British Sign Language Users Research Articles

Cultural competence in NHS hearing aid clinics: a mixed-methods case study of services for Deaf British sign language users in the UK

BackgroundThis study identified and explored how National Health Service (NHS) hearing aid clinics address cultural competence concerning Deaf British Sign Language (BSL) users. This was approached by (i) investigating how organisational processes meet the needs of Deaf signers from a hospital and hearing aid clinic perspective, (ii) analysing policies and guidelines to investigate if they equip practitioners to meet the needs of Deaf signers and (iii) exploring with practitioners who work in hearing aid clinics about their experiences of working with Deaf signers.MethodsThis study utilised a mixed-methods multiple case study design, incorporating documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews. Interview analysis was conducted using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA). The research encompassed two hearing aid clinics in separate hospitals, producing 19 documents and eight interviews (four at each site) with audiologists ensuring a representative mix of professional experience levels.ResultsFour themes emerged from the integrated analysis: (1) Understanding Deaf signers; (2) Communicating with Deaf signers; (3) Barriers and Facilitators and (4) Service improvement. A noticeable gap in understanding BSL as both a language and a cultural system was apparent across various policies, strategies, training programmes and staff expertise. Over-reliance on interpreters provided a false sense of accessibility and most participants felt tentative to engage directly with Deaf signers. Positive practices observed at Sites A and B encompassed accurate identification of patients as Deaf signers, improved interpreter availability, communication methods, enhanced training and the encouragement of professional self-awareness.ConclusionThis is the first study that explores cultural competence of hearing aid clinics and its staff concerning Deaf signers in the UK. The results show both clinics require development to become an effective provider for culturally Deaf signers. Examples of how to design culturally competent practices have been provided to assist hearing aid clinics. The findings may be applicable to other underrepresented groups who are not typical users of conventional, acoustic hearing aids provided by the NHS.

“What have YOU done in the past few years?” Deaf BSL users’ experiences of caring for people with dementia during COVID-19

PurposeDeaf people, who are British Sign Language (BSL) users, are, at times, carers for their parent or spouse when they have dementia. This can be a challenging role for the wider population, but if the common language in service provision is not one you share, then this care can be impacted by the lack of formal structures that support the Deaf caring role. This study aims to explore the experiences of Deaf carers supporting people with dementia, in an unpaid role, during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand more about their potential support preferences.Design/methodology/approachOnline interviews with seven Deaf carers sharing their experiences of supporting their family member with dementia happened during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to qualitatively examine each Deaf carers’ stories.FindingsFindings included Deaf carers’ lack of access to information, surrendering their autonomy to hearing family members to communicate with health-care professionals, with overarching isolation within local communities and online. Findings show a widespread infrastructural failure to meet the linguistic and specific support needs of this minority population.Research limitations/implicationsSeven Deaf carers took part in this study. This means the findings may not be generalisable.Practical implicationsHealth-care professionals and social care structures need to develop robust clear communication pathways for Deaf carers to receive the support needed to provide effective care.Social implicationsIf health-care professionals undertake training about Deaf people and BSL, that will mean Deaf carers will receive effective support to be able to care for a person living with dementia. This means that their Deaf identity will be recognised within the mainstream and the care provided will be much more effective for the person with dementia.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, these are the first interviews undertaken with Deaf carers of people with dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns. Understanding everyday barriers and social care limitations in terms of language access will enable Deaf carers to assert their rights and for care professionals to adapt their communication to match the individuals involved in the care package.

