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.…

This article reflects on Alexander Graham Bell's 1888 testimony before the Royal Commission of the United Kingdom on the Condition of the Deaf and Dumb, Etc. Excerpts are grouped by reference to (1) language education for the hearing impaired; (2) speechreading; (3) methods of teaching; (4) speech; and (5) sign language. (Author/PB)

Traces the development of name signs, developed within the first month of arrival for each of 21 new resident pupils at a Chinese school for the deaf, identifies initiators of signs, discusses the nature of the name signs, and analyzes their linguistic structure. (Author/CB)

An overview of current knowledge about Russian Sign Language (RSL) and its use in Russia today notes that linguistic study of RSL is still in the beginning stages, defines issues that need to be studied, and suggests directions for further research. (28 references) (JL)

This study examined keyword signing (KWS), a communication approach used with nonspeaking individuals. Acoustic measures and judgments of 20 adult listeners were used to evaluate KWS and Spoken-Only narratives. KWS narratives were produced with a slower articulation rate, because of increased pause and speech segment duration and increased pause…

Pre- and postsurgery analysis of a deaf six-year-old's intelligence quotient, communicative ability, emotional adjustment, and school performance found that, after a surgical procedure that provided her with artificial thumbs, the subject showed improved signing, ability to communicate, and physical abilities. (CB)

A study assessed the frequency of self-reported hand/wrist problems among 184 sign-language communicators. Fifty-nine percent reported experiencing hand/wrist problems, 26 percent reported experiencing hand/wrist problems severe enough to limit their ability to work, and 18 percent reported a medical diagnosis of wrist tendinitis, carpal tunnel…

Novel word learning in three conditions (signed only, spoken only, signed and spoken combined) was compared for young children (N=10) with Down syndrome and mental-age matched controls. No group differences in frequency of imitations or productions were obtained. The frequency of imitations was highest in the combined condition. In the combined…

Focuses on language shift in a signed language in contact with the spoken language. Suggests that British Sign Language, under the influence of spoken English, has witnessed effects such as increased use of finger spelling as well as changes in lexical and function words that reflect spoken/written language structures. (Author/VWL)

This study examined whether use of sign language would facilitate reading word recognition by 16 deaf children (6- to 1 years-old) in the Netherlands. Results indicated that if words were learned through speech, accompanied by the relevant sign, accuracy of word recognition was greater than if words were learned solely through speech. (Contains…

Describes the development of discourse cohesion in bilingual children through an analysis of narrative discourses produced by hearing children of deaf parents (HCDP) in both British Sign Language (BSL) and spoken English. Reference mechanisms in both languages are described in the context of recent work on narrative and discourse organization…

A study investigated prosodic variables of syllable stress and intonation contours in speech produced during the simultaneous communication (SC) of ten hearing sign language users. Results indicated longer sentence duration for SC than speech only conditions. Vowel duration and frequency differences between stressed and unstressed syllables were…

This is the story of my daughter, Hannah. Hannah is an amazing child. She can speak, read, and write English. She can play the piano and violin and she is mainstreamed into a third grade class. Hannah was born profoundly deaf and was not diagnosed until she was almost two years old. She received a cochlear implant when she was 2 1/2 years old.…

Inspired by Johnston's thought-provoking article, this article reports from the current Norwegian scene to make two main points. First, Norwegian Sign Language paradoxically appears to be better protected as well as more threatened than ever. Second, success in bilingual deaf education is not logically incompatible with a placement primarily in…

Specialized psychotherapy for deaf people in the Dutch and Western European mental health systems is still a rather young specialism. A key policy principle in Dutch mental health care for the deaf is that they should receive treatment in the language most accessible to them, which is usually Dutch Sign Language (Nederlandse Gebarentaal or NGT).…