How Do We Begin?

Our goal was to see whether the deaf children’s gestures were structured and, if so, what the nature of that structure was. We knew from earlier work that deaf children who are orally trained use gestures to communicate (Fant, 1972; Lenneberg, 1964; Mohay, 1982; Moores, 1974; Tervoort, 1961). These gestures even have a name—“home signs.”