Effects of Manual Sign Use on the Expressive Language of Four Hearing Kindergarten Children

Four hearing kindergarten children were taught manual signs translating adjectives and adverbs to see if their use of descriptive words with common nouns could thus be increased. The effects of the sign use program were examined in multiple baseline pre/post-test design with repeated measures. The results indicated that the frequency of their use of English adjectives and adverbs increased after the manual sign teaching. Adults familiar with the children indicated an increase in the children's language development at the conclusion of the study. Practical application of the technique used for enhancing language development is described.