New Materials

In Deaf life, the personal narrative holds sway because most Deaf individuals recall their formative years as solitary struggles to understand and to be understood. Few deaf people in the past related their stories in written form, relying instead on a different kind of “oral” tradition, that of American Sign Language. During the last several decades, however, a burgeoning bilingual deaf experience has ignited an explosion of Deaf writing that has pushed the potential of ASL-influenced English to extraordinary creative heights.

Creative Hands: Animals

Epistemology is the study of how “knowledge” is formed. Standard epistemology isolates the “known” from the “knowers,” thereby defining “knowledge” as objectively constant. Multiple epistemologies suggest that individuals learn in different ways shaped by life factors such as education, family, ethnicity, history, and regional beliefs. In this groundbreaking volume, editors Peter V. Paul and Donald F. Moores call on ten other noted scholars and researchers to join them in examining the many ways that deaf people see and acquire deaf knowledge.

This new anthology showcases the works of Deaf writers during a critical formative period in their history.  From 1830 to 1930, these writers conveyed their impressions in autobiographies, travel narratives, romances, nonfiction short stories, editorials, descriptive pieces, and other forms of prose. The quick, often evocative snapshots and observations featured here, many explicitly addressing deafness and sign language, reflect their urgency to record Deaf American life at this pivotal time.

"Lydia Huntley was born in 1791 in Norwich, CT, the only child of a poor Revolutionary war veteran. But her father's employer, a wealthy widow, gave young Lydia the run of her library and later sent her for visits to Hartford, CT. After teaching at her own school for several years in Norwich, Lydia returned to Hartford to head a class of 15 girls from the best families. Among her students was Alice Cogswell, a deaf girl soon to be famous as a student of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc.

Institutions of higher learning around the nation have embraced the concept of student civic engagement as part of their curricula, a movement that has spurred administrators in various fields to initiate programs as part of their disciplines. In response, sign language interpreting educators are attempting to devise service-learning programs aimed at Deaf communities. Except for a smattering of journal articles, however, they have had no primary guide for fashioning these programs.

What is the role of meaning in linguistic theory? Generative linguists have severely limited its influence while cognitivist and functionalist linguists believe that meaning pervades and motivates all levels of linguistic structure. This dispute can now be resolved conclusively by evidence from signed language. Language from the Body rebuts the generativist linguistic theories that separate form and meaning and asserts that iconicity can only be described in a cognitivist framework where meaning can influence form.

Three videotapes discuss the special issues and problems facing administrators, interpreters, and teachers and offer a wide range of solutions. The Administrator videotape addresses interpreter's job descriptions, supervising and evaluating interpreters, complying with PL 94-142 in meeting students' differing communicative needs, interpreters' ethical standards, expectations, and dilemmas, recruiting competent interpreters.

Consecutive interpreting is waiting until a speaker/presenter has completed an entire thought, sentence or several sentences then relaying what he/she has said. Consecutive note-taking is written assistance to aid in short-term memory. Holly Mikkelson, a state and federally certified court interpreter, uses the Loftus Memory Model to present a preferred method of consecutive interpreting and note-taking.

In this 45-minute DVD, Holly Mikkelson provides a point-by-point explanation of the model Interpret's Code of Ethics developed by the National Center for State Courts and explores many of the ethical issues that face court interpreters on a daily basis. Included with the video is a 30-page booklet that contains the model Code of Ethics and a copy of Holly’s article “Professional Ethics and the Role of the Court Interpreter.” The video is in English and is a must-see for all court interpreters and aspiring court interpreters, whatever their language combination.

This unique text/DVD combination features student essays on the role of ASL in their lives. The text features journal entries and the student essays; it is not a transcript of the DVD. Chapter headings include Family, Language, Education, and Identity. The tape features most of the authors further discussing their perceptions and recollections of their experiences. Voice-over is provided.

This 90-minute program includes 2 parts. Part 1 shows techniques that Deaf parents use with their deaf infants/young children to help them learn and communicate in ASL. Part 2 shows many fun ways to share ASL and Deaf culture with families, including ASL games and family activities.

The Comprehensive Educational Resource Center at the Tennessee School for the Deaf produced this series of programs. Bart and Amy are signing bears made by Quiet Bears in Ventura, California. They read aloud and sign books. The purpose of the program is to provide a high interest method of introducing books to pre-school and elementary level children. The program is designed to be a catalyst for reading and conversation between parent and child and for classroom discussion.

The Comprehensive Educational Resource Center at the Tennessee School for the Deaf produced this series of programs. Bart and Amy are signing bears made by Quiet Bears in Ventura, California. They read aloud and sign books. The purpose of the program is to provide a high interest method of introducing books to pre-school and elementary level children. The program is designed to be a catalyst for reading and conversation between parent and child and for classroom discussion.

The Comprehensive Educational Resource Center at the Tennessee School for the Deaf produced this series of programs. Bart and Amy are signing bears made by Quiet Bears in Ventura, California. They read aloud and sign books. The purpose of the program is to provide a high interest method of introducing books to pre-school and elementary level children. The program is designed to be a catalyst for reading and conversation between parent and child and for classroom discussion.

The Comprehensive Educational Resource Center at the Tennessee School for the Deaf produced this series of programs. Bart and Amy are signing bears made by Quiet Bears in Ventura, California. They read aloud and sign books. The purpose of the program is to provide a high interest method of introducing books to pre-school and elementary level children. The program is designed to be a catalyst for reading and conversation between parent and child and for classroom discussion.

The Comprehensive Educational Resource Center at the Tennessee School for the Deaf produced this series of programs. Bart and Amy are signing bears made by Quiet Bears in Ventura, California. They read aloud and sign books. The purpose of the program is to provide a high interest method of introducing books to pre-school and elementary level children. The program is designed to be a catalyst for reading and conversation between parent and child and for classroom discussion.

The Comprehensive Educational Resource Center at the Tennessee School for the Deaf produced this series of programs. Bart and Amy are signing bears made by Quiet Bears in Ventura, California. They read aloud and sign books. The purpose of the program is to provide a high interest method of introducing books to pre-school and elementary level children. The program is designed to be a catalyst for reading and conversation between parent and child and for classroom discussion.

The Comprehensive Educational Resource Center at the Tennessee School for the Deaf produced this series of programs. Bart and Amy are signing bears made by Quiet Bears in Ventura, California. They read aloud and sign books. The purpose of the program is to provide a high interest method of introducing books to pre-school and elementary level children. The program is designed to be a catalyst for reading and conversation between parent and child and for classroom discussion. *Books are available to accompany each DVD.

The Comprehensive Educational Resource Center at the Tennessee School for the Deaf produced this series of programs. Bart and Amy are signing bears made by Quiet Bears in Ventura, California. They read aloud and sign books. The purpose of the program is to provide a high interest method of introducing books to pre-school and elementary level children. The program is designed to be a catalyst for reading and conversation between parent and child and for classroom discussion. *Books are available to accompany each DVD.

The Comprehensive Educational Resource Center at the Tennessee School for the Deaf produced this series of programs. Bart and Amy are signing bears made by Quiet Bears in Ventura, California. They read aloud and sign books. The purpose of the program is to provide a high interest method of introducing books to pre-school and elementary level children. The program is designed to be a catalyst for reading and conversation between parent and child and for classroom discussion. *Books are available to accompany each DVD.