Doctor Pharmaceuticae - DPharm / South Africa's White Paper for the transformation of the health care system in South Africa (DOH, 2007) acknowledges major disparities and inequalities as a result of an imprint by apartheid policies. In its transition to democracy, health promotion strategies have been initiated to address these disparities. However, such strategies have been narrowed and "favoured target audiences that are literate, urban-based and who have easy access to print and audio-visual media" (DOH, 1997). This implies that many vulnerable and marginalised groupings in South Africa, including the Deaf community are excluded from health promotion endeavours. Deaf people in South Africa communicate using South African Sign Language (SASL) and majority of the Deaf community exhibit poor literacy levels. Deafness is a significant communication barrier which limits a Deaf person's prospect to attain the best possible health care (Barnett, et al 2011). Various means of communication including spoken language, written instructions and the use of pictograms are used by healthcare workers to communicate health-related information. For many members of the Deaf community who communicate primarily in sign language, these methods are a sub-standard and prevent the attainment of optimum therapeutic outcomes. With regard to pharmaco-therapeutic services, Deaf people cannot hear the spoken language used by pharmacists during patient counselling, and their compromised functional literacy hinders the ability to read instructions on medicine labels. With both the spoken and written means of communication compromised, the Deaf patient's ability to comprehend instruction by pharmacists on how to use their medicines is inadequate and as a result, a Deaf patient may leave the pharmacy with medicine, but a poor understanding of how to use the medicine safely and effectively. Previous researchers have worked on building a technology base, including industrial design and computer science expertise to conceptualize the groundwork of a mobile phone application called SignSupport to facilitate communication between medical doctors and Deaf individuals. The particulars of the pharmacy scenario however, require a pharmacy-specific device to be of use in the dispensing of medicines to a Deaf patient in a pharmacy. The over-arching goal of this thesis is to design and evaluate a mobile phone application to facilitate the communication of medicine instructions between a Deaf patient and a pharmacist. Qualitative, participatory action research and community-based co-design strategies were directed toward Deaf participants, senior pharmacy students and pharmacists to create a prototype of the afore-mentioned mobile phone application. Preliminary results indicated that the application was suitable to pharmacists and Deaf community. Furthermore, both sets of users approved the overall design and were receptive to and keen on the practical uses of the application. Inadequacies pointed out by the Deaf community and pharmacists were addressed as an iterative modification to the prototype and culminated in version 2 which was deployed in an actual hospital pharmacy in 2015. Hospital usability studies generated largely positive results from both Deaf users and pharmacists, indicating that SignSupport is able to facilitate communication between pharmacists and Deaf patients. Next steps include advancing the application to a market–ready version that is downloadable and available as an application on the play stores of commercially available smart phones. / National Research Foundation

This dissertation represents the first systematic study of the sign language of deaf children with autism. The signing of such children is of particular interest because of the unique ways that some of the known impairments of autism are likely to interact with sign language. In particular, the visual-spatial modality of sign requires signers to understand the visual perspectives of others, a skill which may require theory of mind, which is thought to be delayed in autism (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985). It is hypothesized that an impairment in visual perspective-taking could lead to phonological errors in American Sign Language (ASL), specifically in the parameters of palm orientation, movement, and location. Twenty-five deaf children and adolescents with autism (10 deaf-of-deaf and 15 deaf-of-hearing) between the ages of 4;7 and 20;3 as well as a control group of 13 typically-developing deaf-of-deaf children between the ages of 2;7 and 6;9 were observed in a series of studies, including naturalistic observation, lexical elicitation, fingerspelling, imitation of nonsense gestures, two visual perspective-taking tasks, and a novel sign learning task. The imitation task was also performed on a control group of 24 hearing, non-signing college students. Finally, four deaf mothers of deaf autistic children were interviewed about their children’s signing. Results showed that young deaf-of-deaf autistic children under the age of 10 are prone to making phonological errors involving the palm orientation parameter, substituting an inward palm for an outward palm and vice versa. There is very little evidence that such errors occur in the typical acquisition of ASL or any other sign language. These results indicate that deaf children with autism are impaired from an early age in a cognitive mechanism involved in the acquisition of sign language phonology, though it remains unclear which mechanism(s) might be responsible. This research demonstrates the importance of sign language research for a more complete understanding of autism, as well as the need for research into atypical populations for a better understanding of sign language linguistics. / text

