Marc Marschark isa professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology, where he directs the Center for Education Research Partnerships. His primary interest is in relations among language, learning, and cognition. His current research focuses on such relations among deaf children and adults in formal and informal educational settings. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. Patricia Elizabeth Spencer is a retired professor of social work at Gallaudet University. As a research scientist at Gallaudet's Center for Studies in Education and Human Development, she had conducted research on early cognitive and communication/language development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Her ongoing interest in communication and language development grew from her ""hands-on"" experiences as a teacher, assessment specialist, and educational advocate for deaf and hard-of-hearing students as well as those with multiple learning challenges.
""This handbook will undoubtedly become a treasured volume in the libraries of researchers, educators, and clinicians in the field. The scholarly content includes a unique blend of interdisciplinary perspectives on unresolved problems, current evidence, and new frontiers. The impressive list of highly respected authors makes evident the contemporary nature of the work and its foundations in translational research and practical application. The text leaves one with a sense of hopefulness about progress made, but also a strong sense of urgency about the need to address persisting and new challenges with flexible paradigms."" Mary Pat Moeller, Director, Center for Childhood Deafness, Boys Town National Research Hospital ""In this follow-up volume, Marschark and Spencer have amassed a collection that is impressive in breadth and depth. Written by leaders in their respective domains, the authors lay out the state of the art and directions for research in the next century. The research presented here documents the sea-change observable in classrooms and schools for deaf children and is reflected in the variety of chapters--ranging from universal newborn screening, to results from earlier and earlier cochlear implantation, to multiple- and complex-needs children, to language and literacy development, to changes in Deaf identity. A masterful companion to the original volume."" C. Tane Akamatsu, Psychologist, Toronto District School Board