Amen to this -- my parents knew that if I was deaf, that I would need to learn by other means, ergo, reading. My father read to me every day since I was a child -- it did not matter that I did not understand him, it was the association and encouragement that helped. I was behind as far as literacy, until I started taking a real interest at 8. By the time I was 11, I was reading Star Trek Giant Novels.