The last sixty years have been a time of tumultuous change in the American deaf community. Two deaf figures who made a great difference during this period were Frank Bowe and Jack Gannon, who passed away in 2007 and 2022, respectively. Bowe was a prominent disability rights leader, helping to secure more rights for deaf and all disabled Americans,…

Two hundred and fifty years ago, L'Epée and Heinicke were engaged in a disagreement over the role of signs in the education of deaf students, with L'Epée supporting both natural and methodical signs and Heinicke advocating for an oral method without a manual component. This was the beginning of the oral/manual controversy. This controversy set a…

This paper discusses historical and contemporary issues regarding communication approaches for educating Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children in Ghana. Discussion of the communication approaches took into account a brief historical background to the development of formal education for DHH children in the country, academic achievement of DHH…

Since its beginning, the education of deaf and hard of hearing individuals has been steeped in a debate around language, as professionals have clashed in a debate on whether signed or spoken language should be used as the primary language of instruction and communication with deaf and hard of hearing individuals. This has created a condition in…

Cued Speech is a visual mode of communication in which mouth movements of speech combine with "cues" to make the sounds (phonemes) of traditional spoken languages look different. Cueing allows users who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who have language/communication disorders, to access the basic, fundamental properties of spoken languages…

The Spoken Language Predictor (SLP) can help determine the most appropriate communication mode in educating a profoundly hearing impaired child. The measure provides weighted scores for hearing capacity, language competence, nonverbal intelligence, family support, and speech communication attitude and results in three possible educational…

Presents information on deafness and deaf people that is helpful to librarians communicating with deaf patrons. Communication modes and preferences are discussed, including speaking and facial expression, speech reading, lipreading, and sign language; and methods of optimizing conditions for good communication are described. (11 references) (LRW)

This pamphlet answers many questions about demographic aspects of hearing-impaired individuals, such as the number of hearing-impaired and deaf persons in the United States, the number with hearing problems that restrict communication, the number of hearing-impaired students and number of deaf college students, the demographic groups which have a…

This paper discusses the issue of oral versus sign language in educating people who are deaf, focusing on Hungary, which currently emphasizes oralism and discourages the use of Hungarian Sign Language. Teachers of people who are hearing impaired are trained to use the acoustic channel and view signing as an obstacle to the integration of deaf…

Provides an overview of past and present library services to, and policies about, deaf people. Unique characteristics of the deaf community are discussed; recent developments in deaf studies, communication techniques, and laws affecting library services to deaf people are reviewed; and the roles libraries can play in providing services are…

This paper describes a combination of cued speech and signs called Complete Signed and Cued French, which is designed to enable deaf children to progress simultaneously in signed and spoken language, respect each child's learning rhythm, and develop expressive skills in conjunction with comprehension abilities. (Author/JDD)

An exchange program was established to assist American and Soviet special educators in learning about the other country's educational theory and practice. An American participant describes Soviet education of deaf students as being highly structured, involving nationally standardized curricula and methods, using a residential school model, and…

An overview of an oral school, Child's Voice, for children who are deaf or hard of hearing is presented. Key features include low student-teacher ratios, teachers trained as oral educators, ongoing staff and parent education, specialized curricula, and a strong emphasis on listening and speaking throughout the day. (Contains references.)…

This document includes a final report, manual, and booklets from a project conducted to develop an instructional video program and related print materials, combined with literacy training, peer sharing, and reading practice opportunities targeted to families of young children in which at least one member is deaf. In the video program, vignettes…

This conference presentation discusses how the Nucleus 22 cochlear implant, with its ability to improve speech perception, can be capitalized upon to improve the speech production of very profoundly deaf children. The paper is designed to accompany a video presentation demonstrating the speech ability and theory of two young children (ages 3 and…