Fourteen deaf elementary children (eight from total communication and six from oral classes) and seven non-hearing-impaired peers were given tasks designed to elicit spontaneous language. Results favored hearing children on all measures. When comparing the two deaf groups, few differences emerged in measures of verbal output and communicativeness.…

The study coded the communicative expressions (using manually coded English) of five 3-year-old deaf children while interacting with their mothers. A large proportion of the expressions consisted of social or imperative intentions while a much smaller proportion were used for heuristic or informational purposes. (Author/DB)

Fifty-seven college students enrolled in their first week of introductory manual communication classes demonstrated limited ability to assess their own communication skills. A discussion of sign systems, interpreter skills, and ethics aided some students in putting their skills into perspective, but 41% continued to overestimate their abilities at…