Suggestions are offered for teaching young children with hearing impairments to read and write. The strategies emphasize the importance of making the sign-to-print relationship explicit, helping children understand that there is not always perfect sign-to-word correlation, increasing students' metalinguistic knowledge, and building comprehension.…

This book asserts that deaf students should be treated no differently from non-deaf students and that American Sign Language (ASL) and English can coexist in the classroom, embedded in the content being taught. It stresses that language acquisition, whether oral or manual, as well as the learning of reading and writing or subject content, are all…

This paper discusses ways to facilitate the emerging literacy of deaf children by encouraging bilingualism in American Sign Language and English within the context of what is known from research and practice about emerging literacy in hearing and deaf children. This approach focuses on enrichment by the addition of a second language (English)…

A La Guardia Community College (New York) course in developmental writing for deaf students features small class size and teachers fluent in American Sign Language. Teaching practices include reading of model essays on topics of interest to deaf students, peer feedback on the first two drafts of writing assignments, and student "reading…

This article describes "Hands On," a research project employing interactive computer/videodisc technology to teach English to deaf children with American Sign Language (ASL) skills. Elementary school students can read a story in printed English text, watch an ASL-signed version of the story, access a list of vocabulary words, or caption a story…

The curriculum guide was developed to serve hearing impaired children at the Kendall Demonstration School elementary/middle school in Washington, D.C. An introductory section explains the philosophy/rationale of the language arts curriculum which emphasizes the development of spoken, signed, or written language. The next section offers suggestions…

This paper discusses the use of American Sign Language (ASL) in an English-as-a-Second-Language approach to teaching reading and writing skills to deaf students. The paper poses and answers the following theoretical and practical questions: (1) What is the nature of first language reading? (2) What is the nature of second language reading? (3)…

The proceedings include, after the keynote address by E.M. Childers and the conference agenda, the following papers: "An Additional Handicap: Visual Perceptual Learning Disabilities of Deaf Children" (Vivienne Ratner); "Minimum Competency Testing" (Carl Williams); "Transitional Planning for Hearing Impaired Students in the Mainstream" (Helen…

Electronic Networks for Interaction (ENFI), an instructional tool for teaching reading and writing using computer technology, improves the English reading and writing of deaf students at all educational levels. Chapters address these topics: (1) the origins of the technique; (2) how ENFI works in the classroom and laboratory (software, lab…