A qualitative study was conducted that reflected an analysis of a 6-week poetry unit in a language arts classroom of 6th and 8th graders at a school for the deaf in a large city in the northeastern United States. The school served a large population of children of poverty who were of Latino and African American descent. The study was guided by 4…

In this article the author focuses on drawing-related interaction among 5-6-year-old children in two Year One classes in Norwegian primary schools as they engage in teacher-initiated learning activities involving drawing. Inspired in particular by Gunther Kress' semiotic perspective on drawing, the author presents four interaction categories to…

American Sign Language (ASL) is a visual-gestural language identified as the first or natural language of many persons who are deaf in the United States. For over 200 years, it has been the focal point of a heated controversy regarding optimal teaching methodologies for deaf children in the American elementary and secondary educational systems.…

The article stresses the importance of teaching deaf children to think and learn through the development of meaning-making and meaning-sharing capacities. Classroom practices should thus be content focused and actively engage students in American Sign Language to develop general literacy. (CL)

The SKI*HI Institute (Utah) has developed a system of coactive signing for children who are deaf and blind. The system includes optimized coactive signs that are functional, easy to feel, easy to relate to the referent, and easy to make. It also includes techniques for effective coactive sign use. Videotapes of lessons are described. (Author/DB)

A pilot project is described in which an introductory course in sign language was successfully taught to five groups of nondeaf persons in Vermont and New Hampshire via closed circuit television. (Author)

Suggested procedures for art teachers which can get results quickly and painlessly in the teaching of lettering for posters and other projects. (CB)

This seminar proceedings document offers a summary of the views articulated in a paper by Robert E. Johnson and others titled "Unlocking the Curriculum: Principles for Achieving Access in Deaf Education." The paper's contention was that deaf students' low average academic achievement levels are not results of learning deficits inherently…

Nine hearing impaired sixth graders who received sign language vocabulary words grouped according to hand shapes remembered 96 percent of the signs they learned over 6 weeks, compared to 64 percent retention for 11 students who received vocabulary imitation instruction. (CL)

A training sequence is presented for teaching the manual alphabet beginning with the hand shapes that look most like the letters they represent. Each manual letter is then paired with an associated word. (CL)

The purpose of this paper is to describe a variety of teaching and learning strategies that were used within a classroom of Deaf adults participating in a high school English course as part of an upgrading program. The class was conducted in a bilingual manner; that is, being Deaf and communicating with American Sign Language (ASL) was not…

Historical and current trends, practices, and perspectives regarding manual communication in educating deaf children are discussed, including Manually Coded English systems and American Sign Language. Issues concerning choice of sign language/systems and instructional strategies that support sign usage (such as Total Communication, Simultaneous…

Research is reviewed on the Makaton Vocabulary, a sign lexicon used with severely communicatively handicapped pupils. It is concluded that the lack of published teaching strategies tends to perpetuate an oversimplified teaching formula. (CL)

Two methods (signs presented with or without accompanying verbal label) of training autistic children to use manual signs were compared. The efficacy of training in both treatment conditions was demonstrated but no clear differences in acquisition speed across conditions were apparent. (Author/CL)

This paper argues that current practices in total communication classrooms have basically assigned the responsibility of communication to hearing-impaired students who must adapt to the variation in communication behaviors displayed by each of their teachers. The paper advocates use of a model communication and language policy designed to…