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An instructional prereading using American Sign Language (ASL) was effective in improving the ability of 7 prelingually deaf children (ages 11 and 12) to understand and retell a story after reading it in print. A six-step procedure for using the ASL technique is explained. Other applications of the technique and its appropriateness for public school settings are noted. (DB)

Seven deaf elementary school students read fables in printed English that had previously been summarized in American Sign Language (ASL) and read other fables without the intervention. The ASL summary technique increased the quantity and quality of students'"retelling scores"; it also improved readers' comprehension of the moral lessons of the fables. (Author/JDD)

A three-year program for deaf-education undergraduate and graduate students in southeast Kentucky incorporates: Appalachian history, culture, and language; deafness and learning strategies; deaf culture and American Sign Language; and mainstreaming competencies. Trainee self-reports on progress through the program are presented. (KS)

Suggestions are offered for teaching young children with hearing impairments to read and write. The strategies emphasize the importance of making the sign-to-print relationship explicit, helping children understand that there is not always perfect sign-to-word correlation, increasing students' metalinguistic knowledge, and building comprehension. (Author/JDD)

A survey of 6,043 professionals in 349 deaf education programs showed that 10.4% are from nonwhite or minority ethnic/cultural backgrounds. Of these, 11.7% are deaf. Only eight minority deaf administrators were identified. More than half of the minority professionals worked in public schools. Geographic distribution and gender are also analyzed. (Author/JDD)

The full-school-year immersion of six deaf kindergarten students in literacy-rich activities focusing on daily reading and writing in authentic communication tasks resulted in increased levels of written language production. (12 references) (Author/CB)

Fifteen students read expository texts and filled in deleted words and phrases. The five deaf high school youths reported using similar strategies as hearing elementary school youths and hearing reading-disabled high school youths, but deaf readers more often relied on rereading and background knowledge, whereas hearing readers more often used context clues. (Author/JDD)

The promotion of reading comprehension in deaf children was studied by giving deaf children summaries of fables in American Sign Language (ASL) without the fable's moral before having the children read the stories in printed English. 'Retelling scores' for seven deaf grade-school children who read the fables with and without the ASL summaries were given. Students also received scores for giving each fable's moral. Results showed that the ASL summaries increased retelling scores and improved the children's comprehension of the fables' morals.

A study of professional deaf educators was made to find out the percentage of minorities in their ranks. Researchers wanted to see what role models are available to minority deaf children. Of the 6,043 professionals surveyed, 10.4% were minorities, and of these minorities, 11.7% were deaf. Minority deaf administrators numbered only eight. Public schools employed more than 50% of the minority educators and more than half of black deaf educators worked in New York State or Washington, DC. Texas took first place in number of Hispanic professionals employed.

Strategy Usage Among Deaf and Hearing Readers Fluent readers use metacognitive strategies while reading. These strategies are often referred to as comprehension monitoring strategies (Baker & Brown, 1984). Metacognition, in [...]

A prereading model based on a 9-month longitudinal study of 45 deaf preschool children from state residential schools is presented. The model contends that reading can be initiated by giving deaf children opportunities to match their internalized manual language to printed words, stressing reading-related activities involving parents, teachers, and peers. (Author/CB)

Vignettes illustrate the effectiveness of a project providing computer-assisted instruction to three multiply-handicapped deaf high school students. Individual and group activities resulted in increased language skills, more positive attitudes, greater self-esteem and motivation, and improved peer interactions. Software programs are briefly described. (CB)

The reciprocal teaching procedure, which involves interactive dialogue and teacher modeling, was used to teach prereading skills (finger spelling, book reading, story retelling, and word recognition) to 23 prelingually deaf kindergarten and first-grade students. Pre-post test analyses showed that gains were made in letter, word, and story knowledge. (Author/JDD)

Fourteen strategies a hard-of-hearing mother uses while reading a book with her hard-of-hearing preschool son are observed. These strategies are grouped in four large categories: (1) confirmation of child's understanding; (2) focusing attention on the book and its content; (3) specific language input; (4) concept development. (Author/LMO)