To explore the effects of the use of sign language as an intervention technique to facilitate the development of expressive and receptive communication skills, manual sign language (Signing Exact English) was employed with 12 multihandicapped, language delayed and/or nonverbal Ss (18 to 36 months old). Sign language was studied both as a…

The guide provides teaching suggestions as well as visual representations and written explanations of approximately 250 signs designed to meet the needs of institutionalized mentally retarded nonverbal individuals. Stressed is the need for such actions as correct hand position, repetition, body movement and facial expression, and rewards for…

The student's manual to manual communication, finger spelling and sign language, (For instructor's manual, see EC 042 221) is said to be coordinated with material in the instructor's manual and is designed mainly for use as a workbook for out-of-class review and practice on material previously covered in class. The practice material is designed to…

The authors support the use of manual communication with the non-verbal autistic child and suggest that the exercise of manual communication may facilitate the functioning of spoken communication. Research is reviewed in the following areas: the marked peculiarities in the autistic child's perception of and attention to stimuli within or across…

A survey of 86 persons using non-speech communication systems with retarded clients was conducted to determine which non-speech communication methods they used with which kinds of communication impaired populations. (SBH)

The mainstreaming of hearing-impaired students into physical education classes can occur with relative ease, provided the instructor has at least a minimal understanding of sign language and finger spelling. Finger positions for the alphabet and signs useful in physical activities are given. (MJB)

The paper considers the problem of inflectional grammar in signed communication from the viewpoint of the educational advantages for the deaf child of two contending systems: grapheme modified signing and systematically inflected signing. (CL)

Investigated with 296 hearing impaired young adults and adults was the effect of delay between auditory and visual aspects of the speech message in an oral-manual interpreting situation. (Author/CL)

A study involving five speaking and five non-speaking moderately/severely retarded adults revealed few differences in the ways either group revised or failed to revise their messages. Both groups were highly responsive to listeners' requests for clarification, although they tended to repeat their ambiguous messages rather than revising them. (CL)

Describes a study in which two nonspeech communication systems were evaluated with respect to their efficacy for use with profoundly retarded nonspeech children. Results show that 53 profoundly retarded children who have failed to acquire expressive linguistic skills can succeed with some alternative nonspeech symbol systems, especially with…

The study assessed effects of a transfer of stimulus control procedure on acquisition and cross-setting generalization of manual signs with four profoundly retarded young adults. Results showed that individuals acquired the trained signs and maintenance and generalization across settings and persons occurred but was highly variable between and…

Effects of high and low levels of manual sign translucency and referential concreteness on the manual sign learning of 40 moderately/severely mentally retarded adolescents were investigated. High levels of translucency were a significant facilitator while low levels inhibited learning. Concreteness did not significantly affect sign learning.…

The deaf are being taught to teach the deaf in an approach that combines sign language, lipreading, and body language. (Editor)

Investigated was ability of adolescent deaf students to comprehend language under three conditions: lipreading with voice, the Rochester method, and total communication. (KW)