| As part of a longitudinal study of deaf students in Ontario, the sign language skills of 25 hearing mothers of deaf adolescents were assessed using a modified version of the Sign Communication Proficiency Interview developed by Newell, Caccamise, Boardman and Holcomb (1983). Features of English-based sign systems such as English vocabulary (initialization), English sign markers, pronouns and English word order were predominant while a few mothers incorporated some features of ASL in their signing such as negation, the use of space, facial grammar, and occasional use of ASL vocabulary. On a scale ranging from ‘Novice’ to ‘Superior’, the mothers' scores ranged from ‘Novice’ to ‘Intermediate’ with an average score of ‘Survival’. The majority of the mothers had been signing since their deaf teen was in preschool. Further analysis revealed no relation between the mothers' sign skills and the sign skills of their deaf teens. |
