Meeting global deaf peers, visiting ideal deaf places: deaf ways of education leading to empowerment, an exploratory case study

In a flemish case study, deaf role models revealed a moment of awakening, indicated by the Flemish sign WAKE-UP Contact with deaf cultural rhetoric made them wake up, and deconstruct and reconstruct their lives, a process represented by a circle of deaf empowerment. Flemish deaf leaders mentioned acquiring this rhetoric during visits to deaf dream worlds (in Flemish Sign Language, WORLD DREAM): places with ideal conditions for deaf people. Such global deaf encounters (Breivik, Haualand, & Solvang, 2002) lead to the "insurrection of subjugated [deaf] knowledges" (Pease, 2002, p. 33). Whereas deaf education had never provided them with deaf cultural rhetoric and was depositing upon them oppressive societal conventions (Jankowski, 1997), a common sign language (Mottez, 1993) and global deaf experience (Breivik et al., 2002; Murray, in press) in barrier-free environments (Jankowski, 1997) provided deaf ways of deaf education (Erting, 1996; Reilly, 1995).     

Gender differences in response to auditory-verbal intervention in children who are deaf or hard of hearing

Recent research has questioned the role of gender in language development and in special education outcomes, yet neither issue has been addressed in literature on students who are deaf or hard of hearing. To determine if language and placement outcomes differ by gender, the present study considered the behavior of children who attended a clinical program subscribing to an auditory-verbal philosophy. Parents of 28 boys and 42 girls with hearing losses evaluated their children using the Parent Rating Scale of the Leiter International Performance Scale--Revised (Roid & Miller, 1997) and the Parental View of Therapy Scale (developed for the present study). Also, clinical file data were surveyed. The boys were found to be more likely than the girls to be rated by their parents as having basic features of temperament nonconducive to traditional clinical language intervention. The girls' language and placement outcomes surpassed the boys', although both groups' outcomes were positive. A possible limitation of the study was that the population was atypical of students with hearing losses in general.     

Access to sign language interpreters in the criminal justice system

Historically, the provision of sign language interpreters to deaf suspects, defendants, and offenders has been a problematic issue in the criminal justice system. Inconsistency in the provision of interpreter services results largely from the ignorance of criminal justice professionals regarding deaf people's communication needs and accommodation options. Through analysis of 22 post-Americans with Disabilities Act cases and a survey of 46 professional sign language interpreters working in criminal justice settings, the present study considered access issues concerning sign language interpreters in law enforcement, courtrooms, and correctional settings. Recommendations to increase the accessibility of interpreting services include providing ongoing awareness training to criminal justice personnel, developing training programs for deaf legal advocates, and continuing access studies.     

Counselling with the psycho-socially isolated deaf

The official acceptance of sign language is probably the most important event in the history of the deaf. Communication is vital in order to establish close relationships. Not all of the hearing impaired participate in the deaf community despite a common language and a common culture; i.e. they are psycho-socially isolated due to external factors and more internal (personal) ones. Isolation must be met with measures at different levels; information to and influence on society at large as to the deaf and their needs, support to families with deaf children and various forms of support to the deaf themselves. Preventive measures aimed at the parents of deaf are required to ensure optimal developmental conditions. Counselling for the deaf can profitably be aimed at psycho-social measures, thus psycho-social rehabilitation pre-supposes an active social involvement on the part of the coundellor. Four key concepts of interest in the presented work model are described, namely identification, working through, reality testing, and acceptance. To ensure the deaf adequate support the following factors are important: sign language, positive attitudes to sign language and deafness, culture competence, relevant professional competence, active participation of the deaf in the rehabilitation process and an increase in the interpreter service for the deaf.     

Fifty years of research on the intelligence of deaf and hard-of-hearing children: a review of literature and discussion of implications

In 1965, McCay Vernon drove a stake through the heart of the long-established "truth" that deaf people were inferior to hearing people. Launched by Aristotle, emboldened by the 1880 Conference of Milan, and reiterated in the twentieth century through the biased research of many psychologists, this falsehood persisted until the publication of this classic review paper. Vernon succinctly spotlights biases in IQ assessment of deaf children resulting from improper testing methods, research participant sampling, even the experience level of the evaluators themselves. Brief and scholarly, the paper had enormous impact not only on future research regarding cognition and deaf people but on clinical practice as well. Within this paper, insights are evident which Vernon has continued to elucidate throughout his long career. He was arguably the first psychologist to view the deaf population as a heterogeneous one, noting how various hearing loss etiologies differentially affect cognition and other psychological characteristics. His later research, notably that which focused on rubella, deafblind, and deaf forensic populations, has been similarly pioneering. McCay Vernon's extensive professional impact stems not only from his prolific, readily applied research work but also from his generous and vigorous activities as a teacher, a mentor, and advisor. - Robert Q. Pollard, Jr.     

