The manual gestures that hearing children produce when explaining their answers to math problems predict whether they will profit from instruction in those problems. We ask here whether gesture plays a similar role in deaf children, whose primary communication system is in the manual modality. Forty ASL-signing deaf children explained their…

Shows that 17 kindergarten children receiving sign language instruction tested significantly higher on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test than 17 kindergartners receiving no such instruction. The study's findings confirm that simultaneously presenting words visually, kinesthetically, and orally offers an advantage to young learners. (23…

The article stresses the importance of teaching deaf children to think and learn through the development of meaning-making and meaning-sharing capacities. Classroom practices should thus be content focused and actively engage students in American Sign Language to develop general literacy. (CL)