This study examined young children's hand usage when they produced American Sign Language signs and while they played, in order to determine their hand preference in early signing and to compare their hand use in signing with their hand preference in other, nonlinguistic, motor actions. Subjects were 24 young children (from the age of 12 months or…

Studied across a 16-month period, young children of deaf parents showed accelerated early language development, on the average producing their first recognizable sign at 8.5 months, their tenth sign at 13.2 months, and their first sign combination at 17.0 months. Findings are inconsistent with previously reported patterns of synchrony between…

The Cherokee County (Alabama) Curriculum Guide for Teachers of the Severely Handicapped focuses on four areas--elimination of maladaptive behavior, alternative forms of communication, developmental physical management, and special physical education/recreation. The section on maladaptive behavior reviews basic intervention strategies, categories…