational planning for DHH learners.
Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
