The principle purpose of this study was to investigate the short term auditory storage and retrieval abilities of skilled interpreters for the deaf. Secondary attention was given to age, sex, and educational level variables related to recall abilities. It was assumed that the task of interpreting spoken English to ASL involved short term auditory storage, the efficacy of which was related to chunking abilities of the listener. Measures of short term storage for familiar and novel information (sentences) were employed by estimates of chunking efficiency. Three groups of ten subjects each made up the sample population. Group A was composed of individuals with interest in but limited knowledge of sign language. Group B was composed of individuals with no knowledge of sign language. Group C was composed of individuals holding the Comprehensive Skills Certificate from the National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Free-recall short term storage tasks were utilized to evaluate recall efficiency of the sample groups for familiar and unfamiliar information. English proverbs were used for the familiar stimuli and novel sentences generated from the proverbs were used for the unfamiliar stimuli. Results indicate that skilled interpreters perform extremely efficiently on recall tasks involving conceptually accurate recall of novel sentences. No significant relationship was noted between age, sex, and educational level factors and recall scores. The results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that skilled interpreters for the hearing impaired are efficient chunkers of linguistic information. A discussion of the results and needs for further research are presented.

This study tested whether an American Sign Language (ASL) MMPI short form, the Brauer-Gallaudet MMPI-168 (B-G MMPI-168), could discriminate between groups of deaf adults with and without psychopathology. B-G MMPI-168 and MMPI-168 profiles were also compared in deaf adults without a history of psychopathology. Independent variables were history of mental health treatment, language of administration and reading ability. Dependent variables were MMPI-168 and B-G MMPI-168 validity and clinical scale evaluations. Fifty-nine deaf adults from the community and outpatient counseling services completed demographic information on a questionnaire developed especially for this study. Subjects were divided into Clinic and Control groups based on history (Clinic) or no history (Control) of mental health treatment. Reading Comprehension scores (Advanced Stanford Achievement Test) of Control subjects determined placement in Control (I), (11th grade and above) and Control (II), (6-11 grade) groups. All subjects took the B-G MMPI-168. Control subjects took the MMPI-168 at home within two weeks. Ten dollars was earned for participation. Results indicated that Clinic and Control (II) groups were not accurately discriminated by B-G MMPI-168 profiles. The "hit rate" for the Clinic group was 96.5 percent, but only 40.0% of the Control subjects were correctly classified as Not Disturbed. This version of the B-G MMPI-168 was judged unacceptable for clinical use until items are revised. Level of reading ability was not a significant factor in the clinical validity of the MMPI-168. The "hit rates" of correct classification of Control (I) and Control (II) subjects as Not Disturbed, 58.8 and 46.2, respectively, were unacceptable. Language of administration was not a significant factor in the clinical validity of Control group "168" profiles. B-G MMPI-168 profiles showed more psychopathology than MMPI-168 profiles, but both tests had unacceptably high percentages of Control subjects classified as Disturbed. Revision of B-G MMPI-168 items was recommended so that profiles can accurately discriminate between Clinic and Control groups. The MMPI-168 was recommended for use as part of a personality assessment battery for deaf adults having 12th grade equivalent or higher reading level.

Researchers have studied the effects of modifying the physical environment in classrooms with high levels of disruptive behaviors in the general education setting. This study incorporates modifications used by previous researchers yet in a residential school with students who have a hearing loss. The results of the study show a functional relationship between the physical environment and levels of disruptive behavior and academic engagement. The present study confirmed that by modifying the classroom environment to minimize visual and auditory distractions, disruptive behaviors decreased and academic engagement increased with students who have a hearing loss. A multiple baseline across settings design was used to examine the efficacy of the intervention in three classrooms. Social validity ratings by the teachers indicated high acceptability of the intervention. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

The research is clear; given the opportunity to do so, children begin transacting with print at very young ages (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1982). Deaf children with full access to language from birth frequently experience higher success rates in literacy acquisition (Kuntze, 1998). However, there remains a paucity of studies on how young Deaf children whose success with literacy development can be reasonably predicted, begin their journeys toward literacy. With the understanding that early literacy experiences significantly impact all children's literacy development (Bus, Van Ijzendoorn, & Pelligrini, 1995), it is important to have a clearer understanding of how Deaf children develop emergent literacy skills.This dissertation presents a year-long case study on four young Deaf children from native-ASL families who were immersed in literacy-rich environments and how they developed literacy skills in school and at home. In order to provide the fullest possible picture, parents, teachers and children were interviewed and observed. As literacy development does not happen in isolation; this dissertation provides information about the children's sociocultural context that included the literacy experiences and beliefs of the adult participants and the children's own experiences at home and in school. Artifacts including writing samples and data from an early literacy checklist were also collected to provide information about each child's individual written language development.The data were organized and analyzed based on salient themes and framed by socio-psycholinguistic studies on hearing children by researchers such as Dyson (1993), Ferreiro & Teberosky (1982), and Goodman (1996). Results show that with full access to language and opportunities to develop reading and writing abilities, Deaf children's emergent literacy development is highly similar to that of monolingual and bilingual hearing children with some characteristics unique to Deaf ASL-English bilinguals. The results of this dissertation study adds to the general body of knowledge of how children develop literacy abilities even when they do not have face-to-face communication in their literate language. The results also inform current practices in Deaf education and provide researchers, educators, and parents with a framework for understanding the critical role that language and communication play on Deaf children's literacy development.

