The article presents a summary of the language characteristics of autistic children and relates them to existing research supporting both sign alone and sign plus speech as viable training modes. Procedures for determining the optimal sign teaching mode for a given child are also discussed. (Author/SB)

Motoric factors that should be considered in selecting signs to teach severely handicapped learners are reviewed and discussed. They are grouped into three categories: prehension movement patterns, unilateral/bilateral movement patterns, and combinations of successive actions, with a fourth set included of less objectively definable factors…

Reviews methodologies of sign language studies with chimpanzees and compares major findings of those studies with studies of human children. Considers relevance of input conditions for language acquisition, evidence used to demonstrate linguistic achievements, and application of rigorous testing procedures in developmental psycholinguistics.…

Describes systematic communication systems developed by two deaf children of hearing parents who were placed in an oral education program at the time their deafness was diagnosed. Children did not have access to spoken or signed language model. Evidence shows children develop a communication system based on inconsistently used gestures of hearing…

The author proposes that a more complete manual system be used with the youngest child and that, when a child has demonstrated mastery in any modality, i.e., speech (sound and/or lip formation), sign, reading or writing, the system can be made leaner. (Author/SB)

A 4 year old deaf girl of hearing parents was observed during communication with adults, an infant, and a deaf peer. In order to assure meaningful communication, this girl who had had early exposure to communication in signs modified and altered her way of signing, depending on who was being addressed. (Author)

Describes two manual aids used in educating deaf children in Peking: the Chinese finger alphabet for teaching Chinese characters, and a new device being experimented with called the Chinese finger syllabary. Sample illustrations are given for both, as well as for the Pinyin finger alphabet. (PJM)

The authors address several issues pertinent to designing environmentally based total communication assessment and training programs for language delayed hearing children for whom oral language training alone is inadequate. (Author/CL)

A comparison of the intelligibility of Ameslan (American Sign Language) and Amerind (American Indian Sign), sign systems in teaching nonverbal handicapped children language, was carreid out with 30 undergraduate students. (Author/CL)

This paper describes Seeing Essential English (SEE), which is a manual code of English designed to specifically reflect English, and signed in English word order. The paper attempts to clear up misconceptions concerning SEE and confusion between SEE and Signing Exact English, provide some historical background about its development, and review…

Reviews previous work on phonological variation in American Sign Language (ASL) and examines issues that distinguish spoken languages. Presents an account of the data collection, reduction, and analysis, with an emphasis on issues particular to the analysis. Discusses implications of the results, including possible change in ASL. (Author/VWL)

Examines the variety of sign language used in Southern and central Pakistan and Northwestern India, including its grammatical profile, word classes, the relationship between word class and functional slot, the marking of basic syntactic relations, shifters, number systems, types of possession, negation, questions, subordinate clauses, and…

Survey responses from teachers of hearing-impaired children indicated that, although 39 percent of all respondents and 59.1 percent of signing respondents reported that they used an artificial sign system in the classroom, only 8.1 percent of all respondents and 12.3 percent of signing respondents may actually be using one. (Author/CB)

Suggestions are presented for planning a successful dramatic production by adolescent deaf students. Suggestions deal with script selection, stage direction, scenery, props, costumes, use of American Sign Language rather than signed English, and the need for all actors' signed lines to be visible to the entire audience. (JDD)

The study analyzed the dyadic conversational speech of two hearing-impaired twin boys trained in simultaneous communication. Results indicated the adolescents used an integrated bimodal form of English with a grammatical base that did not vary as a function of the presence or absence of simultaneous signs. (Author/DB)