American Sign Language: Books

Learn the most commonly signed words in ASL in 1,000 Words to Sign. 1,000 Words to Sign is divided into two sections: an introduction to ASL, followed by a vocabulary section. Arranged alphabetically, the vocabulary section is organized by common themes, including people, home, food, school, work, and nature. Each word is clearly illustrated with two to four photographs showing the beginning, middle, and end positions of the sign, with instructional arrows to indicate movement. To make the learning process complete, this book comes with an instructional DVD to demonstrate real-time signing.

You can easily learn ASL with help from The American Sign Language Phrase Book. With more than 500 phrases, this is the reference guide to everyday expressions in American Sign Language, providing a quick way for you to converse with deaf people.

Few children can communicate effectively before eighteen months of age, but sign language can allow baby and parent to reduce the frustration up to a year earlier. With more than 450 full-color photos, text, and sidebars, Knack Baby Sign Language provides a user-friendly, efficient method to learn and teach a baby sign language. Organized by age, it provides signs appropriate to use with babies, with toddlers, and with older children for whom signing with games, songs, and rhymes is enriching. The signs can also be used with special needs children and those with delayed communication abilities.

The deaf community in the West has endured radical changes in the past centuries. This work of history tracks the changes both in the education of and the social world of deaf people through the years. Topics include attitudes toward the deaf in Europe and America and the evolution of communication and language.Of particular interest is the way in which deafness has been increasingly humanized, rather than medicalized or pathologized, as it was in the past. Successful contributions to the deaf and non-deaf world by deaf individuals are also highlighted.

Introduction to American Deaf Culture is the only comprehensive textbook that provides a broad, yet in-depth, exploration of how Deaf people are best understood from a cultural perspective, with coverage of topics such as how culture is defined, how the concept of culture can be applied to theDeaf experience, and how Deaf culture has evolved over the years. Among the issues included are an analysis of various segments of the Deaf community, Deaf cultural norms, the tension between the Deaf and disabled communities, Deaf art and literature (both written English and ASL forms), thesolutions being offered by the Deaf community for effective living as Deaf individuals, and an analysis of the universality of the Deaf experience, including the enculturation process that many Deaf people undergo as they develop healthy identities.As a member of a multigenerational Deaf family with a lifetime of experience living bi-culturally among Deaf and hearing people, author Thomas K. Holcomb enhances the text with engaging stories interwoven throughout. In addition to being used in college-level courses, this book can also help parentsand educators of Deaf children understand the world of Deaf culture. It offers a beautiful introduction to the ways Deaf people effectively manage their lives in a world full of people who can hear.

Audiologists agree that we're experiencing a national epidemic of hearing loss. At present, 48 million Americans--17 percent of the population--suffer some degree of loss. More than half are under the age of fifty-five. In cases like Katherine Bouton's, who experienced sudden hearing loss at the age of thirty, the cause is unknown. In this deftly written and deeply felt look at a widespread and widely misunderstood phenomenon, Bouton recounts her own journey into deafness--and her return to the hearing world through the miracles of technology. She speaks with doctors, audiologists, neurobiologists, and others searching for causes and a cure, as well as those who have experienced hearing loss, weaving their stories with her own. Shouting Won't Help is an engaging and informative account of what it's like to live with an invisible disability--a must-read not only for those with hearing loss, who will recognize their stories in Bouton's own, but for their families, friends, employers, and caregivers.

The second edition is an excellent beginner's American Sign Language textbook designed for use in the classroom or at home. Organized into 44 lessons, it presents more than 1,300 signs representing 3,500 English glosses. Each lesson contains clear illustrations of all signs, English equivalent words and synonyms, sample sentences to define vocabulary context, and practice sentences to display and reinforce ASL usage. Signs of the Times is a complete text that includes new class activities for teachers, plus new student activities that can be done in class, as homework, or as quizzes. The new edition features the Contextual Sign/Word Appendix, which displays groups of sentences using the same English word to show different meanings along with the corresponding ASL signs. It also provides an expanded index, vocabulary lists, and a reading reference list. The new edition offers facts on ASL grammar and Deaf culture and includes mind ticklers that enliven the lessons with hints, tips, and mnemonic devices. The new Signs of the Times expands the features that made it a standard, easy-to-use ASL textbook. Signs are repeated in sentences throughout the book to provide excellent practice for the students. The clear, easy-to-understand sign illustrations facilitates the learning process, enhancing students' success while also making ASL fun.