Questionnaires completed by 195 teachers of deaf blind students revealed that additional handicapping conditions and the presence of undesirable behaviors had an important effect on the selection of communication methods. (CL)

Classroom communication between deaf students was modeled using a question-and-answer game. Participants consisted of student pairs that relied on spoken language, pairs that relied on American Sign Language (ASL), and mixed pairs in which one student used spoken language and one signed. Although the task encouraged students to request…

Examined is the combination of methods (aural, manual, oral) used within the philosophy of total communication for the deaf. The use of Cued Speech, a tool whose purpose is to make spoken language visually clear at the levels of phonems, syllables, suprasegmentals, words, and phrases, is advocated for communication with the deaf. (BD)

Twenty-eight deaf adolescents enrolled in a day-class program for the hearing impaired were administered a battery of four short factual stories using oral, manual, simultaneous, and interpreted modalities of communication. (Author/PHR)

The goal of the Manual/Simultaneous Communication Department (M/SCD) at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) is to assist deaf students in developing communication skills. (Author)

Studies the attitudes toward deaf society of two new deaf Gallaudet students who had been raised in an "oralist" tradition with biases against deaf culture. Their attitudes are compared with those of a deaf graduate oralist who had become acculturated into the deaf community. (PJM)

This study investigated the ability of two groups of profoundly deaf students (N=40 and ages 8, 11, 14, and 17), using either oral or signed communication, to employ pragmatic skills required for effective face-to-face interactions. Notable differences in pragmatic skills were found between the groups and between deaf and normal hearing students.…

A longitudinal study of the effect of mothers' communication modes on the language development of children (N=149) with severe or profound hearing loss indicated that children whose mothers used oral communication had higher scores on measures of spoken language, whereas children whose mothers used manual communication had higher scores on…

A mother of a deaf child recounts her earlier commitment to an oralist position, her gradual realization that she was asking her child to do the impossible, and the child's rapid acquisition of language when allowed and encouraged to use signs. The importance of hearing parents learning sign language is stressed. (DB)

The use of total communication in educating deaf preschool and elementary school students in the Santa Ana Program for the Hearing Impaired, Orange County, California, is described. Total communication is explained to consist of auditory training, speech, speechreading, fingerspelling, and the language of signs. Aspects of the program described…

The comprehension of 30 severely and profoundly deaf students (ages 10 to 17) was evaluated under 11 communication conditions involving individual and combined presentations of lipreading, listening, fingerspelling, and signed English. Severely deaf students scored higher than profoundly deaf students under all but one condition, and all students…

This paper explores the link between sign language research and sociolinguistic theory. It demonstrates how sign language research benefits from a sociolinguistic approach and provides validation for sociolinguistic theory. Previous research on the sign language of the deaf is reviewed, and a distinction is made between "structure-oriented" and…

This paper examines the evolution of sign language's role in education, beginning with the debate over sign language versus oral communication, followed by the debate over American Sign Language (ASL) versus other sign systems. The paper points out that this debate process is hindering the educational experience for thousands of deaf children and…

This document includes a final report, manual, and booklets from a project conducted to develop an instructional video program and related print materials, combined with literacy training, peer sharing, and reading practice opportunities targeted to families of young children in which at least one member is deaf. In the video program, vignettes…

Noting that when a deaf child is born to hearing parents, problems arise due to the language barrier, this paper discusses the kinds of disruptions hearing parents experience with the birth of a deaf child, the implications such an impairment has on development and language acquisition, and the adjustments made for such a child. Following an…