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PubMed1998

Homonymy in the lexicons of young children acquiring American Sign Language.

The incidence of homonymy in children's early sign language production was examined in nine young children of deaf parents. Analysis of parental reports of how their children formed their signs revealed that all of the children produced homonymous forms (i.e., a single manual form used to represent two or more different adult target signs). Altogether, the children were reported as producing 26 sets of homonymous forms to represent 59 adult target signs. This incidence of homonymy in the children's early signing did not differ significantly from the incidence of homonymy previously reported in a study of normally developing children acquiring spoken language. This finding is interpreted as indicating an important similarity in language acquisition processes across language modalities. Analysis of the sign formational characteristics of the children's homonymous forms revealed that the children's signs and the adult target signs typically shared a common location aspect. The movement and handshape aspects of the adult target signs were less frequently retained in the children's homonymous forms.

Child Development↗
PubMed1997

Sign language and motor functioning in students with autistic disorder.

Sign language production of 14 low-functioning students diagnosed with autistic disorder was examined. Videotapes of the students signing with their teachers were analyzed for frequency and accuracy of sign location, handshape, and movement production. The location aspect of signs was produced more accurately by the subjects than either the handshape or movement aspects. Wide individual differences were evident among the students in the number of signs they produced, accuracy of sign formation, and performance on measures of motor functioning. Students' sign vocabulary size and accuracy of sign formation were highly correlated with their performance on two measures of apraxia and with their fine motor age scores.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Acquisition of sign language by autistic children. III: Generalized descriptive phrases.

Sign language training has emerged as a viable alternative to speech for those autistic children who remain nonverbal in spite of remediation efforts. Yet the variables responsible for the acquisition of specific signing skills have not been fully investigated. The present study was undertaken to validate experimentally a portion of a general language intervention program developed by the authors. Specifically, we focused on descriptive signing that involved action-object phrases. Four autistic children were successfully taught such phrases following an intervention composed of prompting, fading, stimulus rotation, and differential reinforcement. After being trained on a small number of action-object phrases, the children displayed skill generalization to new situations. The results were discussed with respect to the likely need for added incidental teaching to bring about communicative use of the skills taught.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

The acquisition of question formation in spoken English and American sign language by two hearing children of deaf parents.

This longitudinal study investigated the acquisition of question formation in spoken English and American Sign Language (ASL) by two young hearing children of deaf parents. The linguistic environment of the children included varying amounts of exposure and interaction with normal speech and with the nonstandard speech of their deaf parents. This atypical speech environment did not impede the children's acquisition of English question forms. The two children also acquired question forms in ASL that are similar to those produced by deaf children of deaf parents. The two languages, ASL and English, developed in parallel fashion in the two children, and the two systems did not interfere with each other. This dual language development is illustrated by utterances in which the children communicated a sentence in spoken English and ASL simultaneously, with normal English structure in the spoken version and sign language structure in the ASL version.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1995

What they didn't know may have helped us: how the Supreme Court misinterpreted the role of sign language interpreters.

In Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District (1993), the Supreme Court ruled that using state monies to pay for a sign language interpreter's services in a parochial school setting did not violate the Establishment Clause. That decision was based on a flawed reading of the role played by sign language interpreters and the implications of that role within the rubric of traditional First Amendment jurisprudence. This article explores why the interpreter's role is constitutionally significant. It then contrasts the two competing models set before the Court, the mechanical model and the full participant model. After finding that the latter model is the more accurate depiction of the interpreter's role, the article examines several unique features of interpreting between spoken and spatial languages that suggest a more sophisticated Court would have ruled against the Zobrests.

Deafness↗
PubMed2005

Comparing the effects of auditory deprivation and sign language within the auditory and visual cortex.

