Describes a study that determines if an interrelationship exists between cognitive level, gestural development, and spoken English development in five hearing-impaired preschool children. Results suggest that a deaf child's cognitive development may be related to his/her communicative ability, especially in terms of pragmatic-semantic…

A study tested the hypothesis that manual encoding aids learning in the prelingually deaf. Twenty-four adults who used fingerspelling as their primary means of communication participated in two groups of a paired-associate learning paradigm, using eight study-test trial sequences. Those using fingerspelling showed more recall and a faster learning…

Examines the spontaneous language of deaf children without forcing the analysis to fit the features of a spoken language system. Suggests linguistic competence of deaf children is commensurate with their cognitive age and is not adequately described by the standard spoken English language tests. (EKN)

A review of recent research trends in Italy regarding cognitive and communicative development of deaf children indicates that deaf children's potential for communicative and cognitive growth is enormous. This potential may be realized if provision is made for an educational environment based on a multiple code, gestural communication, spoken…

Examines the influence of sign language structures on the spontaneous use of time and space markers in French and French Sign Language. The study compared the use of nonspatialized utterances and spatialized structures of deaf and hearing children, adolescents, and adults. Findings shed light on the different types of errors in understanding. (17…

Examines private sign in preschoolers with hearing loss who are rated most and least advanced in literacy development. Teachers and parents/primary caregivers were surveyed to collect data on the use of private sign in these two groups. The majority of children with signing skills exhibited private sign in classroom and home contexts. (37…

Examines from a Vygotskian perspective deaf children's private speech, i.e., speech that is spoken aloud (or visibly performed) but that is addressed to no particular person. Findings are consistent with Vygotsky's notion of the robustness of the phenomenon and its ontogenesis in early social communication. (33 references) (LR)