A multiple baseline design was used to investigate the effects of simultaneous sign/verbal presentation on the acquisition of verbal labelling of two Down's syndrome girls, ages 6 and 7 years. (Author)

Techniques have been developed for teaching severely/profoundly retarded children to comprehend the names of everyday objects. (PHR)

The goal of the Manual/Simultaneous Communication Department (M/SCD) at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) is to assist deaf students in developing communication skills. (Author)

The relationship between sign language rehearsal and written free recall was examined by having deaf college students rehearse the sign language equivalents of printed English words. Studies of both immediate and delayed memory suggested that word recall increased as a function of total rehearsal frequency and frequency of appearance in rehearsal…

Attempts to prove that users of American Sign Language (ASL) do perform within a closed system of manual and nonmanual sign production features (phonemes and distinctive features). Deaf signers are quite capable of creating nonsense words as well as communicating with signers of other languages through pantomime and other paralinguistic features.…

Suggests methods for incorporating American Sign Language and knowledge about the deaf culture into a bilingual/bicultural approach to deaf education. (CB)

The feasibility of American Sign Language (ASL)/English bilingual education programs for deaf children is explored. After reviewing the linguistic input received by these children, language acquisition strategies and the importance of linguistic input in second language acquisition are reviewed. Implications are drawn for teachers instructing in…

The effectiveness and efficiency of two instructional prompting procedures, progressive time delay and the system of least prompts, in teaching manual signs was evaluated with three moderately or severely retarded adolescents with additional handicaps. Results indicated both procedures were effective though the time delay method appeared to be…

Two groups of seven autistic children (4-16 years old) wore auditory trainers for specified times. Videotapes were coded for three attentional states (normal, withdrawn, attacking), for verbalization and signing, and for appropriate and acceptable behaviors. Results demonstrated a decrease in time spent withdrawn and increases in signing and in…

Considers the acquisition of language by deaf children of deaf parents and by deaf children of hearing parents in the light of such linguistic theories as Andersen's "nativization-denativization" and Bickerton's "bioprograms." Findings both support the theories and bring to light complexities that the theories do not exactly explain. (SED)

Two experiments were conducted on the influence of language mode (print or sign) and syntax (English or American Sign Language) on recall, preference, and comprehension. Prelingual deaf individuals' visual orientation produced a sign-based encoding system that responded to American Sign Language as a familiar language. (Author/BS)

A school-wide communication policy addressing speech, speechreading, audition, and sign language with the ultimate goal of increased language acquisition in deaf and blind students was developed by a task force and its implementation timeline projected over five years. (CL)

Study indicates that hearing impaired residential students are more proficient users of American Sign Language than are hearing impaired children enrolled in local, public school programs, and older such residential students are more proficient in the language than are younger students. (SL)

This paper discusses factors that influence deaf and hard of hearing children's spoken English development. It addresses philosophical and practical issues related to maximizing these children's communication with the hearing majority within an educational environment that capitalizes on American Sign Language as a fully accessible language for…