Yim-Binh, Sze. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-235). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgement / Abstract / Table of Contents / List of Tables / Chapter Chapter 1 --- : Introduction Page / Chapter (1.1) --- Research questions --- p.1 / Chapter (1.1.1) --- Space and spoken languages --- p.1 / Chapter (1.1.2) --- Space and sign languages --- p.4 / Chapter (1.1.3) --- Nominals in Hong Kong Sign Language --- p.8 / Chapter (1.1.4) --- Research focus: interaction of space and nominals --- p.11 / Chapter (1.2) --- Thesis outline --- p.12 / Chapter (1.3) --- A brief note on the transcription convention --- p.13 / Chapter (1.4) --- Sociolinguistic background of Hong Kong Sign Language --- p.15 / Chapter (1.5) --- Documentation of Hong Kong Sign Language and Chinese Sign Language --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Space and Grammatical Relations / Chapter (2.0) --- Introduction --- p.21 / Chapter (2.1) --- On the grammatical relations 'subject' and 'object' --- p.21 / Chapter (2.2) --- Literature review --- p.28 / Chapter (2.2.1) --- Grammatical relations in American Sign Language (ASL) --- p.28 / Chapter (2.2.2) --- Grammatical relations in Chinese Sign Language (CSL) --- p.35 / Chapter (2.3) --- Experiment 1: Picture description and selection task --- p.36 / Chapter (2.4) --- Results: --- p.39 / Chapter (2.4.1) --- Non-reversible sentences --- p.39 / Chapter (2.4.2) --- Reversible sentences --- p.52 / Chapter (2.4.2.1) --- Linear representation: S V O --- p.52 / Chapter (2.4.2.2) --- "Spatial representation: the use of loci, inflecting verbs and classifiers" --- p.54 / Chapter (2.4.2.3) --- Reversible and non-reversible data: a further discussion --- p.64 / Chapter (2.4.3) --- An extension to dative constructions --- p.71 / Chapter (2.5) --- Chapter summary --- p.77 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Space and NP Referential Properties / Chapter (3.0) --- Introduction --- p.78 / Chapter (3.1) --- On the various referential properties --- p.78 / Chapter (3.2) --- Realization of referential properties in spoken and sign languages --- p.79 / Chapter (3.3) --- Specific NPs: indefinites and definites --- p.89 / Chapter (3.3.1) --- Experiment 2: picture story description and picture reordering --- p.89 / Chapter (3.3.2) --- NPs in subject positions --- p.90 / Chapter (3.3.2.1) --- Specific indefinites --- p.91 / Chapter (3.3.2.2) --- Specific definites --- p.96 / Chapter (3.3.3) --- NPs in object positions: specific indefinites and definites --- p.106 / Chapter (3.4) --- Non-specific indefinites and generics --- p.118 / Chapter (3.5) --- Chapter summary --- p.121 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- Space and Referential Loci --- p.123 / Chapter (4.0) --- Introduction --- p.123 / Chapter (4.1) --- Literature review --- p.1 24 / Chapter (4.1.1) --- Frame of reference in sign languages --- p.1 24 / Chapter (4.1.2) --- Nature of space and loci --- p.129 / Chapter (4.1.3) --- Shift of loci/ frame of reference --- p.133 / Chapter (4.2) --- Observation of Hong Kong Sign Language --- p.138 / Chapter (4.2.1) --- Localization of referents in narrative discourse --- p.138 / Chapter (4.2.2) --- Shift of loci / frame of reference in HKSL --- p.150 / Chapter (4.2.2.1) --- Role-play/ locus shift in HKSL --- p.150 / Chapter (4.2.2.2) --- Three more types of locus shift --- p.153 / Chapter (a) --- Loci contrast exaggeration --- p.153 / Chapter (b) --- Shifted focalization --- p.157 / Chapter (c) --- Token-surrogate alternation --- p.162 / Chapter (4.3) --- Chapter summary --- p.170 / Chapter Chapter 5: --- Suggestions for Future Research --- p.171 / Appendix 1: Notation conventions --- p.176 / Appendix 2: Picture stimuli for experiment1 --- p.179 / "Appendix 3: Topic, Comment and Topicalization in HKSL" --- p.181 / Appendix 4: Picture stimuli for experiment2 --- p.190 / Appendix 5: Illustrations --- p.203 / References --- p.225

