Samuel James Supalla
He is a filmmaker and a linguist “whose interest lies in the research and English development issues concerning deaf children”[3] and stresses the importance of a natural sign language.[4] When Supalla went home, he made up stories about an imaginary white horse, and when he returned to school, he told his classmates.[6] At the end of high school, Supalla enrolled at California State University Northridge in 1976 and graduated as a History major.“His original work on how artificial English-based sign systems fail has led to a greater appreciation of American Sign Language (ASL) as a working language in terms of visual perception and processing.” [7] Supalla is concerned with literacy issues regarding learning to read and write in English.“In the case of deaf children, the need to develop a 'mother tongue' (e.g., ASL) is stressed in order to facilitate the learning of a second language (e.g., English) within the context of bilingualism.” [8] Supalla's The Book Of Names Signs was published 1992.His part discusses “the policy analysis on the notion of reverse mainstreaming and the redefinition of bilingual education for deaf children that is forthcoming.”[11]