The Effectiveness of Elkonin’s Phonemic Awareness Training in a Child with Hearing Impairment: A Case Study

Abstract

The present theoretical-empirical study examines Elkonin’s Phonemic Awareness Training, with a specific focus on children with hearing impairment. The theoretical section outlines the concept of phonemic awareness, which is widely regarded as a significant predictor of successful reading and writing acquisition. It is essential to note that Slovak belongs to the group of alphabetic languages characterized by a relatively shallow orthography, a factor that should be taken into account when designing intervention programs.

Hearing impairment necessitates the use of educational approaches and methods that enable children to acquire knowledge through modalities accessible to their individual abilities and needs. The study aimed to implement an intervention targeting the development of phonemic awareness in a child with hearing impairment using Elkonin’s Phonemic Awareness Training (Mikulajová, 2023), while also drawing upon the work of Nováková (2020), whose research has long focused on children with hearing loss. The participant´s progress was monitored through pre-test and post-test assessments, and the effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated by comparing the outcomes of both measurements.