This article explores the available research literature on language development and language interventions among deaf and hard of hearing (d/hh) children. This literature is divided into two broad categories: Research on natural languages (specifically American Sign Language and spoken English) and research on communication systems (specifically…

A discussion of techniques developed to foster spontaneous verbal language in autistic children. Signed speech refers to the simultaneous production of signs and speech. After several months of this, the signs are faded out and the verbal language remaining is employed in a creative fashion. (AMH)

The current state of research into augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems is reviewed, and four dimensions of the study of communication handicap are described: structural, developmental, pragmatic (interaction), and technological. Recommendations regarding standardized research reporting procedures are offered in light of the…

To better understand the mechanisms underlying encoding, manual signs and spoken words were presented in a short term memory task to six severely retarded children (11 to 14 years old). It was found that manual signs were encoded differently from spoken words for short term memory storage. (Author/PHR)

During an eight-month treatment regimen utilizing simultaneous sign/speech input, all of the words of a young girl with Down's Syndrome were recorded. Analyses revealed that most of the words she initially signed were later spontaneously spoken and that most of her signed productions evolved into spontaneous spoken productions. (Author/JDD)

Discussed are the acquisition of native sign language by deaf children and the factors which must be considered by teachers in providing a transition from sign language to the oral method. (KW)

The author critically examines a number of assumptions concerning the nature of language and the process of language acquisition on which methods of deaf education in Britain are based. (LS)

The article describes methods used to bring a seven-year-old boy with severe auditory and visual impairments and no communication skills to a level of oral communication within one year. The manual, graphic, and oral-aural strategies used are described. (Author/DB)

This paper reviews research findings on the structural properties of deaf childrens' gestural communication systems and evaluates those properties in the context of data gained from other approaches to the question of the young child's language-making capacity. (over 100 references) (JL)

The paper describes the Makaton Vocabulary as an alternative communication mode for children and adults with communication and language difficulties. The language program comprises the following components: a core vocabulary based on concepts/items needed to express essential needs and experiences; the use of signs and/or symbols always associated…

A longitudinal study of the effect of mothers' communication modes on the language development of children (N=149) with severe or profound hearing loss indicated that children whose mothers used oral communication had higher scores on measures of spoken language, whereas children whose mothers used manual communication had higher scores on…

This review of research on language development of hearing children of deaf parents identified three areas of focus: (1) oral language development; (2) sign language development; and (3) mode of communication--oral and/or manual. Areas of future study are suggested. (Author/DB)

The feedback model of maternal language indicates that maternal language development is tailored to child feedback. The conversational model indicates that adjustment in mothers' speech occurs before the onset of child language. In order to verify the validity of these models, the language of mothers of six hearing and six deaf 13- to…

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…

This report is a cross-linguistic study that compares the sequence of emergence of semantic relations in English with the sequence of emergence of these relations in the acquisition of American Sign Language. American Sign Language (ASL) differs from English in modality (it is a visual-gesture language rather than an auditory-vocal one) and in the…