To investigate neural plasticity resulting from early auditory deprivation and use of American Sign Language, we measured responses to visual stimuli in deaf signers, hearing signers, and hearing nonsigners using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We examined "compensatory hypertrophy" (changes in the responsivity/size of visual cortical areas) and "cross-modal plasticity" (changes in auditory cortex responses to visual stimuli). We measured the volume of early visual areas (V1, V2, V3, V4, and MT+). We also measured the amplitude of responses within these areas, and within the auditory cortex, to a peripheral visual motion stimulus that was attended or ignored. We found no major differences between deaf and hearing subjects in the size or responsivity of early visual areas. In contrast, within the auditory cortex, motion stimuli evoked significant responses in deaf subjects, but not in hearing subjects, in a region of the right auditory cortex corresponding to Brodmann's areas 41, 42, and 22. This hemispheric selectivity may be due to a predisposition for the right auditory cortex to process motion; earlier studies report a right hemisphere bias for auditory motion in hearing subjects. Visual responses within the auditory cortex of deaf subjects were stronger for attended than ignored stimuli, suggesting top-down processes. Hearing signers did not show visual responses in the auditory cortex, indicating that cross-modal plasticity can be attributed to auditory deprivation rather than sign language experience. The largest effects of auditory deprivation occurred within the auditory cortex rather than the visual cortex, suggesting that the absence of normal input is necessary for large-scale cortical reorganization to occur.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Sign language aphasia following right hemisphere damage in a left-hander: a case of reversed cerebral dominance in a deaf signer?

Recent lesion studies have shown that left hemisphere lesions often give rise to frank sign language aphasias in deaf signers, whereas right hemisphere lesions do not, suggesting similar patterns of hemispheric asymmetry for signed and spoken language. We present here a case of a left-handed, deaf, life-long signer who became aphasic after a right-hemisphere lesion. The subject exhibits deficits in sign language comprehension and production typically associated with left hemisphere damaged signers. He also exhibits evidence of local versus global deficits similar to left-hemisphere lesioned hearing patients. This case represents reversed lateralization for sign language and also may represent reversed lateralization for visuo-spatial abilities in a deaf signer.

Aphasia↗
PubMed2002

Role of the left hemisphere in sign language comprehension.

We investigated the relative role of the left versus right hemisphere in the comprehension of American Sign Language (ASL). Nineteen lifelong signers with unilateral brain lesions [11 left hemisphere damaged (LHD) and 8 right hemisphere damaged (RHD)] performed three tasks, an isolated single-sign comprehension task, a sentence-level comprehension task involving simple one-step commands, and a sentence-level comprehension task involving more complex multiclause/multistep commands. Eighteen of the participants were deaf, one RHD subject was hearing and bilingual (ASL and English). Performance was examined in relation to two factors: whether the lesion was in the right or left hemisphere and whether the temporal lobe was involved. The LHD group performed significantly worse than the RHD group on all three tasks, confirming left hemisphere dominance for sign language comprehension. The group with left temporal lobe involvement was significantly impaired on all tasks, whereas each of the other three groups performed at better than 95% correct on the single sign and simple sentence comprehension tasks, with performance falling off only on the complex sentence comprehension items. A comparison with previously published data suggests that the degree of difficulty exhibited by the deaf RHD group on the complex sentences is comparable to that observed in hearing RHD subjects. Based on these findings we hypothesize (i) that deaf and hearing individuals have a similar degree of lateralization of language comprehension processes and (ii) that language comprehension depends primarily on the integrity of the left temporal lobe.

Aphasia↗
PubMed1993

Optimisation of a computer vision system for the interpretation of American Sign Language.

Presented in this paper is a simulation algorithm for the optimisation of camera position with respect to the signer, to have a full and reliable interpretation of the American Sign Language. The simulation includes a three-dimensional world point into two-dimensional image point transformation algorithm, the effect of the depth information loss and a sign projection correction test. It is concluded that the viewing camera should be positioned at any point in a specified area subtended by a solid angle of 30 degrees, where the centre of the area is located at 45 degrees in the azimuth and 45 degrees in elevation relative to the signer. The theory and the technique are tested with regard to the efficiency of interpreting American Sign Language (ASL) by two adult signers. One of the signers had been using ASL on a regular basis since infancy, and the second signer had signed for the past five years. It is demonstrated that positioning the camera anywhere in the specified area provides a 96 per cent correct interpretation of the 36 signs tested. The results also provide a preliminary indication that signer variability may not present a major problem in interpretation, and that a computer vision system which captures the optimum depth information can distinguish between signs which, to the naked eye, appear to have similar characteristics.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1982

Sign language acquisition by a global aphasic.