<p>The aim of this study is to establish an understanding of how the concept educational materials can be interpreted, as well as to investigate how teachers describe their use of educational materials. The focus of this study is the subject “Sign Language for the hearing”, at the upper secondary level. We, the authors of this essay, both have a great personal interest in this language. Swedish Sign Language is the sign language mainly used in Sweden. In colloquial conversation, Swedish Sign Language is often called “Sign Language”, as American Sign Language is often called Sign Language in the USA. Swedish Sign Language is referred to as Sign Language in the current curriculum for the compulsory school and the non-compulsory school, which explains the title of this essay. Although this essay does not focus on research concerning the linguistic qualities of Swedish Sign Language, but we still wish to emphasize that sign language is not one, international, language.</p><p>The results presented in this study are derived from the collected knowledge mediated through a field study, in which eight teachers, with experience of working with the subject Sign Language for the hearing, have described their thoughts and experiences of the meaning of the concept educational materials, and how they explain that they use educational materials. These results are put in relation to curriculums, past and present, as well as previous litterature about educational materials.</p><p>By analysing the answers given by the teachers, who particiated in this study field, the curriculums are said to affect how they work with educational materials. The results of the field study comfirm the historical interpretation of educational materials as synonymous with a text-book. This being said, the participants in this study state that they have a wider understanding of the concept in relation to the subject Sign Language for the hearing. They explain that this is due to the fact that there is no text-book to work with, within the subject. They further describe that they work with different forms of experiences, such as theater, educational visits and interviews, in order to induce their students’ interest to want to learn and commuicate by using the language.</p>

The aim of this study is to establish an understanding of how the concept educational materials can be interpreted, as well as to investigate how teachers describe their use of educational materials. The focus of this study is the subject “Sign Language for the hearing”, at the upper secondary level. We, the authors of this essay, both have a great personal interest in this language. Swedish Sign Language is the sign language mainly used in Sweden. In colloquial conversation, Swedish Sign Language is often called “Sign Language”, as American Sign Language is often called Sign Language in the USA. Swedish Sign Language is referred to as Sign Language in the current curriculum for the compulsory school and the non-compulsory school, which explains the title of this essay. Although this essay does not focus on research concerning the linguistic qualities of Swedish Sign Language, but we still wish to emphasize that sign language is not one, international, language. The results presented in this study are derived from the collected knowledge mediated through a field study, in which eight teachers, with experience of working with the subject Sign Language for the hearing, have described their thoughts and experiences of the meaning of the concept educational materials, and how they explain that they use educational materials. These results are put in relation to curriculums, past and present, as well as previous litterature about educational materials. By analysing the answers given by the teachers, who particiated in this study field, the curriculums are said to affect how they work with educational materials. The results of the field study comfirm the historical interpretation of educational materials as synonymous with a text-book. This being said, the participants in this study state that they have a wider understanding of the concept in relation to the subject Sign Language for the hearing. They explain that this is due to the fact that there is no text-book to work with, within the subject. They further describe that they work with different forms of experiences, such as theater, educational visits and interviews, in order to induce their students’ interest to want to learn and commuicate by using the language.

