Literacy among deaf people

[Valerie Sutton]

The SignWriting Literacy Project
FREE TO SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF

The SignWriting Literacy Project is pioneering a new concept in Deaf
Education. SignWriting books, videos and software are donated to
classes of Deaf students. In return, teachers, students and parents
provide documented feedback. The results are published on the
SignWriting Web Site and in an annual SignWriting Literacy Project
Report, distributed to educators.

SignWriting is a way to read, write and type any signed language. All
materials donated to the schools are written in American Sign Language
(ASL), authored by Deaf native ASL signers. The SignWriting videos are
taught in ASL with English voice-over. Fluency in reading and writing
American Sign Language is used as a bridge to teach written English.
Although this is a new project, feedback is already coming in, and the
results are positive.

The project began in 1998. Below are some sample web pages about one
participating school.

Albuquerque Public Schools
SignWriting Literacy Project
http://www.signwriting.org/forums/teachers/teachers.html
http://www.signwriting.org/usa/usa.html

Would you like your school to participate? Your students must be Deaf
and use Sign Language. One teacher must be online, so they can receive
technical support through email. Write for more information:

The SignWriting Literacy Project
The DAC, Deaf Action Committee For SignWriting
P.O. Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA
Tel: 858-456-0098...Fax: 858-456-0020
Email: Sutton at SignWriting.org
Web:   http://www.SignWriting.org