The study asked whether Deaf mothers seek to exploit the iconicity in signed languages to facilitate their infants' word learning. Two longitudinal case studies followed modifications that 2 Deaf mothers applied to their input while interacting with their hearing infants. Both mothers were sensitive to the communicative abilities of their infants…

Infants enter the world prepared to learn about their environments and to become effective social partners, while most parents are equally prepared to support these early emergent skills. Through subtle, non-conscious behaviors, parents guide their infants in the regulation of emotions, language acquisition, and participation in social exchanges.…

The article highlights literature on parent-infant programing, with particular emphasis on the role of parents, a direct and positive relationship between the gains achieved by very young hearing impaired children, and the extent to which their parents were taught to participate in their early education. (Author/MC)

The sign and oral language development of five two-year-old hearing children of deaf parents was studied and compared with the sign and oral language of their mothers. A surprising finding was that the mothers, despite their limited oral linguistic competence, communicated predominantly in the oral mode with their children. (Author)

This study examined the effectiveness of embedding a targeted linguistic structure within an interactive instructional context with 10 deaf and hard-of-hearing students in grades 6 and 7. Comparison with control subjects supported the effectiveness of adopting instructional strategies consistent with a social-interaction perspective on language…

The frequency and types of questions that 4 hearing mothers used with their deaf daughters (ages 3-4) were examined. Results indicated that these mothers used fewer questions than hearing mothers of hearing children, but the types of questions were similar. Child's mean length of utterance influenced the amount and types of questions mothers used.…

This study found that interactions between mothers and deaf infants (n=20) were positively influenced by social support provided to mothers in the infants' early months, mothers' visual and tactile responsiveness, and infants' ability to cope with interactive stress. The relationship between early experience and later language development was not…

This paper describes the expressive communication and language of seven hearing mothers and their infants with deafness. Mothers who signed most frequently reported that other family members and friends were also learning and using signs. Frequency of infants' sign production at 18 months correlated with frequency of mothers' sign production when…

The authors compared evaluations by parents and teachers of the communicative abilities of deaf children. Such comparisons between parents' and professionals' assessments of the language development of children who are deaf can provide useful information on which to base ecologically valid intervention approaches. A secondary interest of the…