Reva Karatz, age 11, of Trumbull, Conn., for her question:

WHO FIRST USED SIGN LANGUAGE?

Sign language is a system of hand signals and gestures that people can use in order to communicate. It is often used by deaf people but has also been used by early monks who took vows of silence and some South American Indians who use sign language to communicate with tribes who do not speak their language.

The first school for the deaf was started in Paris about 1760. It was called the Abbe de 1'Epee and it opened the way for many other schools that taught people who were unable to hear.

Deaf people use as many as 1,500 siqns as well as finger spelling. In finger spelling, a person places his fingers in certain positions to indicate each letter.