For a number of years, sign language has been used in special education settings for learners with disabilities. Children with hearing loss, autism, cognitive disabilities, and language disorders have demonstrated improved communication skills with the use of signs. Recently, however, teachers have begun to use sign language with typical learners…

The Educational Sign Skills Evaluation (ESSE) was developed to provide a means of identifying the dominant signing style of an individual and to provide feedback on areas of strength and areas in need of improvement. It provides an overall expressive skills rating as well as information on the type, level, and degree of understanding demonstrated…

A literature-based rationale for teaching American Sign Language (ASL) as the primary language system for deaf children elaborates on the following points: Sign languages are visual-manual; spoken languages are oral-aural. Competency in a first language tremendously increases a person's ability to learn a second language. Deaf children have not…

This study investigated the Stroop effect with deaf and hearing bilingual individuals and whether there is a positive relationship between the Stroop effect and English language proficiency of deaf bilinguals. The Stroop effect refers to the interference caused by incongruent semantic information in naming colors (e.g., when subjects must name the…

The mother and teacher of a boy who lacked speech skills (eventually diagnosed as generalized apraxia, severe in the speech modality) describe the boy's various diagnoses and educational treatments and the successful use of sign language to improve his expressive communication. (LS)

A longitudinal study followed the language acquisition of three deaf infants. Analysis of videotapes recorded in the child's home during informal play was performed in terms of communicative gestures. Results revealed that Ss used a very limited number of hand configurations, locations for signs, and hand and arm movements. Analysis of the…

The author examines the use of oral bilingual models in programs for the hearing impaired, contending that the native language of a hearing impaired child of hearing parents is frequently sign language. It is suggested that classrooms for the hearing impaired could combine numerous languages (Signed English, Signing Exact English, and American…

The paper, one-third of which consists of appendixes, examines the emergence, development, and growth of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. The literature is reviewed relative to the historical, philosophical, and general forces bearing on the evolution of sign language into a formal language, which was a prerequisite to the…

Six nonverbal, autistic boys (ages 6 to 11) were studied to assess what was learned when signs and spoken words were presented simultaneously. The boys were taught to discriminate among several available objects when given commands consisting of simultaneously signed and spoken object labels. Each of the six children mastered all of the…

The sign language of the American deaf community (ASL) is analyzed from a linguistic point of view. The history of the application of linguistic principles to sign language studies is briefly traced. The cherology (phonology) of sign language is treated with respect to finger spelling, manual numeration, ASL phonetics, and conventions of sign…

To explore the effects of the use of sign language as an intervention technique to facilitate the development of expressive and receptive communication skills, manual sign language (Signing Exact English) was employed with 12 multihandicapped, language delayed and/or nonverbal Ss (18 to 36 months old). Sign language was studied both as a…

The student's manual to manual communication, finger spelling and sign language, (For instructor's manual, see EC 042 221) is said to be coordinated with material in the instructor's manual and is designed mainly for use as a workbook for out-of-class review and practice on material previously covered in class. The practice material is designed to…

Summarizes the available data on the spontaneous signing of nonverbal mentally handicapped children and discusses possible reasons for the spontaneity. Instructional techniques for promoting spontaneity are outlined, and implications of sign spontaneity for research are considered. (Author/EJS)

A survey of 86 persons using non-speech communication systems with retarded clients was conducted to determine which non-speech communication methods they used with which kinds of communication impaired populations. (SBH)