In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviews sign may represent. Those who work with brain injuries and other language disabling impairment will have to determine the clinical usefulness of this gesture code, alone and in competition with varieties of ASL and invented signs. The theory is another matter. Dr. Skelly judges the Amer-Ind code best on six criteria: (a) low-level symbolism/concrete reference base, (b) ease of acquisition, (c) ease of interpretation , (d) flexibility in encoding concepts (see above), (e) adaptability to existing gestures, (f) potential speed of execution" (which rules out writing and some fingerspelling). Fair enough—but the claim is made that this "code, not language" does not need to be learned as do sign languages, which are "highly symbolic " and require more or less work to acquire and interpret. If a code existed that did not require learning but could express what needed expression, surely speakers of the world's thousands of highly symbolic languages would give them up and communicate with ease in that code. (We note that the 236 concepts, times an average of five words per concept, give one a starting vocabulary of twice Ogden and Richards' Basic English.) But surely the real purpose and niche of this code and this book is to re-establish useful communication between victims of brain trauma and caretakers; the code is emphatically not presented as a language. Those who intend to use gestures to facilitate the acquisition of language in special children need to weigh carefully the differences between languages and codes. This book can help in that. William C. Stokoe, Ph.D. Gallaudet Research Institute Washington, D.C. 20002 Teacher Education: Renegotiating Roles for Mainstreaming , Judith K. Grosenick, Ph.D. and Maynard C. Reynolds, Ph.D. (Eds.), 410 pp., $8.50, The Council for Exceptional Children, 1920 Association Drive, Reston, Va. 22091. It was recognized by the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (BEH), U.S. Office of Education, that if P.L. 94-142 and mainstreaming are to become effective in the public schools, there must be changes in the preparation of all teachers serving at the elementary and secondary levels to accommodate handicapped pupils in the regular classrooms. Changes are necessary for other personnel, including administrators and counselors. This in turn means there must be changes in teacher education programs in order to address the process of mainstreaming handicapped children . In order to help bring about this change, in 1977-78 BEH was supporting 81 Deans' Grants Projects in various schools and colleges of education with a total allocation of $3.2 million . This volume is a collection of reports from 22 of the participating programs. The contents are grouped in six sections with a seventh and final summarizing section by Maynard C. Reynolds , one of the editors. While each paper is a report of the special project being carried on in the particular teacher training institution (and they vary extensively) the groupings are: (1) The Need for Change in Higher Education, (2) Strategies for Change, (3) Deans' Grants Projects: Alternative Approaches, (4) Promising Practices, (5) Common Concerns, and (6) A Critique of Education. The problems of bringing about change in any kind of organization as well as in individuals are dealt with at length. One of the contributors calls for a major reform as being necessary for the appropriate preparation of all teachers: The preparation of teachers to carry on mainstreamed programs can only be part of that total reform. This volume is primarily of interest to those in the field of preparation of teachers for regular public school classes and some administrators. RichardG. Brill, Ed.D. Retired Superintendent California School for the Deaf Riverside, Ca. 92504 A.A.D. I February 1982 ...

pdf

Share