Young children do not develop language skills by studying grammar and rules for forming sentences. Children's brains are wired to acquire language naturally; all they need is exposure. Many opportunities for language learning are lost to deaf children if they are not surrounded by other signers. In fact, the loss can be so severe that deaf and…

Research shows that teaching sign language to all young children has a wide range of benefits, from enhancing social-emotional and preliteracy skills to supporting positive parent-child relationships. With "Sing & Sign for Young Children," early childhood professionals will have a fun, easy, and highly effective way to teach and…

The article presents performance practices created with deaf students in the project "Theater and dance with deaf students," an outreach activity of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). The project took place in the Bilingual Deaf Municipal Elementary School Salomão Watnick in Porto Alegre, Brazil from 2013 to 2015. The…

The ongoing debate on Deaf epistemologies reflects two major paradigms in deaf education: positivism and constructivism. The present article investigates Deaf epistemologies through a metaparadigm, which should blur the boundaries among different paradigms and connect the epistemological inquiry to instructional practice for d/Deaf students. The…

An elementary school class that learned sign language also benefited from several positive side effects. As the students developed a new means of communication, they also become more aware of deaf individuals and their needs. (DF)

The National Academy of Education, Commission on Reading, emphasized that the best way to make children successful readers is to read aloud to them. This can be difficult for teachers and parents of deaf children. This article describes a program called Family Fun Night created by the Capital Area Intermediate Unit (CAIU) in Summerdale,…

Describes the primary design criteria and the classroom activities involved in "The Yellow Light Problem," a minicourse on decision making in the secondary school Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) program in California. Activities include lectures, discussions, science and math labs, computer labs, and development…

Describes a model home literacy program at the Indiana School for the Deaf. Reviews six case studies of young deaf children in order to explore and describe sign language behaviors which help deaf children grasp reading skills. Claims that sign language and finger spelling can be closely related to early reading and writing at home. (MOK)

Learning sign language is a multisensory, high-interest, developmentally appropriate activity for young children. Learning to sign improves children's attention, self-esteem, motivation, sensitivity to others, language development, reading and math readiness, behavior management, vocabularies, and retention; and allows for inclusion of special…

Describes ways to instill in elementary school students a sense of ownership of the library media center and self-confidence in its use. Topics include signage; student "licenses" for completion of training on library equipment; individual rewards; "footprints" or similar pathfinders on the floor; maps; and browsing and…

A project was undertaken to continue development of a curriculum for training interpreters for deaf persons enrolled in vocational education programs in Texas. Utilizing field consultants for specialized course development, project staff completed 11 interpreting modules and accompanying audiovisual prototypes. In addition, on-site visits were…

A project was undertaken to develop a realistic survival skills curriculum in language arts for adult basic education (ABE) students that could be used with predischarge residents in institutions for mentally ill individuals in Pennsylvania. After identifying 28 predischarge residents at the Harrisburg State Hospital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,…