Summarizes a discussion on cochlear implants from a National Institutes of Health conference. Reviews the cited benefits of the implants in children. Gives comments on research on the language performance of children who are deaf or hearing impaired in oral programs versus those in total communication programs, as well as dissenting opinions on…

A survey of 60 United States schools and programs currently using Cued Speech with hearing-impaired individuals found that the tool is used in both oral and total communication environments. The survey collected data on demographics, types of programs, number of students using Cued Speech, methodologies employed, and support services offered.…

The case study involves a developmentally apraxic eight-year-old girl using a multimodal communication system. The Partners in Augmentative Communication Training program was implemented. Results after two months suggested some improvement in communication interaction skills. Issues regarding developmental apraxia and the use of augmentative and…

A study of 28 hearing families and their children with hearing impairments (ages 42 to 87 months) found that average age of entry into early-intervention programs was 21 months. Mothers participated more than fathers, and the majority of graduates were enrolled in specific deaf-education programs emphasizing a total-communication approach. (CR)

This study examined the relationship between identity patterns and the communication modes of deaf adolescents aged between 14 and 18 years in Turkey. They were currently being educated in state residential secondary schools for the deaf. Deaf adolescents were administered the "Deaf Identity Scale" presented in Turkish using total…

Describes research into the correspondence between speech and sign language by looking at simultaneous communication as it is used by fluent deaf persons. The study aims to determine what relationship, if any, exists between the morpheme level and the message level of utterances in discourse. (SED)

Two approaches to intervention geared to autistic children's characteristics are presented: one stressing speech and the other sign and speech. Some findings relevant to implementation of simultaneous sign and speech are discussed, and due to observed variability in processing and responsiveness to intervention, the need for individual programing…

This study compared early pragmatic skill development in 76 children (ages 1-4) with severe or profound hearing loss enrolled in either a simultaneous communication (SC) or oral communication (OC) approach to language learning. Results indicated some advantages of the SC approach, although overall frequency of communication and breadth of…

Comparison of the effectiveness of presenting information to deaf college students by signing only, interpreter signing and teacher speaking, and teacher signing and speaking failed to show that any one method was superior to the others. (CB)

During an eight-month treatment regimen utilizing simultaneous sign/speech input, all of the words of a young girl with Down's Syndrome were recorded. Analyses revealed that most of the words she initially signed were later spontaneously spoken and that most of her signed productions evolved into spontaneous spoken productions. (Author/JDD)

This article reports and comments on the Western Canada--Auditory Verbal Conference held in Winnipeg, Manitoba in June 1992. It summarizes research on cochlear implants and research on auditory verbal approaches to remediation. (DB)

A study involving 13 teachers of students with deafness and 16 students with deafness found that although Natural Sign Language was not considered an official communication mode, it was used after class, and that there was a positive relationship between teachers' sign-language skills and students' understanding of their message. (CR)

This article introduces a reprint of an 1835 article by Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard entitled, "Existing State of the Art of Instructing the Deaf and Dumb". It reviews Barnard's background and achievements (including 25 years as the president of Columbia College), his familial progressive deafness, and his advanced views on communication…

This study examined the relationship between the teaching method, oral or total communication, used at children's schools and children's consonant-production accuracy and vocabulary development over time. The children (N=147) had used cochlear implants for between 6 months and 10 years. Results indicated a complex relationship among children's…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the development of proto-imperative and proto-declarative utterances in normally developing, non-neonatally screened, profoundly deaf toddlers. Method: Both types of proto-declarative are considered to be the most basic prelinguistic and early linguistic communicative functions.…