The purpose of this dissertation was three-fold. The first intent was to investigate the historical role of English and American Sign Language (ASL) in the communication, education and culture of deaf/Deaf people in America. The second purpose was to investigate sociolinguistical and physiological properties of American Sign Language in light of language learning among the deaf. And the third objective was to research bilingual education methodologies in order to interface knowledge and practices from bilingual education, communication and ASL research to the field of post-secondary education of the deaf within the framework of bilingual education. Evidence demonstrates that the history of language policies and educational practices for the deaf are strongly influenced by the majority language of English. A primary goal of education of the deaf has been the assimilation of deaf people into the hearing society. An avenue for this integration has traditionally involved the exclusion of ASL from the classroom and the mandate of Signed English systems and/or aural/oral communication. The incorporation of a cross-disciplinary blend of communication, bilingual education and ASL sociolinguistic aspects form the foundation for further investigation. This dissertation should serve as an impetus and reference point for others wishing to advance the education of the deaf, utilizing a bilingual approach.

This thesis is a critical account of a qualitative, evaluative study into the translation processes and practices in use within the BSL Bible Translation Project, undertaken as a collaborative doctoral studentship funded by the AHRC/ESRC1. It has proceeded collaboratively, valuing the stories, knowledge and experiences of the participants. The data‐set presented herein was generated by means of participant observation and interviews with Project Team members. It was analysed in its digital, visual form using an inductive, thematic approach, and is presented with minimal commentary (Chapters 4 and 5). Following this presentation, the data‐set is further reflected upon in order to shed light upon existing understandings of sign language text composition strategies, team translation praxis, intermediality and sacrament (Chapters 6, 7 and 8). The evidence presented in this thesis represents a new source of data and offers valuable insights into translation and exegetical practice in its own right and, I will argue, as a means of human flourishing. This thesis problematizes previous descriptions of Signed Languages as ‘picture‐languages’, identifying two ways in which such descriptions have been unhelpful, even inaccurate. Firstly, that this nomenclature, with its association with picture‐books and pre‐linguistic skills, has contributed to the persistence of perceptions of d/Deaf people as being linguistically less‐able than their non‐Deaf peers and secondly, that such descriptions are deficient because they fail to fully capture the complex nature of Signed Languages. This thesis argues for a re engagement with the inherently cinematographic nature of Signed Languages and explores ways in which this would yield benefits in the fields of Deaf education, the teaching of Signed Languages to second‐language learners, and the training of interpreters and translators. This thesis will also argue that the translation practices of the BSL Bible Translation Project constitute a clear example of Deaf people engaging in metalinguistic reflection on their own language‐use. That is, that the data provide clear evidence of literate thought, specifically of Signed Language literacy in action, and is further evidence in support of the growing confidence and agency within the Deaf Community with regards to the status and the rich linguistic and material properties of BSL, including its suitability as a mediator of the sacred. This thesis will go on to offer reflections on what the data have to tell us about the nature of Biblical texts; both through how they are produced, and the nature of those texts as artefacts and bearers of religious meanings. Engaging with existing understandings of sacrament and incarnation, including the possibility that the act of Bible reading and translation can be said to constitute a sacramental activity, it argues that this is particularly so when such reading and ‘speaking’ of the text occurs through Signed Language.

