Using videotaped lessons to facilitate the development of manual sign skills in students with mental retardation

Abstract

In an extension of prior research, the impact of a videotaped curriculum on the spoken and manually signed lexicon of students with mental retardation was assessed. Seven videotaped lessons presenting 29 target items in the context of entertaining skits served as the basis of a 16-week intervention implemented by classroom teachers. The expressive and receptive vocabulary of 47 students with mental retardation following the curricular intervention was compared to their own pretest performance and to the pretest and post-test performance of a no-treatment control group of 41 students. Students in the curriculum group showed significant increases in manual sign production and in receptive understanding of manual sign produced by others. Comprehension of manual sign productions was measured using a unique test stimulus that consisted of a videotape of the 29 target signs produced by two students with mental retardation.

• curriculum
• lexicon
• manual sign
• mental retardation
• receptive and expressive communication skills
• sign training
• speech-language therapy
• videotaped lesson