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…

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…

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)

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.…

The relative effectiveness of total communication and oral communication training in a parent-assisted, home-based language intervention program was studied with 15 Down's syndrome children, 18-36 months old. (Author/SEW)

Three Spanish deaf preschoolers were taught receptive vocabulary in oral English, English sign-mix, oral Spanish, Spanish sign-mix, and sign alone. Subject one learned best using sign alone. Subject two performed best using oral Spanish or sign alone. Subject three seemed to profit from sign, Spanish sign-mix, or oral English. (Author/SW)

The article analyzes the controversy over total communication vs. oralism in the education of hearing impaired students, notes the differences between speech and language, and suggests points to be considered by parents in deciding on one or the other approach. (CL)

The article considers whether young deaf children of hearing parents should learn American Sign Language (ASL) as their first language and whether teachers in day high school programs should use manual communication. It concludes that, because ASL is the key to deaf culture, it should be used by parents and teachers. (DB)

Following a review of the literature, the paper describes a total communication approach to the language development of a 4-year-old autistic child. It is explained that the child was videotaped while being trained to simultaneously use elements of American sign language together with the correct spoken word or words. Training procedures are…

Six primary and six intermediate grade students were involved in a study designed to describe the learning strengths and weaknesses of hearing-impaired children and the reading skills developed by them in the course of basal reading instruction. Because of the special communication problems involved in gathering data, an interdisciplinary team…

A review of recent research trends in Italy regarding cognitive and communicative development of deaf children indicates that deaf children's potential for communicative and cognitive growth is enormous. This potential may be realized if provision is made for an educational environment based on a multiple code, gestural communication, spoken…

This article describes development of the Profile of Multiple Language Proficiencies (PMLP), a measure of both English and American Sign Language skills in deaf children. The PMLP showed reasonable initial reliability and appears to be an easy-to-use measure. Discussion addresses issues that influence the reliability and validity in evaluating…

Nine primary-age children at a residential school for the deaf were read bedtime stories using a Total Communication approach. Every child subsequently demonstrated growth on each of several language assessments, including language comprehension and expressive language. (JDD)