One of the foundational principles of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) system is accessibility for students -- multi-tiered resources and strategies that ensure equitable and valid access for students to instructional and assessment content. This Guide includes 54 accessibility strategies that can be used by teachers,…

Research shows that teaching sign language to all young children has a wide range of benefits, from enhancing social-emotional and preliteracy skills to supporting positive parent-child relationships. With "Sing & Sign for Young Children," early childhood professionals will have a fun, easy, and highly effective way to teach and…

Late-deafness means deafness that happened postlingually, any time after the development of speech and language in a person who has identified with hearing society through schooling, social connections, etc. Students who are late-deafened cannot understand speech without visual aids such as speechreading, sign language, and captioning (although…

The article describes a language program for junior and senior high school deaf students in which American Sign Language was used to teach English language skills. Two examples illustrate the ways in which students use what they already know to approach new learning situations. (Author/CL)

A training sequence is presented for teaching the manual alphabet beginning with the hand shapes that look most like the letters they represent. Each manual letter is then paired with an associated word. (CL)

Words in English often have multiple meanings, causing concepts to be paired with incorrect signs when working with deaf students, such as the concept of "made up" meaning either "invented" or "decided." A method called "sentence chains" is recommended as a drill to learn to link concepts with their appropriate signs. (JDD)

Motoric factors that should be considered in selecting signs to teach severely handicapped learners are reviewed and discussed. They are grouped into three categories: prehension movement patterns, unilateral/bilateral movement patterns, and combinations of successive actions, with a fourth set included of less objectively definable factors…

The simultaneous presentation of picture book and signer on split screen videotape made literature more accessible and vital to hearing-impaired students. Suggestions are provided for preparing students for the viewing, discussing the story after viewing, and making videotapes. (CB)

Finding good help is difficult enough these days, but trying to hire a qualified sign language interpreter can be especially difficult if you don't know what to look for. This paper provides some ideas that may help in your search. These include such considerations as using an interpreter referral agency versus direct hiring and certification and…

Finding good help is difficult enough these days, but trying to hire a qualified sign language interpreter can be especially difficult if you don't know what to look for. This paper provides some ideas that may help in your search. These include such considerations as using an interpreter referral agency versus direct hiring and certification and…

Social studies should help children answer the question: Why do people act the way they do? Ways in which elementary teachers can help children see a connection between the personal events in their own lives, inner feelings and senses, and the world beyond the classroom are described. (RM)

Notes that incorporating sign language in a diverse curriculum enhances the rate of children's learning, leads to greater motivation for reading, and reaches a broad spectrum of children--some of whom may have had difficulties learning with only visual and auditory approaches. Describes how the author incorporates signing in a kindergarten class.…

The manual is intended as a course resource to help hearing secondary students learn to communicate with deaf peers or family members. The total communication approach is described and reasons for its use advanced. An introductory section explains the philosophy, general goals, and program objectives of the course. Ten lesson plans are then…

The authors describe the results from a study using sign language and the manual alphabet to improve spelling skills of learning disabled second graders. (SBH)

The manual teaches SignFont, a written form of sign language. Following a brief introduction, the first of three major sections describes the SignFont alphabet, structured according to the parts of every sign that is written (handshape, action area, location, movement). The second section discusses in greater detail how the SignFont characters are…