In Utah, deaf and hard of hearing elementary school students can access their education--in American Sign Language (ASL) and spoken and written English--from their devices at home. Many secondary students can access online coursework as well. This is thanks to a four-year project undertaken by the Utah School for the Deaf (USD). The goal was to…

While current debates oppose the cochlear implant's privileging of speech acquisition to teaching sign language, nineteenth-century debates, in contrast, opposed those who saw sign language as a tool for learning to read and write, and those who saw in it an autonomous language for organizing thought itself. Should the order of gestural signs…

Although written lesson plans are a standard requirement in teacher training programs, limited information exists about effective methods for reviewing and assessing these documents. Vanderbilt University faculty designed and implemented a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research study to evaluate the impact of in-person and written feedback…

Encouraging relaxed and playful interaction over stories naturally fosters language interaction and both preliteracy [hereafter (pre)literacy skills] and literacy without anxiety. Reading for pleasure is valuable for young hearing children -- we know that, it is among the most beloved family rituals. In this article we argue that reading for…

The acquisition of reading vocabulary is one of the major challenges for deaf children in bilingual education programs. Deaf children have to acquire a written lexicon that can effectively be used in reading. In this paper, we present a developmental model that describes reading vocabulary acquisition of deaf children in bilingual education…

This paper identifies a general limitation on printed text as a source of input for language acquisition. The paper contends that printed material can only serve as a source of linguistic input to the extent that the learner is able to make use of phonological information in reading. Focusing on evidence from the acquisition of spoken language and…

The article reports the development of the Structural Analysis of Written Language (SAWL), an instrument designed for use by classroom teachers in objectively documenting the ability of children to write in English. The SAWL allows teachers to use T-unit analysis to quantitatively assess language improvement regardless of whether the student…

A project in Sweden focuses on the early linguistic development of preschool deaf children in families where the parents are also deaf. The School for the Deaf in Sweden is involved with describing the Swedish language as it appears to a deaf learner, a description to be used as a basis for teacher training and inservice in the teaching of the…

A five-year-old hearing impaired girl who arrives at a residential school for the deaf without having had the opportunity to learn to communicate goes through the early stages of writing development. Similarities between the developmental stages of oral and written language and the importance of providing behavior models are discussed. (VW)

General American Symbols, speech and phonic symbols adapted from the Northampton symbols, are presented as a simplified system for teaching reading and speech to deaf children. Ways to use symbols for indicating features of speech production are suggested. (Author)

Originally part of a symposium on educational media for the deaf. Describes a system for synchronization of continuous speech with printed text. Explains the function of a glossynograph, which combines speech and printed text in accordance with synchronization information supplied by synchronization programs. Identifies synchronization routines.…

We obtained data on the writing of 110 deaf or hard-of-hearing students attending public schools who completed the spontaneous writing portion of the Test of Written Language. The average written quotient for the sample was in the below-average range but within 1 standard deviation of the test mean. Forty-nine percent of the sample received…

Argues that presentations in second language conferences should not be read because written discourse is too difficult for the audience to understand, whereas spoken discourse normally has a great deal of repetition to ensure that the main points are successfully transferred. Points out that read presentations are dull and inflexible, difficult to…

This paper offers an endorsement of mainstream placements for adolescents with severe and profound hearing impairments, describes successful mainstreaming at Clarke School for the Deaf (Massachusetts) in classrooms using spoken and written English, points out roadblocks that must be negotiated for successful mainstream education, and outlines…

Briefly describes a program that sought to improve the written English skills of deaf adolescents' whose first language was American Sign Language, focusing on first-language skills, metalinguistic skills, translating skills, lexical matching across languages, translation of syntactical structures, and recognition of the importance of the…