Fundamentals of American Sign Language

Catalog description

This course is designed to provide students with a basic framework of knowledge regarding the nature of hearing loss and its extremely varied influence on the lives of people who are deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened, and deaf with a dual diagnosis. Important issues within the field of deafness will be addressed, namely: Deaf culture, education of deaf people, technological advances, and political influences. Emphasis will be placed on learning the fundamentals of American Sign Language (ASL) while providing the student with a working vocabulary of approximately 500 signs. The student can expect sign demonstration and practice as well as lecture on various salient topics in deafness.