Examines the impact on a deaf student (who was "intensely anxious" about writing) of five two-hour tutoring sessions conducted exclusively in English, in writing, and on a computer. Finds that his fluency expanded significantly, as did his conversation about writing. Notes that he became more deeply involved in critical awareness of text,…

Ideas to help parents of deaf children foster English language development include communicating regularly in writing, handling public encounters the "deaf" way, interacting with deaf adults, reading books by/about deaf people, learning and maintaining sign language skills, joining local and state associations, and making sure the television has a…

Three check lists for parents of children with hearing impairments offer suggestions for developing literacy: (1) supporting the school activities; (2) literacy with beginning signs; and (3) literacy with advanced signing. (DB)

This historical article proposes that students with deafness in the early grades should be taught easy and familiar words by appropriate sign-language gestures on the fingers and by writing, and that the simple rules of grammar should be explained in the signs in the order of the words. (CR)

A study involving 16 elementary students with deafness examined whether the use of signed English pictures in association with printed text enhances students' reading comprehension. Results found that comprehension was significantly enhanced by the use of signed English reading books, with poorer readers deriving greater benefits than better…

Presents suggestions for creating a relaxed, stimulating environment in early-childhood programs. Discusses preparation for transitions, thoughtful planning of the class schedule, and ways to use waiting times creatively. Includes suggestions for helping children know what to do next and using sign language to change activities. (KB)

An American teacher of deaf and hard of hearing teenagers describes her experience visiting schools in Japan, including a school for deaf students that utilized Japanese sign language. (DB)

Considers the cross-linguistic findings concerning the early development of formal, arbitrary, grammatical systems in normal hearing and deaf children and in children with congenital brain abnormalities. Evidence is reviewed that shows an early acquisition of grammatical forms. (Author/JL)

The signed and spoken language produced by 14 mothers (7 deaf and 7 hearing) to their 18-month-old deaf children was analyzed. Deaf mothers were more successful in presenting signed utterances with a salient context visible to their children. For both groups, visible and salient signed utterances were positively correlated with mothers' success in…

Explores the predictors of early mastery versus error in children's acquisition of American Sign Language. Hypothesizes that the most frequent values for a particular parameter in prelinguistic gesture will be the most frequent in early signs and the most likely sources of substitution when children make errors. (Author/VWL)

This article presents a critical evaluation of the use of Pidgin Signed English (PSE) and three manually coded English (MCE) systems, signed English, Seeing Essential English, and Signing Exact English with deaf students. It concludes that the use of MCE systems is unlikely to result in English proficiency for many students with severe to profound…

Reductions and timing errors were 2 major signing disruptions observed in a 64-year-old deaf signer with Parkinson's disease; these errors are phonetic rather than phonological in nature. Error analysis yields information about sign prosody and American Sign Language phonological representation. (Contains 54 references.) (JP)

Reviews research on "homesign" systems, i.e., the gestural communication of deaf individuals who do not learn a spoken language and who are not exposed to a signed language. The article touches on how iconicity affects language structure and use, the role of input in language development, and the nature of the critical period for…

Examines the literature on teachers' use of signing in the classroom for clues about future directions in research that aim to improve the academic performance of deaf students. Suggests that it is not by concentrating solely on the question of whether American Sign Language or some form of English-based signing should dominate in the classrooms.…

Five adult students of various ethnic backgrounds, each deaf or hard-of hearing and blind or visually impaired, participated in testing a newly designed assistance card for soliciting help crossing the street. Results indicated that with the new card 101 pedestrians out of 183 offered assistance. (Contains references.) (CR)