This study examined deaf children's reading comprehension in relation to the linguistic structures of their sign languages of fluency and the amount of sign language input they had received. Children (n=47) born severely or profoundly deaf, in age groups from 7 to 15 years and all attending day classes in which the English-structured Manually…

A study compared the performance of congenitally deaf signers (N=39) and hearing individuals (N=39) on a bilateral tachistoscopic task. Subjects were exposed to pretested linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli during the task. Analysis of response time indicated that deaf subjects were slower to respond than were hearing subjects across all…

The study assessed parent-child interactions of five normal hearing children and five hearing-impaired children, aged 3-5. The mothers and fathers were administered the Mother-Child Relationship Evaluation (MCRE) to evaluate parental attitudes. Each parent and child participated in a 10-minute interactive play activity. The child's language level…

A study examined English grammatical characteristics used in the signing of teachers of hearing-impaired students, using a diglossic continuum between American Sign Language (ASL) and English. Scalogram analysis or implicational scaling, a traditional tool in variation theory useful for analyzing samples where there are a small number of tokens…

Two pilot studies probed effectiveness of linguistically controlled, highly visual computer-assisted instruction (CAI) for English grammar instruction with hearing-impaired high school students (N=29 in the first study and N=71 in the second). Results from the first study suggested that state-of-the-art CAI designed specifically for use with this…

A study examined the effects of the use of sign language in young hearing children's language development. The study tracked a class of 19 Maryland students from their first week of prekindergarten over the 2-year period that ended with the last week of their kindergarten year. Subjects received sign instruction during the prekindergarten year and…

A review of literature focuses on the literacy acquisition process of deaf children who acquire American Sign Language (ASL) as a first language and written English as a second language. Literacy in this context is defined broadly to include the context and culture in which reading and writing occur, referring to the strong connection between…

Down Syndrome children exhibit language delays, particularly in expressive abilities, more severe than would be anticipated from their cognitive level alone. This research project sought to develop a procedure for introducing total communication into the home environment of prelinguistic Down Syndrome infants and for comparing the relative…