Examines the social rejection and acceptance of American Sign Language (ASL) since its introduction in schools for the deaf in 1817. Concludes that the evolutionary nature of ASL binds its use to the deaf community. (Author/FMW)

The perspectives of seven hearing parents on their use of sign communication with their deaf children were evaluated. All parents had chosen Signed English rather than American Sign Language (ASL). Parents' understanding of ASL varied greatly; they reported difficulty in developing personal and family fluency in Signed English; and they identified…

This study investigates the cultural and educational ideas of the French deaf poet-teacher Pierre Pelissier (1814-1863) who was an instructor at the Paris Deaf Institute from the early 1840s until his death in 1863. As a young man, Pelissier became interested in composing poetry and through his verse, captured many of the social frustrations…

The political discourse of Deaf ethnolinguistic identity has empowered Deaf people in recent decades to deconstruct a pathological model of deafness and the deficit pedagogy that centres on acquisition of speech and social assimilation. The engagement of Deaf community members in consultation and employment in the New Zealand (NZ) education system…

This study investigated the communication preferences of graduate students in the teacher education program in Deaf Education at Gallaudet University (District of Columbia). Thirty-seven (of 76) full-time students in the Master's program completed a questionnaire. Forty percent of the students were deaf or hard of hearing and 49 percent were…

Words in English often have multiple meanings, causing concepts to be paired with incorrect signs when working with deaf students, such as the concept of "made up" meaning either "invented" or "decided." A method called "sentence chains" is recommended as a drill to learn to link concepts with their appropriate signs. (JDD)

This article discusses the development of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory for American Sign Language (ASL-CDI), a parent report that measures early sign production. Normative data from 69 children (8-36 months) with deafness and their parents with deafness found the development of the ASL-CDI has been successful. (Contains…

Preliminary results are described of an attempt to analyze the talk of the Finnish deaf signing community from the perspective of conversation analysis (CA). CA is described as an empirical approach to the study of spoken conversation deriving from the field of ethnomethodology, which itself emerged as a reaction to traditional sociology in the…

(Text is in French).

The study examined whether deaf children's gesture systems are structured at the morpheme level of analysis. A 3-year-old deaf child from the authors' previous study was selected and all of his characterizing signs produced during a 2-hour naturalistic play session in his home were videotaped. Each sign was coded in terms of its handshape, motion,…

Sign language with verbal behaviorally disordered children is an alternative mode of communication for helping to maintain behavioral control. Also, fingerspelling is used to teach letter-sound association, particularly with vowels. The use of signs in the classroom reduces unnecessary conversation and expands on simple cues and signals most…

Eighteen deaf college students performed two tasks designed to investigate possible alternative codes of reading and remembering. First, Ss judged the meaningfulness of sentences with or without a concurrent task (intended to interfere with either articulatory or visual-spatial coding). Secondly, Ss remembered a list of six letters presented…

The book reports on a descriptive study of communicative strategies used by 15 deaf preschoolers. Video recording with simultaneous direct observations were made once a month in a kindergarten for deaf and hearing children. Children were observed during periods from .5 to 2 years. Descriptions of communicative strategies are based on…

Electroencephalogram and task performance data were collected from three groups of young adult males: profoundly deaf Ss who signed from an early age, profoundly deaf Ss who only used oral (speech and speedreading) methods of communication, and normal hearing Ss. Alpha and Beta brain wave patterns over the Wernicke's area were compared across…

Describes a preschool class for handicapped children in which speech development is fostered through use of manual signing in combination with spoken language. (SB)