D/deaf children of Deaf parents reportedly begin learning finger-spelling as young as thirteen months old, but deaf children born to hearing, nonsigning parents lack natural access to the native (spoken) language of their families, often exhibiting later language development. Forty-four deaf adults participated in a fingerspelling test of…

We examined the language and reading progress of 336 young DHH children in kindergarten, first and second grades. Trained assessors tested children's language, reading, and spoken and fingerspelled phonological awareness in the fall and spring of the school year. Children were divided into groups based on their auditory access and classroom…

Discusses a series of seminars designed to teach situational communication skills to deaf adults and enable graduate students to improve their ability to work with the deaf. (RW)

The University of Southern California School of Education invited several persons in the field of special education to lecture at a specially designated summer session series. The following lectures were delivered in the summer of 1966: "Headstart on Headstart: A Thirty Year Evaluation" by Harold M. Skeels, "The Role of Language in…

Two studies were made of the Rochester Method of combining fingerspelling with speech and of its effects on development of language and communication in profoundly, prelingually deaf children. A survey tested school performances of 200 subjects from six residential schools for the deaf, three of which used the Rochester Method and three which used…