Alunos adultos surdos e o professor: Construção de conhecimento e significado através das lentes da translinguagem e repertórios semióticos

ABSTRACT This article reports on a preliminary investigation into the language practices of three groups of deaf learners of English, all users of British Sign Language (BSL), and myself as their tutor in an adult education setting. These practices were explored through the lens of translanguaging, viewed as both a description of a linguistic process, and a theory of language, to learn more about how we draw on the totality of our resources to communicate and make meaning. The purpose of this investigation was to learn more about how BSL and English are used together in the same context and how that interplay works to our advantage. Additionally, consideration was also given to the contribution manually-coded English systems such as Sign Supported English (SSE) and Signed English (SE) make, together with the other written and sign languages, as well as gesture, enactment, pointing and other semiotic resources. Video recorded interactional data were collected from the classroom and supported by reflective notes and lesson plans. Both the video data, uploaded for analysis to ELAN, a multi-media annotation tool for creating time-aligned transcripts that supports a tier-based data model, and the written data corpus were examined using a thematic analysis. The findings revealed an illuminating picture of the interplay between languages, but also a movement beyond language as part of a broader semiotic repertoire to construct meaning in the classroom.

The Nominal Group in British Sign Language: A Preliminary Description

Research investigating British Sign Language (BSL) – and sign languages more generally – from systemic functional perspectives is gradually increasing but remains nascent overall. The current paper offers a step towards a steadily growing set of functional descriptions of BSL, focusing on the nominal group and potential nominal functions. The findings of a small-scale analysis of publicly accessible BSL data are presented. Videos of BSL users were analyzed to identify patterns regarding nominal functions, wherein Thing, Epithet, Classifier, Numerative and Deictic were observed. These five functions are exemplified and examined in order to dissect how nominal elements may be realized. The summary section of this paper offers a reference table comprising the observations made in this paper for each of the five functions noted above, as well as areas for further investigation. The observations and conclusions drawn in this work can be used as a stable base from which future functional studies and descriptions of sign languages may grow.

Talking with hands: body representation in British Sign Language users.

Body representation (BR) refers to the mental representation of motor, sensory, emotional and semantic information about the physical body. This cognitive representation is used in our everyday life, continuously, even though most of the time we do not appreciate it consciously. In some cases, BR is vital to be able to communicate. A crucial feature of signed languages (SLs), for instance, is that body parts such as hands are used to communicate. Nevertheless, little is known about BR in SL: is the communicative function of the body overwriting the physical constraints? Here, we explored this question by comparing twelve British Sign Language (BSL) learners to seventeen tango dancers (body expertise but not for communication) and fourteen control subjects (no special body expertise). We administered the Body Esteem Scale (BES), the Hand Laterality Task (HLT) and the Mental Motor Chronometry (MMC). To control for visual imagery, we administered ad hoc control tasks. We did not identify parameters able to differentiate between SL users and the other groups, whereas the more implicit parameters distinguished clearly tango dancers from controls. Importantly, neither tasks on visual imagery nor the BES revealed differences. Our findings offer initial evidence that linguistic use of the body not necessarily influences the cognitive components we explored of body representation.

Health State Values of Deaf British Sign Language (BSL) Users in the UK: An Application of the BSL Version of the EQ-5D-5L.

Deaf people experience health inequalities compared to hearing populations. The EQ-5D, a widely used, standardised, generic measure of health status, which is available in over 100 languages, was recently translated into British Sign Language (BSL) and initial validation conducted. Using data from this previous study of the EQ-5D-5L BSL we aimed to assess (1) whether responses to the EQ-5D differed between a sample of Deaf BSL users and the general population (2) whether socio-demographic characteristics and clinical measures were associated with EQ-5D index scores in Deaf BSL users and (3) the impact of psychological distress and depression on health status in Deaf BSL users. Published population tariffs were applied to the EQ-5D-5L BSL, using the crosswalk methodology, to estimate health state values. Descriptive statistics (mean, SD, 95% CIs) compared Deaf BSL signer participants' (n = 92) responses to data from the general population. Descriptive statistics and linear regression analyses were used to identify associations between Deaf participants' EQ-5D index scores, socio-demographic characteristics, physical health and depression. Descriptive statistics compared the BSL index scores for people with psychological distress/depression to those from two cross-sectional, population-based surveys. Using the EQ-5D, Deaf participants had lower mean health-state values (0.78; 95% CI 0.72-0.83; n = 89) than people participating in the 2017 Health Survey for England (0.84; 95% CI 0.83-0.84; n = 7169). Unlike larger studies, such as the Health Survey for England sample, there was insufficient evidence to assess whether Deaf participants' EQ-5D health state values were associated with their demographic characteristics. Nevertheless, analysis of the BSL study data indicated long-standing physical illness was associated with lower health-state values (ordinary least squares coefficient = -0.354; 95% CI -0.484, -0.224; p < 0.01; n = 82). Forty-three percent of our Deaf participants had depression. Participants with depression had reduced health status (0.67; 95% CI 0.58-0.77; n = 36) compared to those with no psychological distress or depression (0.87; 95% CI 0.61-0.67; n = 36). The study highlights reduced health in the Deaf signing population, compared to the general population. Public health initiatives focused on BSL users, aiming to increase physical and mental health, are needed to address this gap.

