A reading interest inventory was administered to 115 hearing-impaired students and 72 hearing students between the ages of 9 and 12. Hearing-impaired students had a broader base of interests than their hearing peers. Sex was a significant factor affecting hearing students' cluster choices but was not pervasive for the hearing-impaired students.…

A review of linguistic research on the nonmanual components of American Sign Language shows that the signer's face, head, torso, and eyegaze have important linguistic roles. The author's study illustrates how different combinations of facial and head movements signal different kinds of questions: yes-no, wh-, and rhetorical. (Author/CL)

The article discusses handling communication between a therapist and members of families of deaf persons and among the family members themselves. The article also describes when it is and is not helpful to implement clinical procedures delineated by one paradigm while de-emphasizing the other. Several therapy transcripts are presented as…

The article presents a mode for describing the attainments and characteristics of deaf people vis-a-vis the educational and noneducational influences that are likely to circumscribe their attainments and characteristics. The model provides a context that an educational institution can use when delineating its goals for deaf students. (Author)

Simultaneous communication of six hearing mothers to their hearing-impaired chilren was studied to determine the extent to which signed messages matched spoken messages. From samples of 100 utterances, a mean 40.5 utterances were signed fully. Approximately 18 percent of the spoken morphemes were deleted, on the average. (Author/CL)

Seventy-seven hearing students were tested to compare the original and revised forms of the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS), and 75 deaf and 27 hard-of-hearing students supplied test-retest data on the revised form. Good reliability was established as compared to the original, and reliability of the revised TSCS was demonstrated over time.…

Twenty first-grade hearing Ss were significantly quicker than 16 grade-one and 23 grade-four deaf children to respond to changes in pictures presented to them and to demand an explanation. Of the deaf Ss, those who were less tolerant of ambiguity were more advanced in their development of social cognition. (CL)

Fifty severely to profoundly deaf students (grades 4-12) were given a forced-choice picture selection test to investigate effects of context on comprehension of difficult sentences. Analysis showed a significant facilitative effect of context for relative-clause sentences across reading levels. (Author/CL)

Cluster analysis was used to group 251 deaf-blind persons (0-21 years old) according to 11 activity variables. Results indicated that meaningful educational training classification could be achieved using activity variables. The variables that discriminated best among the individuals were gross motor, language, leisure activities, and…

The article reviews linguistic features of a trilingual approach to total communication for deaf children from non-English-speaking families. Covered are issues of syntax, semantics, and use of fingerspelling. (CL)

Research on the effects of visual perception and orientation difficulties on academic, communication, and social development of deaf children is reviewed. The need for incorporating methods for remediating learning disabilities into preservice training for teachers of the deaf is emphasized. (CL)

Teachers (N=39), administrators (N=9), and a speech therapist working with deaf students rated 240 competencies for teaching English as a symbol system. The top 38 competencies involved practical teaching skills and techniques. Competencies related to the oral-aural method, theory, and background information about deafness were not given high…

The Language Experience Approach (LEA) creates reading materials and writing opportunities through integrated use of the learner's language and experience. Individualized LEA involving a "dictation" approach (child dictates experience; teacher records and reads back experience) is beneficial for hearing-impaired students in terms of increased…

Hearing-impaired (N=45) and hearing (N=177) teachers of the deaf participated in a national survey on sign language preference and skills. An English-like sign model was preferred overall, although hearing-impaired teachers were split almost equally between that and American Sign Language. Teachers reported poor levels of sign performance and…

The motor planning skills in freehand drawing and in limb, hand, and body positions of deaf (N=45) and hearing (N=45) children were compared. Although younger deaf children were superior to hearing children in drawing and hand positioning, no significant differences were found between the groups in later childhood. (Author/CB)