A left hemisphere-damaged, hemiplegic, and globally aphasic man was taught receptive and expressive language using Total Communication--a combination of standardized sign language and speech. After an initial period during which words (in sign) were learned slowly and with frequent lapses of memory, the subject's learning ability and memory improved dramatically. He has learned to communicate using increasingly complex, syntactically correct sentences, self-correcting his mistakes. He reads and understands simple sentences. These results suggest that it may be possible to restore communicative function even in those stroke victims who remain orally aphasic if a suitable means of expression can be found.

Aphasia↗
PubMed1998

Perception of motherese in Japanese sign language by 6-month-old hearing infants.

N. Masataka (1996) reported results of an experiment in which 6-month-old deaf infants were presented with videotapes that showed 5 identical scripts signed in Japanese Sign Language by 5 deaf mothers toward their deaf infants or toward their deaf friends. The experiment demonstrated that infants showed greater attentional and affective responsiveness to infant-directed signing than to adult-directed signing. The present study explored the possibility that this same phenomenon might extend to hearing infants who have never been exposed to signed language. When the same stimulus tape as used previously was presented to 45 six-month-old hearing infants, they too showed greater attentional and affective responsiveness to infant-directed sign than to adult-directed sign. This fact suggests that infants are prepared to detect sign motherese characteristics without specific experience in the modality.

Affect↗
PubMed1984

A rapid training procedure for teaching manual sign language skills to multidisciplinary institutional staff.

The benefits of teaching manual sign language skills to severely and profoundly mentally retarded persons are becoming well documented. However, if these individuals are to use manual signing for functional communication, then their daily caregivers must also be skilled in the use of signs. In this study, a program for teaching signing skills to institutional personnel was evaluated. The generality of the program's effectiveness was investigated in three studies involving different groups of staff: paraprofessional direct care staff, specialty habilitation persons, and nurses. Results showed that the training program, consisting of written and verbal instructions, modeling, practice, and verbal feedback, was effective in rapidly teaching signs to all participating staff members. Also, the acquired signing skills maintained over time, the program was well received by staff, and staff used the signs in their routine interactions with institutionalized residents. Results are discussed with respect to the need to insure that handicapped individuals have a manual signing community with which to use their signing skills and to important components of effective staff training programs.

Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilitie↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Perceptual evidence against internal structure in American Sign Language syllables.

Syllables in spoken languages have been argued to have an internal structure which may cluster the consonants and vowels into subgroups. The most commonly used subgroups are the Onset (initial consonants) and Rhyme (vowel and remaining consonants), with the further possibility of dividing the Rhyme into Nucleus (the vowel and any on- or off-glides) and the Coda (the final consonants). Although linguistic debate continues about the exact formulation of such syllable models, the evidence is clear that listeners identify rhythmic beats at a particular point inside the syllable, namely at the release of the initial consonants into the following linguistically stressed vowels (referred to as the syllable peak, assumed to be part of the Nucleus). To determine whether such loci would be identified for syllables in American Sign Language, deaf native signers, hearing native signers, and hearing subjects unfamiliar with sign language were asked to tap to videotaped signed stimuli. Analysis of the tap locations in signed syllables revealed a relatively flat distribution across the syllable for all three groups and for individual subjects. The absence of syllable peak perception is discussed in relation to the motoric characteristics of sign production.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

The development of complex verb constructions in British Sign Language.

This study focuses on the mapping of events onto verb-argument structures in British Sign Language (BSL). The development of complex sentences in BSL is described in a group of 30 children, aged 3;2-12;0, using data from comprehension measures and elicited sentence production. The findings support two interpretations: firstly, in the mapping of concepts onto language, children acquiring BSL overgeneralize the use of argument structure related to perspective shifting; secondly, these overgeneralizations are predicted by the typological characteristics of the language and modality. Children under age 6;0, in attempting to produce sentences encoded through a perspective shift, begin by breaking down double-verb constructions (AB verbs) into components, producing only the part of the verb phrase which describes the perspective of the patient. There is also a prolonged period of development of non-manual features, with the full structure not seen in its adult form until after 9;0. The errors in the use of AB verbs and the subsequent protracted development of correct usage are explained in terms of the conceptual-linguistic interface.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Aspects of quality of life in persons with pre-lingual deafness using sign language: subjective wellbeing, ill-health symptoms, depression and insomnia.