No description available.

Children with severe, prelingual deafness experience considerable problems in reading and learning to read. Moreover, it has been widely reported that the deaf rarely develop in reading beyond a reading age of nine years. The research reported examines these claims and provides evidence that: (1) deaf children do acquire higher-order, top-down, reading skills; (2) deaf children possess undifferentiated story schemata in both reading and non-reading story situations and these limit their top-down processing of whole stories; and (3) deaf children can acquire more differentiated story schemata and can learn to use these to read more 'schematically' at the whole-passage level. The elements of a model for the reading of the deaf are presented and its implications for the teaching of the deaf are discussed. It is suggested that in teaching the deaf to read, emphasis should be placed upon their top-down reading strengths.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The present study was conducted to explore further the general hypothesis that prolonged deficit in one perceptual modality during growth may have implications for the development of the residual intact modalities. Specifically, the absence of audition was hypothesized as having a retarding effect on the development of tactile-kinesthetic discrimination. A subsidiary aim was to clarify the interpretation of previous findings with the congenitally blind (Menaker, 1965) which indicated a four year developmental delay on one of the tasks administered (the size-weight illusion) in this investigation. A total of 192 children ranging in age from six through fourteen years served as subjects in the study; of this numb er, 84 were congenitally deaf, while 108 had normal hearing. The groups were matched solely for chronological age, although borderline children with respect to I. Q. , visual defect, and behavioral disorder were excluded. They were administered two tactile-kinesthetic tasks, a standard test of weight discrimination and the size-weight illusion, in counterbalanced order. [TRUNCATED] / 2031-01-01

Dissertation Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a M Ed Degree in the School of Education Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / South African Sign Language (SASL) is officially recognised as a formal Home Language school subject within the National Curriculum Statement Policy of South Africa. However, this long awaited roll-out of the CAPS SASL raises a number of issues within the context of each school for the Deaf regarding implementation and school leadership. Hence, a case study was undertaken at a public school for the Deaf located within Johannesburg District to draw attention to these issues. Using Freire’s concepts of Dialogue, Conscientization and Praxis (Freire, 1972) as a means to bring about transformational changes within the school for the implementation year of SASL, 2015, the study explored the dialogue between School Management Team (SMT) and staff members who teach the Deaf learners. The models of school leadership investigated were: transactional, transformational and transformative leadership (Shields, 2010) as a framework for the changing roles as demonstrated by the SMT and the said staff members. Qualitative data provided insight into different strategies employed by them as well as class assistants to implement SASL; and further revealed the changes experienced within the school and by several staff members, where members were becoming more aware of their SASL abilities and how they would want to improve. Emergent themes included the ‘SASL curriculum’, ‘leadership and change’, ‘bilingual education and quality of education’ for Deaf learners. Change was evident between the positional authority of SMT members and the language authority of the Deaf staff members and revealed how this transformation in respect for different roles of the SMT assisted the SASL implementation. Findings revealed that SMT members and Deaf staff need to engage in extensive dialogue and implement strategies to facilitate the SASL implementation if there is to be meaningful transformation within the school / XL2018

"It is the purpose of this paper to suggest effective methods for teaching modern dance to deaf elementary school children"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1954." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Christine Foster, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-42).

Thesis advisor: Susan Bruce / The acquisition of vocabulary is an important aspect of young children's development that may impact their later literacy skills (National Reading Panel, 2000; Cunningham and Stanovitch, 1997). Deaf children who are American Sign Language users, however, often have smaller vocabularies and lower literacy levels than their hearing peers (Lederberg and Prezbindowski, 2001; Schirmer and McGough, 2005). Despite the importance of teaching vocabulary for young deaf children, there are very few investigations on this important topic (Luckner and Cooke, 2010). This study examines the nature of vocabulary instruction by four early childhood teachers of deaf children (TODs) from two classrooms through a qualitative collective case study. Findings indicated that the Four-Part Vocabulary Program (Graves, 2006) could account for the nature of vocabulary in these classrooms; however, within this framework TODs used qualitatively different language strategies to address the unique aspects of teaching a visual language. Furthermore, there was interplay of teacher knowledge about learners, curricula, and pedagogy that informed their instructional planning and decision-making. Implications of this study include the varying roles of teacher knowledge, experience, and evidence in guiding ASL vocabulary instruction for TODs. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.