What hysteria? A systematic study of newspaper coverage of accused child molesters

OBJECTIVE: There were three aims: First, to determine the extent to which those charged with child molestation receive newspaper coverage; second, to analyze the nature of that coverage; and third, to compare the universe of coverage to the nature of child molestation charges in the criminal justice system as a whole. METHOD: Two databases were created. The first one identified all defendants charged with child molestation in Rhode Island in 1993. The database was updated after 5 years to include relevant information about case disposition. The second database was created by electronic searching the Providence Journal for every story that mentioned each defendant. RESULTS: Most defendants (56.1%) were not mentioned in the newspaper. Factors associated with a greater chance of coverage include: cases involving first-degree charges, cases with multiple counts, cases involving additional violence or multiple victims, and cases resulting in long prison sentences. The data indicate that the press exaggerates "stranger danger," while intra-familial cases are underreported. Newspaper accounts also minimize the extent to which guilty defendants avoid prison. CONCLUSIONS: Generalizing about the nature of child molestation cases in criminal court on the basis of newspaper coverage is inappropriate. The coverage is less extensive than often claimed, and it is skewed in ways that are typical of the mass media.     

Studies of neural processing in deaf signers: toward a neurocognitive model of language processing in the deaf

The ability to comprehend and produce language stands as a defining characteristic of human cognition and enables the transfer of knowledge and culture within human society. A proper characterization of the human capacity for language is required for the development of interventions that may be used to assist those individuals who have failed to achieve, or who have lost competence in, language behaviors. For signed languages, models of competent language use are lacking. This lack of knowledge hampers the development of effective assessment measures for deaf children who may be experiencing learning problems beyond those confronting the normal deaf child. I discuss two research avenues that have begun to provide a window into the neural systems involved in sign language processing: studies of language disruptions in adult deaf signers who have suffered brain injury, and studies of functional brain imaging in normal deaf signers. This research provides a basis for the development of a comprehensive neurocognitive model of sign language processing.     

Pragmatic language in deaf and hard of hearing students: correlation with success in general education

Deaf and hard of hearing children have shown delays and difficulties in pragmatic behaviors due to insufficient exposure to common daily discourse and underlying impoverishment in all components of language development. In a study in a school district in a southeastern U.S. state, the researchers investigated the relationship between sociolinguistic pragmatic competence in 81 deaf and hard of hearing students and these students' degree of hearing loss, communication mode, and degree of success in general education. Two measures, one devised by the state's department of education and one developed within the local school system, were used: the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (Georgia Department of Education, 2000) and the Socio-Pragmatic Skills Checklist for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students (Cobb County School District, 1997). The researchers found that whether the students used spoken language or signed language, socio-pragmatic language had a high, positive correlation with academic outcomes.     

论上诉不加刑

上诉不加刑指第二审人民法院审判只有被告人一方上诉的案件,不得加被告人的刑罚。它确立的理论基础在于诉讼的民主性及刑事诉讼的自由价值,它设立的目的使被告人能够毫无顾忌地行使上诉权,保证被告人的诉讼地位不会由于上诉而更加恶化。我国刑事诉讼法确立了该原则。但尚不够成熟、完善,需要法律作出更加具体的规定。     

刑事附带民事诉讼当事人地位浅析

在刑事附带民事案件中认定原告和被告是一个比较难的问题。刑事附带民事诉讼兼具两种诉讼的特征,在认定原、被告时既要考虑到刑事诉讼这个前提,也要考虑到民事赔偿的本质,对特殊主体要具体分析其在案件中所处的地位,以此确定其诉讼地位。     

刑事简易程序与被告人诉讼权利保障

我国新刑事诉讼法创设了简易程序,满足了迅速处理刑事案件的需要.但是程序的设置并不缜密,对被告人诉讼权利关怀不够,亟需限缩简易程序的适案范围、赋予被告人程序选择权、强化辩护制度、建立公诉人出庭制度、明确庭审程序运作等.目前的普通程序简易审有侵犯被告人诉讼权利之虞,不宜提倡.     