This study investigated health-related quality of life, expressed as subjective wellbeing and the prevalence of depressive symptoms and insomnia, among elderly pre-lingually deaf persons using sign language. Comparisons were made with elderly hearing people. Forty-five pre-lingually deaf persons, 65 years or older, took part (a response rate of 46%). Subjective wellbeing was assessed with the Gothenburg Quality of Life (GQL) instrument. Depressive symptoms were rated with the 15-item version of the geriatric depression scale (GDS), and insomnia was measured with Livingston's sleep scale. Ratings of subjective wellbeing among elderly pre-lingually deaf people were generally high. One third of the deaf persons demonstrated depressive symptoms and nearly two thirds suffered from insomnia. There was substantial correlation between insomnia, depressive symptoms and lower subjective wellbeing. The results strengthened the assumption that depressive symptoms and sleep disturbance are more frequent among elderly pre-lingually deaf people using sign language than among hearing people. On the other hand, and contrary to our expectations, this did not imply significantly lower perceived subjective wellbeing compared with hearing elderly people. Results must be interpreted with caution due to limitations in the study.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Lexical recognition in sign language: effects of phonetic structure and morphology.

Two experiments are reported which investigate lexical recognition in American Sign Language (ASL). Exp. 1 examined identification of monomorphemic signs and investigated how the manipulation of phonological parameters affected sign identification. Over-all sign identification was much faster than what has been found for spoken language. The phonetic structure of sign (the simultaneous availability of Handshape and Location information) and the phonotactics of the ASL lexicon are argued to account for this difference. Exp. 2 compared the time course of recognition for monomorphemic and morphologically complex signs. ASL morphology is largely nonconcatenative which raises particularly interesting questions for word recognition. We found that morphologically complex signs had longer identification times than matched monomorphemic signs. Also, although roots and affixes are often articulated simultaneously in ASL, they were not identified simultaneously. Base forms of morphologically complex signs were identified initially followed by recognition of the morphological inflection. Finally, subjects with deaf parents (Native signers) were able to isolate signs faster than subjects with hearing parents (Late signers). This result suggests that early language experience can influence the initial stages of lexical access and sign identification.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Early sign language acquisition and the development of hand preference in young children.

Hand preference for signing and for nonsign actions was examined longitudinally in 24 young children (3 deaf, 21 hearing) with deaf parents. Most of these children showed a strong preference for their right hands in their sign production. This preference emerged early in their development, was relatively consistent over time, and predicted mature hand preference. Although most of the children also preferred to use their right hands in nonsign actions, their right-hand preference for signing was much stronger. Hand preference scores for two types of nonsign actions, communicative gestures and object actions, were significantly correlated with those for signing. Hand preference also was linked to rate of motor development but not to sign language acquisition. These findings are discussed with regard to current conceptualizations about the interrelationships among language, motor processes, and laterality.

Child of Impaired Parents↗
PubMed2006

Benefits of sign language interpreting and text alternatives for deaf students' classroom learning.

Four experiments examined the utility of real-time text in supporting deaf students' learning from lectures in postsecondary (Experiments 1 and 2) and secondary classrooms (Experiments 3 and 4). Experiment 1 compared the effects on learning of sign language interpreting, real-time text (C-Print), and both. Real-time text alone led to significantly higher performance by deaf students than the other two conditions, but performance by deaf students in all conditions was significantly below that of hearing peers who saw lectures without any support services. Experiment 2 compared interpreting and two forms of real-time text, C-Print and Communication Access Real-Time Translation, at immediate testing and after a 1-week delay (with study notes). No significant differences among support services were obtained at either testing. Experiment 3 also failed to reveal significant effects at immediate or delayed testing in a comparison of real-time text, direct (signed) instruction, and both. Experiment 4 found no significant differences between interpreting and interpreting plus real-time text on the learning of either new words or the content of television programs. Alternative accounts of the observed pattern of results are considered, but it is concluded that neither sign language interpreting nor real-time text have any inherent, generalized advantage over the other in supporting deaf students in secondary or postsecondary settings. Providing deaf students with both services simultaneously does not appear to provide any generalized benefit, at least for the kinds of materials utilized here.

Adolescent↗