This text provides future and practicing teachers of deaf children with basic theoretical and research knowledge
as well as specific principles and practices for fostering the development of language and reading. In this third
edition of Language Learning Practices with Deaf Children, the authors have added a section on language assessment
in Chapter 7 addressing high-stakes or large-scale testing and a new chapter on special programs, including ASL-English
programs for children from multicultural homes and technology for language learning. An Appendix has been added
with an annotated list of Internet Web sites that may be useful to teachers, parents, and preservice teachers as
well as others interested in language practices with children who are deaf.
Language Learning Practices with Deaf Children describes the variety of language development theories and practices
that are used with deaf children, without advocating any particular approach. Chapters 1 and 2 cover some of the
accepted facts and known problems of language acquisition and instruction with hearing and with deaf children.
Implications for language development in deaf children are discussed. Chapter 3 is a history of instructional practices
in language development with deaf children to show continuity between present and past practices and to illustrate
the recurring cycles of major language development approaches with deaf children. Chapters 4, 5, and 8 detail the
major approaches of the present time: natural methods, structural methods, and American Sign Language-English as
a second language (ASL-ESL) as well as specialized programs for children from multicultural homes and technology
as part of language learning. Chapter 6 discusses reading and writing, and Chapter 7 focuses on the assessment
of language and progress monitoring of language development among school-aged children. Finally, Chapter 9 offers
some reflection on the material in the book.