The discussion on the role of American Sign Language (ASL) in deaf students' reading development has been long and contentious. The students' limited knowledge of English has been commonly perceived as a culprit in making reading difficult. However, a more nuanced explanation of reading performance and its relationship with competence in ASL's…

Fingerspelling and its relationship with literacy skills among deaf and hard of hearing children who use American Sign Language is an increasingly popular research topic. However, there is limited research on whether reading interventions that systematically include fingerspelling are more effective for improving literacy skills than reading…

Over time children's educational television has successfully modified programming to incorporate research-based strategies to facilitate learning and engagement during viewing. However, research has been limited on whether these same strategies would work with preschool deaf children viewing videos in American Sign Language. In a descriptive…

The results indicated that bimodal presentations are significantly more effective than unimodal approaches and that finger spelling can be an important aid to learning for the Ss used in this study. (Author)

The finger spelling intelligibility of 10 spellers (five deaf and five normal) to 34 readers (eight deaf and 26 normal) was measured along with differences relative to experience and condition of hearing. (Author)

The Deafsign Project began as a microcomputer approach using screen graphics to visually depict the handsigns of the alphabet and evolved into signs used for words and phrases. The program features drills on the alphabet and word use and includes a graded test. (CL)

In 1967 the Florida School for the Deaf adopted the Rochester Method (using fingerspelling as a more visible supplement to speech and lipreading). (LS)

The article reviews linguistic features of a trilingual approach to total communication for deaf children from non-English-speaking families. Covered are issues of syntax, semantics, and use of fingerspelling. (CL)

The study examined the role of sign language and fingerspelling in the development of the reading and writing skills of deaf children and youth. Twenty-six deaf participants (13 children, 13 adolescents), whose first language was Chilean Sign Language (CHSL), were examined. Their dactylic abilities were evaluated with tasks involving the reading…

Receptive fingerspelling performance for words in isolation and context was measured at 10-foot interval distances from 10 feet through 60 feet in 83 hearing-impaired college students. (Author/PHR)

The use to and by 40 hearing impaired students (3 to 18 years old) of speech, signs, fingerspelling, writing, gestures, American Sign Language, and pictures was investigated. Findings of a nationwide study were combined with local data to make recommendations for a program concentrating on modes, usage, flexibility, and cognitive/linguistic…

A description of 14 communication systems used by the deaf blind is provided. (PHR)

Describes fingerspelling as it is used within the American deaf community and the development of fingerspelling skills in deaf (and hearing) children, suggesting that fingerspelling is largely discounted despite its potential for linkage to English orthography and literacy development. Strategies for increasing the use of fingerspelling by…

Predictions about the length of time needed to fingerspell various strings in four sentences were drawn from cipher, phonological, and syntacitc models of fingerspelling production. (Author)