Assessing Deaf patients in the neurology clinic

There are over 87 000 Deaf people in the UK with British Sign Language (BSL) as their first language.1 Few healthcare professionals receive training in Deaf awareness or in BSL,...

Real Time Hand Movement Trajectory Tracking for Enhancing Dementia Screening in Ageing Deaf Signers of British Sign Language.

Real time hand movement trajectory tracking based on machine learning approaches may assist the early identification of dementia in ageing Deaf individuals who are users of British Sign Language (BSL), since there are few clinicians with appropriate communication skills, and a shortage of sign language interpreters. Unlike other computer vision systems used in dementia stage assessment such as RGBD video with the aid of depth camera, activities of daily living (ADL) monitored by information and communication technologies (ICT) facilities, or X-Ray, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images fed to machine learning algorithms, the system developed here focuses on analysing the sign language space envelope (sign trajectories/depth/speed) and facial expression of deaf individuals, using normal 2D videos. In this work, we are interested in providing a more accurate segmentation of objects of interest in relation to the background, so that accurate real-time hand trajectories (path of the trajectory and speed) can be achieved. The paper presents and evaluates two types of hand movement trajectory models. In the first model, the hand sign trajectory is tracked by implementing skin colour segmentation. In the second model, the hand sign trajectory is tracked using Part Affinity Fields based on the OpenPose Skeleton Model [1, 2]. Comparisons of results between the two different models demonstrate that the second model provides enhanced improvements in terms of tracking accuracy and robustness of tracking. The pattern differences in facial and trajectory motion data achieved from the presented models will be beneficial not only for screening of deaf individuals for dementia, but also for assessment of other acquired neurological impairments associated with motor changes, for example, stroke and Parkinson's disease.

The validation of the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS) with Deaf British Sign Language users in the UK

BackgroundThere is no validated measure of positive mental well-being that is suitable for Deaf people who use a signed language such as British Sign Language (BSL). This impedes inclusion of this population in a range of research designed to evaluate effectiveness of interventions. The study aims were: (i) to translate the original English version of SWEMWBS into BSL and to test the SWEMWBS BSL with the Deaf population in the UK who use BSL; (ii) to examine its psychometric properties; and (iii) to establish the validity and reliability of the SWEMWBS BSL.MethodsThe SWEMWBS was translated into BSL following a six stage translation procedure and in consultation with the originators. The draft version was piloted with Deaf BSL users (n = 96) who also completed the CORE-OM BSL well-being subscale and the EQ-5D VAS BSL. Reliability was explored using Cronbach’s alpha for internal consistency and ICC for test-retest reliability. Validity was explored by using Kendall’s tau correction for convergent validity and an exploratory factor analysis for construct validity.ResultsThe internal consistency for the reliability of the SWEMWBS BSL was found to be good and the test-retest one week apart showed an acceptable reliability. There was good convergent validity of the SWEMWBS BSL with the well-being subscale of the CORE-OM BSL and the EQ-5D VAS BSL.ConclusionsThe SWEMWBS BSL can be used with a Deaf population of BSL users. This is the first validated version of a BSL instrument that focuses solely on positively phrased questions for measuring mental well-being.

Evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of British Sign Language Improving Access to Psychological Therapies: an exploratory study

BackgroundImproving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence-approved approach to intervention for depression and/or anxiety. This exploratory study sets the groundwork for comparing psychological therapies for Deaf sign language users experiencing anxiety and/or depression, delivered in British Sign Language (BSL) by a Deaf therapist with usual access through an interpreter within the IAPT national programme.Objectives(1) To explore the following questions: (a) is BSL-IAPT more effective than standard IAPT for Deaf people with anxiety and/or depression? and (b) is any additional benefit from BSL-IAPT worth any additional cost to provide it? (2) To establish relevant BSL versions of assessment tools and methods to answer research questions (a) and (b). (3) To gauge the feasibility of a larger-scale definitive study and to inform its future design.DesignA mixed-methods exploratory study combing an economic model to synthesise data from multiple sources; a qualitative study of understanding and acceptability of randomisation and trial terminology; statistical determination of clinical cut-off points of standardised assessments in BSL; secondary data analysis of anonymised IAPT client records; realist inquiry incorporating interviews with service providers and survey results.SettingsIAPT service providers (NHS and private); the Deaf community.ParticipantsDeaf people who use BSL and who are clients of IAPT services (n = 502); healthy Deaf volunteers (n = 104); IAPT service providers (NHS and private) (n = 118).InterventionsIAPT at steps 2 and 3.Main outcome measuresReliable recovery and reliable improvement defined by IAPT; Deaf community views on the acceptability of randomisation; BSL terminology for trial-related language; clinical cut-off measurements for the BSL versions of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 items (PHQ-9) and the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7); a valid BSL version of the EuroQol-5 Dimensions five-level version (EQ-5D-5L); costs, quality-adjusted life-years and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios.Data sourcesIAPT service provider anonymised records of the characteristics and clinical outcomes of Deaf BSL users of BSL-IAPT and of standard IAPT; published literature.ResultsRandomisation may be acceptable to Deaf people who use IAPT if linguistic and cultural requirements are addressed. Specifications for effective information in BSL for recruitment have been established. A valid EQ-5D-5L in BSL has been produced. The clinical cut-off point for the GAD-7 BSL is 6 and for the PHQ-9 BSL is 8. No significant difference in rates of reliable recovery and reliable improvement between Deaf users of standard IAPT or BSL-IAPT has been found. Whether or not BSL-IAPT is more cost-effective than standard IAPT is uncertain.LimitationsThe small number of participating standard IAPT services who have seen Deaf clients means that there is statistical uncertainty in the comparable clinical outcome result. Clinical cut-off scores have not been verified through gold standard clinical interview methodology. Limited data availability means that whether or not BSL-IAPT is more cost-effective than standard IAPT is uncertain.ConclusionsThere is a lack of evidence to definitively compare reliable recovery and reliable improvement between Deaf users of standard IAPT and BSL-IAPT. Instrumentation and prerequisites for a larger-scale study have been established.Future workA prospective observational study for definitive results is justified.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.

Semantic fluency in deaf children who use spoken and signed language in comparison with hearing peers.