This paper utilizes prior studies attempting to explain different possible phonological production errors among adults who learn American Sign Language (ASL) as a second language (L2). These studies have offered theoretical grounding to such production errors. One area of study in particular is further explored in this paper and that is how specific joints of the arm and hand are used in the production of signs (Mirus, et al., 2001, Meier, et al 2008). L2 learners of ASL are essentially learning a new language using a different modality and this new modality requires that they relearn how to use specific motor skills needed in order to produce sign vocabulary. To address this, an exploratory teaching module is proposed with the need for further action research to discuss its effectiveness. / text

One of the most debilitating impairments of autistic and other behaviorally disordered children is an inability to communicate. Increasing documentation of the successful acquisition of sign language by these children has intensified the need for experimental analyses of teaching procedures and their effects on behavior. This study investigated the relationship between sign language acquisition and speech acquisition as well as the role of language acquisition in reducing the stereotypic and inappropriate behaviors common to this population. Speech training was compared with two sign language training procedures in an alternating treatments time series design. A modeled sign treatment based on visual imitation was compared with a prompted sign treatment based on physical manipulation of children's hands to determine which of the two stimuli, the visual model or the physical manipulation, promoted most rapid sign acquisition. Four preschool autistic children with minimal linguistic skills were the subjects of this study. Data on speech and sign acquisition as well as the occurrence of interfering behavior under all treatment conditions were recorded and visually analyzed. Minimal changes in speech and sign behavior occurred under the speech and modeled sign treatments. The prompted sign treatment resulted in the most rapid sign acquisition. The procedures of the prompted sign treatment allowed the teacher to physically prompt sign responses and to follow these responses with reinforcement. The effectiveness of the prompted sign procedure was attributed to the frequent reinforcement schedule of this treatment. The lowest levels of interfering behavior were also recorded under the prompted sign treatment. It was hypothesized that differential reinforcement of an alternative behavior, signing, accounted for this observation. The impact of language competency on the rate of interfering behavior is also discussed. One child began to speak when a repetitive speech model was introduced after sign acquisition. Words that had been previously signed were uttered first and most intelligibly. The acquisition of imitative sign skills and subsequent environmental control through language are explored as factors which facilitate speech development.

Med denna studie vill jag få en djupare förståelse i hur barn som har svårigheter i att uttrycka sig via tal, använder sig av olika kommunikationsformer för att skapa mening och integrera tillsammans. Den frågeställning som genomsyrar hela arbetet är: Hur kommunicerar barnen med varandra? Använder de sig av teckenspråk? Blir de förstådda? För att undersöka detta använde jag mig av kvalitativa observationer på en förskola där det vistades både barn som hade hörselskada och barn som kom från olika länder. Denna förskola använder sig av tecken som stöd i vardagen. Resultatet visade att det inte enbart var hörselskadade barn som använde sig av teckenspråket utan även de barnen som hade annat modersmål. Barnen tog hjälp av teckenspråket i leken för att kunna visa sina känslor och kommunicera med de andra.  Även kroppsspråket och mimiken användes flitigt under lekarnas gång. Observationerna som gjordes visade att det ibland kunde uppstå missförstånd bland barnen även ifall de oftast förstod varandra. Teckenspråket blev ett hjälpmedel i leken för de barn som av olika anledningar behövde stöd i kommunikationen. Genom att medvetet använda teckenspråket som en del i vardagen får verksamheten ett sådant förhållningssätt som varken pekar ut eller diskriminerar de barn som är i behov av teckenspråk. / With this study, I want to gain a deeper understanding for how children, who have difficult to express themselves through speech, use various forms of communication to create meaning and integrate together. How do the children communicate with each other? Do they use sign language when they play? Will they be understood? To examine this, I used qualitative observations at a preschool where both children who had hearing impairment and children who came from different countries participated. The preschool used sign language in everyday life. The result showedthat itwas not onlydeafchildrenwho usedsign languagebut also thechildrenwith another mother tongue. The children usedsign languagein the gametoshow their feelingsand to communicatewith the others.Eventhe body languageandfacial expressionswere used extensivelyduringthe game. The observationsthat were madeshowed thatitcould sometimesbe misconceptionsamongchildrenevenifthey mostlyunderstood each other. Sign languagebecamea toolin the game forthose childrenwho, for variousreasons, neededsupportto communicate.By deliberatelyusesign language asapartof everydayactivity the preschool getsuch an approachthat it is neitherpointingoutordiscriminatethose children whoare in need ofsign language.