The credibility of recovered memory testimony: exploring the effects of alleged victim and perpetrator gender.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose was to explore the effects of victim/complainant and perpetrator/defendant gender on the impact of recovered memory testimony in criminal sexual abuse trials. METHOD: A jury simulation methodology was used. Two hundred forty-six participants read a summary of a sexual abuse trial in which the following three variables were manipulated: the complainant's gender, the defendant's gender, and whether the complainant's memory of the alleged abuse had been "recovered" or remembered all along. Participants reached a verdict and rated the culpability and credibility of the parties. RESULTS: Compared to a case where the memory of the abuse had always been remembered, recovered memory testimony led to lower perceptions of the defendant's culpability and higher perceptions of the defendant's credibility. In addition, the complainant with recovered memory was viewed as less credible and less likely to be telling the truth. These effects of testimony type (i.e., recovered vs. remembered) were qualified by an interaction with complainant and defendant gender, such that testimony type exerted an effect in cases of alleged heterosexual but not homosexual abuse. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that mock jurors' judgments in sexual abuse cases reflect their stereotypes about sexual abuse and expectations regarding the relative likelihood of repression in various circumstances.     

Deaf children and bullying: directions for future research

U.S. SCHOOLS are currently addressing bullying and its effects on children. Bullying is characterized as repetitive verbal teasing, threatening, physical intimidation, demeaning others, violent acts, torture, and other forms of verbal and physical aggression (Smith and Sharp, 1994a). Little is known about bullying and its impact on deaf children. Measures to describe and quantify bullying factors in this population should be developed and validated that address characteristics of deaf victims and bullies, various types of school settings deaf children attend, bullying dynamics that may be unique to this population and its peers, and other environmental factors. The presence of disabilities besides deafness, social support systems of deaf children and their families, sociocultural background, degree of hearing loss, parental educational levels and occupations, socioeconomic status, and linguistic backgrounds should also be considered. This discussion highlights issues and precautions concerning future directions for studying bullying with deaf children.     

聋校语文教学知识可视化途径研究

聋生由于存在听觉障碍,视觉补偿优势非常明显,因此在聋校语文课堂重视知识可视化教学显得尤为重要。教师教学中让聋生在游戏、体态、绘画等情境中以玩、看、画等形式进行识字,极大地提升了聋生对于所学字词的接受能力;以看图说、演、想、写等形式进行说写训练,有效的提高了聋生的语言表达能力;让聋生通过想象阅读,感受美、体悟情,较好地培养了聋生的阅读和想象力。     

Differences in Established Joint Attention in Hearing-Hearing and Hearing-Deaf Mother-Child Dyads: Associations With Social Competence,Settings, and Tasks

The authors examined relations among observed joint attention, maternal report of child’s social competence, setting (home vs. laboratory), task (unstructured vs. semi-structured), and dyad type [hearing mother–hearing child (n = 55, M_age = 25.8 months) vs. hearing mother–deaf child (n = 27, M_age = 26.9 months)]. Hearing child dyads scored higher on joint attention during unstructured tasks, especially in their home environment. Hearing child dyads displayed similar joint attention to deaf toddler dyads when they engaged in a semi-structured task, but higher on these measures during unstructured free play. Unlike hearing children, joint attention was differentially related to social competence in deaf children, with relatively higher versus lower social competence depending on relatively high versus low observed joint attention, respectively.     