BackgroundDeafness has an adverse impact on children's ability to acquire spoken languages. Signed languages offer a more accessible input for deaf children, but because the vast majority are born to hearing parents who do not sign, their early exposure to sign language is limited. Deaf children as a whole are therefore at high risk of language delays.AimsWe compared deaf and hearing children's performance on a semantic fluency task. Optimal performance on this task requires a systematic search of the mental lexicon, the retrieval of words within a subcategory and, when that subcategory is exhausted, switching to a new subcategory. We compared retrieval patterns between groups, and also compared the responses of deaf children who used British Sign Language (BSL) with those who used spoken English. We investigated how semantic fluency performance related to children's expressive vocabulary and executive function skills, and also retested semantic fluency in the majority of the children nearly 2 years later, in order to investigate how much progress they had made in that time.Methods & ProceduresParticipants were deaf children aged 6–11 years (N = 106, comprising 69 users of spoken English, 29 users of BSL and eight users of Sign Supported English—SSE) compared with hearing children (N = 120) of the same age who used spoken English. Semantic fluency was tested for the category ‘animals’. We coded for errors, clusters (e.g., ‘pets’, ‘farm animals’) and switches. Participants also completed the Expressive One‐Word Picture Vocabulary Test and a battery of six non‐verbal executive function tasks. In addition, we collected follow‐up semantic fluency data for 70 deaf and 74 hearing children, nearly 2 years after they were first tested.Outcomes & ResultsDeaf children, whether using spoken or signed language, produced fewer items in the semantic fluency task than hearing children, but they showed similar patterns of responses for items most commonly produced, clustering of items into subcategories and switching between subcategories. Both vocabulary and executive function scores predicted the number of correct items produced. Follow‐up data from deaf participants showed continuing delays relative to hearing children 2 years later.Conclusions & ImplicationsWe conclude that semantic fluency can be used experimentally to investigate lexical organization in deaf children, and that it potentially has clinical utility across the heterogeneous deaf population. We present normative data to aid clinicians who wish to use this task with deaf children.

Peripheral Visual Reaction Time Is Faster in Deaf Adults and British Sign Language Interpreters than in Hearing Adults.

Following auditory deprivation, the remaining sense of vision has shown selective enhancement in visual cognition, especially in the area of near peripheral vision. Visual acuity is poor in the far periphery and may be an area where sound confers the greatest advantage in hearing persons. Experience with a visuospatial language such as British Sign Language (BSL) makes additional demands on the visual system. To test the different and separable effects of deafness and use of a visuo-spatial language on far peripheral visual processing, we investigated visual reaction times (RTs) and response accuracy to visual stimuli, between 30° and 85° along the four cardinal and four inter-cardinal meridians. We used three luminances of static, briefly illuminated stimuli in visually normal adults. The cohort tested included profoundly congenitally deaf adults (N = 17), hearing fluent BSL users (N = 8) and hearing non-signing adults (N = 18). All participants were tested using a peripheral forced choice paradigm designed previously to test deaf and hearing children (Codina et al., 2011a). Deaf adults demonstrated significantly faster RTs to all far peripheral stimuli and exceeded the abilities of both signing and non-signing hearing adults. Deaf adults were significantly faster than BSL interpreters, who in turn were significantly faster than hearing non-signing adults. The differences in RT demonstrated between groups were consistent across all visual field meridians and were not localized to any one region of the visual field. There were no differences found between any groups in accuracy of detecting these static stimuli at any retinal location. Early onset auditory deprivation appears to lead to a response time visual advantage in far peripheral responses to briefly presented, static LED stimuli, especially in the right visual field. Fluency in BSL facilitates faster visuo-motor responses in the peripheral visual field, but to a lesser extent than congenital, profound deafness.

A qualitative exploration of trial-related terminology in a study involving Deaf British Sign Language users.

BackgroundInternationally, few clinical trials have involved Deaf people who use a signed language and none have involved BSL (British Sign Language) users. Appropriate terminology in BSL for key concepts in clinical trials that are relevant to recruitment and participant information materials, to support informed consent, do not exist. Barriers to conceptual understanding of trial participation and sources of misunderstanding relevant to the Deaf community are undocumented.MethodsA qualitative, community participatory exploration of trial terminology including conceptual understanding of ‘randomisation’, ‘trial’, ‘informed choice’ and ‘consent’ was facilitated in BSL involving 19 participants in five focus groups. Data were video-recorded and analysed in source language (BSL) using a phenomenological approach.Results and discussionSix necessary conditions for developing trial information to support comprehension were identified. These included: developing appropriate expressions and terminology from a community basis, rather than testing out previously derived translations from a different language; paying attention to language-specific features which support best means of expression (in the case of BSL expectations of specificity, verb directionality, handshape); bilingual influences on comprehension; deliberate orientation of information to avoid misunderstanding not just to promote accessibility; sensitivity to barriers to discussion about intelligibility of information that are cultural and social in origin, rather than linguistic; the importance of using contemporary language-in-use, rather than jargon-free or plain language, to support meaningful understanding.ConclusionsThe study reinforces the ethical imperative to ensure trial participants who are Deaf are provided with optimum resources to understand the implications of participation and to make an informed choice. Results are relevant to the development of trial information in other signed languages as well as in spoken/written languages when participants’ language use is different from the dominant language of the country.

