Suchergebnisse

Manual codes on English and American sign language / Joseph Stedt, Donald F. Moores -- A manual communication overview / Harry Bornstein -- Communication in classrooms for deaf students / Thomas E. Allen, Michael Karchmer -- Sign English in the education of deaf students / James Woodward -- ASL and its implications for education / Robert J. Hoffmeister -- Signing exact English / Gerilee Gustason -- Signed English / Harry Bornstein -- Cued speech / Elizabeth L. Kipila, Barbara Williams-Scott -- Manual communication with those who can hear / George R. Karlan -- Some afterwords / Harry Bornstein

A technique such as Signed English serves two general purposes. First, it can serve as a relatively complete model of English for a child who needs to learn that language. Second, it can be used as a vehicle to communicate information between individuals. The basic premise of this theory of use is that the first purpose, a relatively complete model of English, is more important to a child in the earliest years of life and becomes less important as the child gets older, when comfortable transmission of information becomes the more important purpose. I propose, therefore, that a more complete manual system be used with the youngest child and that, when a child has demonstrated mastery in any modality, i.e., speech (sound and/or lip formation), sign, reading or writing, the system can be made leaner. A leaner manual system can be obtained by: (a) systematic deletion of words and markers that can be readily inferred from the remainder of a sentence and (b) systematic substitutions of a single sign for two or more words.

One year after the first evaluation, teachers rated 18 children on their frequency of use of the Signed English markers. On the average, the group showed a slight improvement in their use of the marker system. Six children used the markers significantly better, seven slightly better, and three showed no change. Two children could not be rated. Additionally, frequency of use of each of the 14 markers was also rated by the teachers. The regular plural and the possessive were frequently used. The ing marker and the regular past were somewhat regularly used. Five other markers were seldom used and five were rarely used. Some possible explanations for these results are offered.

The English language development of an unselected group of 20 hearing-impaired children taught Signed English was studied over a 4-year period. The children were enrolled in residential and day school settings. Their language development was individually tested annually with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test, and a tailor-made Signed English Morphology Test. Over the 4 years, the children's receptive vocabulary grew at the rate of 43% of that manifested by hearing children. The vocabulary level reached at age 8 was similar to that reported for comparable hearing-impaired children at age 11 taught by other methods. There was no apparent syntax development until after the first year. For the succeeding 3 years, however, syntax developed at a steady and, seemingly, accelerating rate. There was little growth in the children's ability to speechread single word utterances when they were presented orally. After 4 years all but two children simultaneously spoke and signed every word in the test situation. It is doubtful, however, that the quality of their speech improved very much if any. After 3 years, mothers were judged, on the average, to have acquired somewhat between a beginner and an average skill in Signed English. Fathers, on the other hand, did not get beyond the beginner's stage.