Examined the nature of reading skills in congenitally deaf and hearing children, 7 to 19 years old. Results indicated deaf and hearing children use orthographic regularities and qualitatively similar psycholinguistic strategies. No relation was found between deaf children's sensitivity to orthographic regularities and type of communication method…

Teachers can help deaf elementary students adjust to the total communication classroom setting by: evaluating signing skills; conducting a class orientation; submerging students in the sign language environment; using sign language vocabulary cards; offering sign language classes; encouraging peer tutoring; scheduling individual conferences; and…

A study investigated whether differences in working memory could account for variance in word recognition and receptive vocabulary skills of children (ages 5-16) using oral communication (n=32) and total communication (n=29). A contribution from working memory was observed only for the span tasks that incorporated an auditory processing component.…

This study focuses on the language and literacy worlds of three profoundly deaf preschool children, whose lack of a strong spoken English base provided an opportunity to explore the relationship between spoken language development and written language development and to investigate young children's written language development in light of the…

The use of total communication in educating deaf preschool and elementary school students in the Santa Ana Program for the Hearing Impaired, Orange County, California, is described. Total communication is explained to consist of auditory training, speech, speechreading, fingerspelling, and the language of signs. Aspects of the program described…

The comprehension of 30 severely and profoundly deaf students (ages 10 to 17) was evaluated under 11 communication conditions involving individual and combined presentations of lipreading, listening, fingerspelling, and signed English. Severely deaf students scored higher than profoundly deaf students under all but one condition, and all students…

Social-emotional behaviors of 76 adolescents with moderate to profound hearing impairment enrolled in residential and public schools were assessed by their classroom teachers. No significant differences were found between students in total communication and oral programs, nor between students in residential and public schools. Contradictions with…

Presented is the third year interim report of a 4-year longitudinal study comparing effectiveness of seven preschool programs which serve approximately 69 deaf children. Schools are seen to emphasize either an oral-aural, Rochester (oral-aural plus fingerspelling), or total communication approach to language development. Reported are the following…

This narrative of a graduate student with deafness describes her experiences in various educational environments including oral communication, total communication, and mainstreamed. The article emphasizes the role of parents as the child's best advocates and advises parents to trust their own instincts and not accept the authority of professionals…

Five conference reports on the physically handicapped consider architectural barrier, attitudes, the use of total communication methods, a new symbolic communication system, and long term care of cerebral palsied or multiply handicapped individuals, respectively. Reported is a survey of public and private buildings in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota…

The mother of a deaf child recounts her family's experience from her daughter's infancy to her successful adjustment and high achievement in elementary school. Worries during the child's infancy and reaction to the diagnosis at 18 months are documented, as are the mourning process and choosing an educational approach, in this case mainstreaming.…

Presented is the fourth year report of a 4-year longitudinal study comparing effectiveness of seven preschool programs for deaf children. Schools are seen to emphasize either an oral-aural, Rochester (Oral-aural plus finger spelling), or total communication method of instruction. Included in the report are a brief review of literature on…

Discusses three studies: (1) the effectiveness of semantic analyses of written narratives of students with hearing losses in determining language ability; (2) written-language characteristics of writers matched by reading abilities alone and matched by reading ability and age; and (3) written-language characteristics of writers with hearing…

A study involving 20 children (ages 4-9) using cochlear implants compared the articulation of those who used oral communication only (n=10) and those who used total communication (TC). Results from the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation indicate those using only oral communication committed significantly fewer errors than TC users. (Contains…

Production of 19 word-initial two-segment consonant clusters was examined in 12 children (ages 6-16) with cochlear implants, including 6 using oral communication and 6 using total communication. Results showed that 48% of the clusters were correctly produced (75% correct for oral communication users and 21% correct for total communication users).…