Presents information on deafness and deaf people that is helpful to librarians communicating with deaf patrons. Communication modes and preferences are discussed, including speaking and facial expression, speech reading, lipreading, and sign language; and methods of optimizing conditions for good communication are described. (11 references) (LRW)

Categories of deafness are defined not in terms of degree of hearing loss but of consequences for the deaf person. The culture and language, British Sign Language, of a largely hidden population are discussed. (40 references) (LB)

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…

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 five preschool deaf children's use of sign language during free-choice writing. Finds the children used both signed language and nonverbal expression to engage in representational, directive, interactional, personal, and heuristic use of language to support their writing endeavors. Raises the question of whether nonverbal expression might…

Examines whether manually coded English (MCE) sign language systems are learnable. Reading achievement and expressive English skills of deaf students educated using only a MCE sign system were examined. Deaf students had expressive English skills comparable to hearing students in respect to syntactical and lexical skills but were deficient in…

The study examined deaf clients' perceptions of counseling expertise as a function of several counseling variables: counselor's signing skill, gender, and therapy type. Twenty undergraduate students at a special college for the deaf who were enrolled in either counseling courses or psychology courses viewed 4 video clips reflecting a mock…

Reviewed are the 17 studies most widely quoted in support of the value of total communication and as evidence of the ineffectiveness of the oral approach for use with deaf students. (Author)

This pamphlet answers many questions about demographic aspects of hearing-impaired individuals, such as the number of hearing-impaired and deaf persons in the United States, the number with hearing problems that restrict communication, the number of hearing-impaired students and number of deaf college students, the demographic groups which have a…

In this paper the author takes a positive not a negative view of sign language. It is the center of attention, not as an object of interest to the specialist in language, but as the central feature in the complex sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic system that makes the deaf person part of general American culture and at the same time part of a…

In order to investigate the role of visual perceptual abilities in the acquisition and comprehension of sign language, four tests of perceptual ability were administered to 120 entering hearing-impaired students and 23 new hearing staff members at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. (Author)

Mothers of four 6- and 7-year-old autistic classmates were taught to use manual signs with verbalizations to aid development of appropriate communicative behavior and to deter undesirable behavior in their children. (Author)

To examine the relationship of impulse control in deaf children to parent hearing status, manual communication, and academic achievement, 324 deaf children (6-10 years old) were given a battery of tests. (DLS)

A test of morpheme-based concepts was administered to 67 deaf children (ages 5-11 years) who were exposed to Seeing Essential English (SEE--a visual English sign system). (Author)