Language facility and theory of mind development in deaf children

Deaf children with signing parents, nonnative signing deaf children, children from a hearing impaired unit (HIU), and oral deaf children were tested on three first-order theory of mind (ToM) tasks--a subset was also given a second-order task (Perner & Wimmer, 1985). A British Sign Language (BSL) receptive language task (Herman, Holmes, & Woll, 1999) and four nonverbal executive function tasks were also administered. The new BSL task allowed, for the first time, the receptive language abilities of deaf children to be measured alongside ToM abilities. Hearing children acted as controls. These children were given the same tasks, except the British Picture Vocabulary Scale was substituted for the BSL task. Language ability correlated positively and significantly with ToM ability, and age was correlated with language ability for both the deaf and hearing children. Age, however, underpinned the relationship between ToM and language for deaf children with signing parents and hearing children but not for nonnative signing, HIU, or oral deaf children. Executive function performance in deaf children was not related to ToM ability. A subset of hearing children, matched on age and language standard scores with signing deaf children, passed significantly more ToM tasks than the deaf children did. The findings are discussed with respect to the hypotheses proposed by Peterson and Siegal (1995, 2000) and Courtin (2000).     

On creating a workable signing environment: deaf and hearing perspectives

This article studies teams of service providers in education and psychiatric services, in which a substantial number of both deaf and hearing people work together as colleagues. It focuses specifically on the challenges involved in cooperatively creating a signing work environment. Using a methodology that draws on the principles of ethnography, it identifies and explores the meaning constructions associated with signing at work, from deaf and hearing perspectives. Data were collected through interviews in three organizations all in the United Kingdom: two specialist psychiatric units for deaf adults and a school for deaf children. Forty-one informants participated (20 deaf, 21 hearing). Results show that from a deaf perspective, hearing people's use of sign language in their presence at work is closely associated with demonstrating personal respect, value, and confidence, and hearing colleagues' willingness to sign is more significant than their fluency. From a hearing perspective, results demonstrate that sign language use at work is closely associated with change, pressure, and the questioning of professional competence. The challenges involved in improving deaf/hearing relations are perceived from a deaf perspective as largely person-centered, and from a hearing perspective as primarily language-centered. The significance of organizational factors such as imbalances in power and status between deaf and hearing colleagues is explored in relation to the findings.     

Bilingual-bicultural models of literacy education for deaf students: considering the claims

As Carolyn Ewoldt (1996) points out '[M]uch has been written of late about the viability of a bilingual focus in deaf education.' While these writings are necessary to the ongoing pedagogical dialogue in the field, much of the rhetoric suffers because, rather than truly adopting a 'holistic perspective', arguments and positions focus only on selected aspects of the relevant theoretical and research information. If proponents of bilingual education for deaf children truly rely on 'research on the benefits of native sign language and from theoretical and research support coming from other disciplines' (Ewoldt, 1996, p. 5) to support their claims, then these research and theoretical supports must be examined as comprehensively, and holistically, as possible. Weaving together only a few threads of theory and research does not create the fabric for a pedagogical position that can withstand close scrutiny and analysis.In this article, we will touch on some of the major claims made in explications of bilingual models of literacy education for deaf students (Baker, 1997; Livingston, 1997; Mashie, 1995; Mason & Ewoldt, 1996). Our goal is to broaden the scope of the discussion on some of the major arguments and to encourage an expanded dialogue in this ongoing debate. It is not our aim to argue against the concept of bilingual education for deaf students nor to advocate the exclusion of native sign languages from the classroom. Rather, we support the concept of a bilingual education for deaf students with native sign languages playing a key role; however, we contend that the model as it is currently conceived requires further scrutiny and analysis.     

How Do Profoundly Deaf Children Learn to Read?

Reading requires two related, but separable, capabilities: (1) familiarity with a language, and (2) understanding the mapping between that language and the printed word (Chamberlain & Mayberry, 2000; Hoover & Gough, 1990). Children who are profoundly deaf are disadvantaged on both counts. Not surprisingly, then, reading is difficult for profoundly deaf children. But some deaf children do manage to read fluently. How? Are they simply the smartest of the crop, or do they have some strategy, or circumstance, that facilitates linking the written code with language? A priori one might guess that knowing American Sign Language (ASL) would interfere with learning to read English simply because ASL does not map in any systematic way onto English. However, recent research has suggested that individuals with good signing skills are not worse, and may even be better, readers than individuals with poor signing skills (Chamberlain & Mayberry, 2000). Thus, knowing a language (even if it is not the language captured in print) appears to facilitate learning to read. Nonetheless, skill in signing does not guarantee skill in reading—reading must be taught. The next frontier for reading research in deaf education is to understand how deaf readers map their knowledge of sign language onto print, and how instruction can best be used to turn signers into readers.