Examines private sign in preschoolers with hearing loss who are rated most and least advanced in literacy development. Teachers and parents/primary caregivers were surveyed to collect data on the use of private sign in these two groups. The majority of children with signing skills exhibited private sign in classroom and home contexts. (37…

Describes a British outdoor program in which 11- and 12-year-old students were placed in mixed groups containing several ethnic groups and hearing and deaf children. Includes children's comments on outdoor activities, their relationships with other children, and communication problems and their resolution. An adjacent page illustrates 12 British…

Six deaf mothers were videotaped while reading a book to their deaf or hard-of-hearing children (ages three to five). Analysis revealed six strategies used by mothers, including sign placement, text paired with signed demonstration, real world connection between text and child's experience, attention maintenance, physical demonstrations of…

The conversations of 10 deaf children (ages 10-12) and their families at dinnertime were examined, and spoken and signed verbal exchanges were documented. Results showed that deaf children responded more loquaciously to questions than they did to statements or expressions of ideas, and the children were unsuccessful in continuing topics of…

Disfluencies in the verbal and signed language of a 10-year-old moderately mentally retarded boy were analyzed. Discussion addresses implications for the accurate characterization of stuttering in manual communication and appropriate approaches to management in such cases. (DB)

Five hearing parents who spoke and signed SEE-2 (Signing Exact English) to their hearing-impaired children (ages 3-4) were observed, given feedback on their communication abilities, and observed again following a retention period. All parents showed improvement, and three parents changed impressively in form, content, and use of this form of…

This case study describes a 25-year-old Swedish woman with hereditary moderate hearing loss since birth who acquired both sign language and spoken language in her early preschool years and reached normal developmental milestones in each. Analysis revealed that her speech reading expertise is associated with cognitive functions such as high…

This article from 1855 discusses the validity of signing for individuals with deafness and the need to develop an instinctive "language of gestures" to enable them to profit by the experiences of others and to share in social communion. The need for sign language to communicate religious instruction is emphasized. (CR)

This article first describes various augmentative communication systems including sign language, picture symbols, and voice output communication devices. It then explains ways to embed augmentative communication within four types of early childhood classroom activities: (1) special or planned activities, (2) meal time, (3) circle time, and (4)…

Discusses English acquisition in children with severe to profound hearing impairments. Components that should be integrated during language acquisition are discussed and include phonology, semantics, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics. The mixture of learning conditions that influence the progress of language development in sign, speech, and text…

Offers hearing parents of deaf infants guidelines on communicating with their child based on changes that deaf mothers make in their signing when talking to their deaf baby. Guidelines focus on restricting language, sign repetition, dramatic expression, waiting for the child's attention, tapping to gain attention, and visual leading. (DB)

As aberrant behavior is often recognized as the number one form of communication, it becomes imperative that as parents, teachers, and educators we must address and systematically teach or provide all children with an effective means of communication. While many augmentative and alternative communication systems such as manual sign language and…

We present a new highly interactive computer animation tool to increase the mathematical skills of deaf children. We aim at increasing the effectiveness of (hearing) parents in teaching arithmetic to their deaf children, and the opportunity of deaf children to learn arithmetic via interactive media. Using state-of-the-art computer animation…

This study represents an attempt to determine the nature and efficiency of the strategies used by prelingually deafened individuals for the recognition of written words with reference to an orthographic self-teaching concept (D. L. Share, 1995). A research paradigm asking the participants to make categorical judgments for real words and…

This article outlines an innovative project conducted at Macquarie University, in order to instigate a change in the delivery of the Postgraduate Diploma in Auslan/English Interpreting. This is the first reported educational change project focusing on the training of sign language interpreters. The goal of the project was to research and develop a…