The purpose of this study was to survey teacher training programs for teachers of the deaf, to ascertain the extent to which American Sign Lanuage (ASL) and Manually Coded English (MCE) are taught in such programs, and to solicit the opinions of university personnel on the role of ASL and MCE in the language development of deaf children. The results from this survey were largely consistent with current practice in programs for deaf children. Most programs advocated the use of signing, both of MCE and ASL, as evidenced by textbooks used and faculty support for discussing the role of these signing systems in the language development of deaf children. Implications for teacher training programs are discussed in terms of pre-service teachers' knowledge of sign language/system(s), and how this information applies to the language development of deaf children. (Author)