For young deaf children a co-enrolment setting with hearing children in nursery school is recognised as a useful provision for inclusive education. The aim of the study reported in this article was to gain knowledge about pathways into literacy for young deaf children in a co-enrolment setting. The questions raised in this article are: How are…

Due to the fact that the outcomes of education for most school leavers who are deaf in Northern Ireland are weak literacy skills and below average reading ages, a study was undertaken to investigate this situation. The views and experiences of teachers of children who are deaf, and of young people who are deaf in Northern Ireland, where oral and…

Two methods (signs presented with or without accompanying verbal label) of training autistic children to use manual signs were compared. The efficacy of training in both treatment conditions was demonstrated but no clear differences in acquisition speed across conditions were apparent. (Author/CL)

The word identification directives developed by the Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction (ECRI) were modified for use in a Total Communication integrated classroom with seven hearing impaired third graders. Pilot tests showed that the hearing impaired students substantially increased their reading and spelling vocabularies. (Author)

Intended to raise researchers' and teachers' awareness of fingerspelling as an important part of signed communication, a study examined its use with deaf children in the classroom. Five trained teachers of the deaf, participating in a demonstration total communication project in a public school in the Midwest, were videotaped in their own…

The paper describes a program of teaching simultaneous communication (total communication) to behaviorally disordered preschool children, and presents the cases of two autistic and two autisticlike children. Simultaneous communication involves tactile, visual, oral, and auditory modalities and combines spoken language with Signed English. Before…

A study of 28 hearing families and their children with hearing impairments (ages 42 to 87 months) found that average age of entry into early-intervention programs was 21 months. Mothers participated more than fathers, and the majority of graduates were enrolled in specific deaf-education programs emphasizing a total-communication approach. (CR)

This study examined the relationship between the teaching method, oral or total communication, used at children's schools and children's consonant-production accuracy and vocabulary development over time. The children (N=147) had used cochlear implants for between 6 months and 10 years. Results indicated a complex relationship among children's…

Three Spanish deaf preschoolers were taught receptive vocabulary in oral English, English sign-mix, oral Spanish, Spanish sign-mix, and sign alone. Subject one learned best using sign alone. Subject two performed best using oral Spanish or sign alone. Subject three seemed to profit from sign, Spanish sign-mix, or oral English. (Author/SW)

Eight focus groups of teachers of students who are deaf/hard of hearing identified language instructional practices associated with either oral communication or total communication. This generated a set of 79 statements of practices that were then verified by program supervisors using a Likert-type scale. Teachers' identified practices differed…

Two teachers recount the 2 years they each spent teaching an autistic 9-year-old boy named Bernie. The first teacher reviews Bernie's life history, reporting the facts of his birth and followup examinations which revealed no medical abnormality. The teacher then describes her work with Bernie at the Therapeutic Nursery School. After an initial…

Investigates the administration and interpretation of deaf educational policy at a regular education campus. There was a breakdown in translation of policy and a lack of articulation between the County and the District, as well as confusion regarding language use in the classroom and a lack of knowledge concerning the bilingual education of the…

The paper presents an overview of the methods used in a class for autistic children (ages 4-11 years) and reports on a longitudinal case study of an autistic 11 year-old girl. Autistic characteristics, such as poor eye contact and insensitivity to pain, are outlined. The author explains that the program emphasized teaching basic communication…