Effects of motoric requirements on the acquisition of manual sign responses by severely handicapped students.

Eight severely handicapped school-aged students were given training on communicative signs that varied according to iconic or abstract, touch or nontouch, and symmetrical or asymmetrical sign dimensions to determine the effects of motoric requirements on sign acquisition. A 2 X 2 Latin square design repeated between and within students was used. Symmetrical signs were acquired significantly faster than were asymmetrical signs, and touch signs were acquired significantly faster than were nontouch signs. Results of the acquisition of iconic vs. abstract signs were inconclusive.