Translation, validity and reliability of the British Sign Language (BSL) version of the EQ-5D-5L.

PurposeTo translate the health questionnaire EuroQol EQ-5D-5L into British Sign Language (BSL), to test its reliability with the signing Deaf population of BSL users in the UK and to validate its psychometric properties.MethodsThe EQ-5D-5L BSL was developed following the international standard for translation required by EuroQol, with additional agreed features appropriate to a visual language. Data collection used an online platform to view the signed (BSL) version of the tests. The psychometric testing included content validity, assessed by interviewing a small sample of Deaf people. Reliability was tested by internal consistency of the items and test–retest, and convergent validity was assessed by determining how well EQ-5D-5L BSL correlates with CORE-10 BSL and CORE-6D BSL.ResultsThe psychometric properties of the EQ-5D-5L BSL are good, indicating that it can be used to measure health status in the Deaf signing population in the UK. Convergent validity between EQ-5D-5L BSL and CORE-10 BSL and CORE-6D BSL is consistent, demonstrating that the BSL version of EQ-5D-5L is a good measure of the health status of an individual. The test–retest reliability of EQ-5D-5L BSL, for each dimension of health, was shown to have Cohen’s kappa values of 0.47–0.61; these were in the range of moderate to good and were therefore acceptable.ConclusionsThis is the first time EQ-5D-5L has been translated into a signed language for use with Deaf people and is a significant step forward towards conducting studies of health status and cost-effectiveness in this population.

Towards an understanding of contextual features that influence the linguistic formality of British Sign Language users

AbstractThis paper seeks to understand linguistic formality through the identification and measurement of contextual features. Using an adapted sociometric methodology to combine systemic functional linguistics and sign linguistics, a survey identifies the elements of context that have an effect upon the level of linguistic formality employed by British Sign Language users. The responses of 51 participants are analysed in order to ascertain (i) the level of linguistic formality that would be employed in certain communicative scenarios, and (ii) the contextual features of these scenarios that have an influence on linguistic formality. The results obtained from this study posit that there is an overall agreement shared between British Sign Language users when choosing levels of linguistic formality based on broad contextual description alone. The people involved in the communication and their interpersonal relationships tend to be the biggest influence on the level of formality employed, whereas the topic of the interaction appears to show no significant influence upon linguistic formality on its own. This work contributes further evidence to the importance of studying language within communicative contexts and the importance of formality as an influential factor in linguistic production. It is hoped that this will encourage future studies to derive linguistic data of British Sign Language users, or indeed users of other sign languages, to corroborate these findings.

Can a Deaf charity develop an effective relationship with over 200 CCGs?

BSL Healthy Minds (BSLHM) is a national psychological therapy service in primary care that provides cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and counselling for deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL). There are 211 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England and BSLHM has the onerous task of developing a relationship with each one to set up a contract that would enable BSL users to have the same access to psychological therapies as the general population. This article will consider the obstacles faced when negotiating the ever-changing face of the CCGs, the complex relationships with commissioners, the issues Deaf people face when accessing mainstream mental health services and specialist status. There are possible solutions to the immense difficulties BSLHMs experiences when considering commissioning and this article offers recommendations for changes within the funding structure for the future.

Deaf children's non-verbal working memory is impacted by their language experience.

