"Language Learning in Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing, 2nd Edition: Theory to Classroom Practice is the long-awaited revision of the only textbook on primary language instruction written with classroom teachers of deaf and hard-of-hearing children (TODs) in mind. It builds on the work of the previous version while providing the reader with access to the entire first version on a supplemental website. An important feature of this book is that it describes four real TODs and demonstrates application of concepts discussed to the DHH children on their caseloads. Up-to-date chapters on theory of language learning, assessment, and evidence-based practice replace removed chapters. Chapters on English and American Sign Language (ASL) structure and on the three major approaches (listening and spoken language, bilingual-bimodal instruction, and ASL instruction) are updated. The chapters on teaching vocabulary and morphosyntax, how to ask and answer questions, and writing language objectives for Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) are expanded DHH. Specific examples of real cases are incorporated throughout the book. Finally, after a theoretical base of information on language instruction, many of the chapter provide language teachers with specific examples of how to answer the question: "What should I do on Monday." It avoids promotion of one or another philosophy, presenting all and demonstrating the commonalities across classroom language instruction approaches for DHH children"--

How children acquire a sign language and the stages of sign language development are extremely important topics in sign linguistics and deaf education, with studies in this field enabling assessment of an individual child’s communicative skills in comparison to others. In order to do research in this area it is important to use the right methodological tools. The contributions to this volume address issues covering the basics of doing sign acquisition research, the use of assessment tools, problems of transcription, analyzing narratives and carrying out interaction studies. It serves as an ideal reference source for any researcher or student of sign languages who is planning to do such work. This volume was originally published as a Special Issue of Sign Language & Linguistics 8:1/2 (2005)

This is the second volume in the series 'Trends in language acquisition research'. The unusual combination in one volume of reports on various different sign languages in acquisition makes this book quite unique.

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 1,7, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), language: English, abstract: Language is the most important device in means of communication between human beings all over the world. We use it to ask something, to complain or explain and to tell what we think about things that come into our mind. But what if everything around you is silent? If you are deaf. You need to take advantage of one of your other organs, the eyes. Take advantage of facial expressions and gesticulation performed by others. In this term paper we have a look on language acquisition by deaf children in comparison with the acquisition by hearing children. First of all I will give information about deafness in general followed by an introduction to sign language. I will concentrate on American Sign Language (ASL) because of the small amount of information available about the other kinds of sign language. Within the comparison we need to differentiate between children growing up with hearing or deaf parents because of the impact the social environment has on language acquisition. This is also relevant to state because only 10% of the deaf children actually have deaf parents. Further I would like to introduce bilingualism in connection with deafness. In my conclusion I will state why studies on the subject of language acquisition by deaf children are important to understand language in his whole complexity.

Contributors present the latest information on both the new world evolving for deaf & hard-of-hearing children & the improved expectations for their acquisition of spoken language.

Imagine a child who has never seen or heard any language at all. Would such a child be able to invent a language on her own? Despite what one might guess, the children described in this book make it clear that the answer to this question is 'yes'. The children are congenitally deaf and cannot learn the spoken language that surrounds them. In addition, they have not yet been exposed to sign language, either by their hearing parents or their oral schools. Nevertheless, the children use their hands to communicate - they gesture - and those gestures take on many of the forms and functions of language. The properties of language that we find in the deaf children's gestures are just those properties that do not need to be handed down from generation to generation, but can be reinvented by a child de novo - the resilient properties of language. This book suggests that all children, deaf or hearing, come to language-learning ready to develop precisely these language properties. In this way, studies of gesture creation in deaf children can show us the way that children themselves have a large hand in shaping how language is learned.

There is a robust body of knowledge suggesting that early language and literacy experiences significantly impact on future academic achievement. In contrast, relatively little has been written with respect to the early literacy development and experiences of deaf children. In Early Literacy Development in Deaf Children, Connie Mayer and Beverly J. Trezek seek to fill this gap by providing an in-depth exploration of how young deaf children learn to read and write, identifying the foundational knowledge, abilities, and skills that are fundamental to this process. They provide an overview of the latest research and present a model of early literacy development to guide their discussion on topics such as teaching reading and writing, curriculum and interventions, bilingualism, and assessment. Throughout, they concentrate on the ways in which young learners with hearing loss are similar to, or different from, their hearing age peers and the consequent implications for research and practice. Their discussion is wide-reaching, as they focus on children from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds, those with additional disabilities and hearing losses ranging from mild to profound, and those using a range of communication modalities and amplification technologies, including cochlear implants. With the implementation of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening and advancements in hearing technologies that have heightened both the emphasis on literacy development in the early years and the importance of these years in the ultimate development of age-appropriate reading and reading outcomes, this timely text addresses a topic that has thus far eluded the field.