Several recent studies have suggested that deaf children perform more poorly on working memory tasks compared to hearing children, but these studies have not been able to determine whether this poorer performance arises directly from deafness itself or from deaf children's reduced language exposure. The issue remains unresolved because findings come mostly from (1) tasks that are verbal as opposed to non-verbal, and (2) involve deaf children who use spoken communication and therefore may have experienced impoverished input and delayed language acquisition. This is in contrast to deaf children who have been exposed to a sign language since birth from Deaf parents (and who therefore have native language-learning opportunities within a normal developmental timeframe for language acquisition). A more direct, and therefore stronger, test of the hypothesis that the type and quality of language exposure impact working memory is to use measures of non-verbal working memory (NVWM) and to compare hearing children with two groups of deaf signing children: those who have had native exposure to a sign language, and those who have experienced delayed acquisition and reduced quality of language input compared to their native-signing peers. In this study we investigated the relationship between NVWM and language in three groups aged 6–11 years: hearing children (n = 28), deaf children who were native users of British Sign Language (BSL; n = 8), and deaf children who used BSL but who were not native signers (n = 19). We administered a battery of non-verbal reasoning, NVWM, and language tasks. We examined whether the groups differed on NVWM scores, and whether scores on language tasks predicted scores on NVWM tasks. For the two executive-loaded NVWM tasks included in our battery, the non-native signers performed less accurately than the native signer and hearing groups (who did not differ from one another). Multiple regression analysis revealed that scores on the vocabulary measure predicted scores on those two executive-loaded NVWM tasks (with age and non-verbal reasoning partialled out). Our results suggest that whatever the language modality—spoken or signed—rich language experience from birth, and the good language skills that result from this early age of acquisition, play a critical role in the development of NVWM and in performance on NVWM tasks.

Segmentation of British Sign Language (BSL): mind the gap!

This study asks how users of British Sign Language (BSL) recognize individual signs in connected sign sequences. We examined whether this is achieved through modality-specific or modality-general segmentation procedures. A modality-specific feature of signed languages is that, during continuous signing, there are salient transitions between sign locations. We used the sign-spotting task to ask if and how BSL signers use these transitions in segmentation. A total of 96 real BSL signs were preceded by nonsense signs which were produced in either the target location or another location (with a small or large transition). Half of the transitions were within the same major body area (e.g., head) and half were across body areas (e.g., chest to hand). Deaf adult BSL users (a group of natives and early learners, and a group of late learners) spotted target signs best when there was a minimal transition and worst when there was a large transition. When location changes were present, both groups performed better when transitions were to a different body area than when they were within the same area. These findings suggest that transitions do not provide explicit sign-boundary cues in a modality-specific fashion. Instead, we argue that smaller transitions help recognition in a modality-general way by limiting lexical search to signs within location neighbourhoods, and that transitions across body areas also aid segmentation in a modality-general way, by providing a phonotactic cue to a sign boundary. We propose that sign segmentation is based on modality-general procedures which are core language-processing mechanisms.

Deficits in narrative abilities in child British Sign Language users with specific language impairment

This study details the first ever investigation of narrative skills in a group of 17 deaf signing children who have been diagnosed with disorders in their British Sign Language development compared with a control group of 17 deaf child signers matched for age, gender, education, quantity, and quality of language exposure and non-verbal intelligence. Children were asked to generate a narrative based on events in a language free video. Narratives were analysed for global structure, information content and local level grammatical devices, especially verb morphology. The language-impaired group produced shorter, less structured and grammatically simpler narratives than controls, with verb morphology particularly impaired. Despite major differences in how sign and spoken languages are articulated, narrative is shown to be a reliable marker of language impairment across the modality boundaries.

Word production errors in children with developmental language impairments.

This review focuses on the errors that children with developmental language impairments make on three types of word production tasks: lexical retrieval, the elicitation of derivationally complex forms and the repetition of non-sense forms. The studies discussed in this review come principally from children with specific language impairment, and from children who are English-speakers or deaf users of British sign language. It is argued that models of word production need to be able to account for the data presented here, and need to have explanatory power across both modalities (i.e. speech and sign).