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Language as key
October 22nd, 2009
When my mother learned my older sister was deaf, she turned to a deaf distant cousin and asked what she should do to best educate her daughter. The deaf cousin, Michael Cashman, said “Look at me. I’m doing fine. What do I use?”. My mother answered, “ASL.” It was from his response that my parents decided to use sign language in the home. When I was born, all of the family was using sign language.
I use ASL and written English. I cannot speak, nor lipread. I can catch a word here and there, but the skill never amounted to much. I am bi-lingual and –capital D– Deaf.
The key to a good education is starting early. It is not so much that ASL is the only key to early language acquisition. The true key is that of early acquisition of any language. Give me any language that a child can learn, and they will grow into well-rounded adults. It just so happens ASL is the only language that gives deaf children early access to communication. Heck, hearing children are taught sign.
So when I talk with hearing parents of deaf children, I don’t push ASL on them. I avoid the risk of making them feel they are being choked. I just tell them how important it is that their child learns language as early as possible (how can this be disputed?), and I then ask them: what language(s) provides the earliest access? When they answer the question themselves, it’s more profound.
I don’t pressure. I make them think. If they don’t agree, I don’t waste my time. It’s their choice.
Tami | October 22nd, 2009 @ 1:26 pm
Taylor,
Thank you for this post. In the organizations that I am part of, I do the same thing you do as well. I do not pressure parents into anything but take time to discuss what language is all about.
One question I always ask hearing parents is, “How did you learn to speak English? and were you taught to speak English?” The answer is always, “No I wasn’t taught, I learned it naturally.”
That is when I take the opportunity to talk about naturally occurring languages ASL and English verses coded systems of sign and speech-based approaches.
Usually parents can start to understand the pros and cons more easily when they start to think about how they naturally learned language and what constitutes a naturally occurring language.
kim | October 22nd, 2009 @ 1:49 pm
Tayler,
My wish is for ASL learning programs and support to be more readily available on-line. By that I mean programs where you could talk to others for practice on-line. The best way to learn is from someone who speaks it fluently. Someone who can correct you when you make mistakes. That is the only way to learn any language well.
You use the right approach. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. . .
Valhallian | October 22nd, 2009 @ 2:10 pm
Tayler, now if only we can get many others to agree with your viewpoint, because you are simply speaking 100% the truth. It is ultimately the parents decisions for their children, we can try to help ensure that they are fully informed and if they choose to take a different path, then that is totally their choice.
Adam Stone | October 22nd, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
Right on, Tayler! And then after they recognize ASL is the easiest path, there are tons of research that’ll help make them feel even more comfortable with that new idea, that idea of ASL as the family’s new home language.
A Deaf Pundit | October 22nd, 2009 @ 4:30 pm
Beautiful post, Tayler. You said it all – there’s not much I can add to it.
Hopefully more of us in the community will listen to what you have say and take it to heart.
White Ghost | October 22nd, 2009 @ 4:32 pm
I always told the parents to read some books at very early-age stage. I’d say about 6 months old baby in which is ready.
I especially told them *not* to wait until they get older. It does not matter whether if their child/children are either hearing or deaf.
I’ve encouraged them to read some books now.
Author Eric Carle is the one of the bestsellers in infant group to start reading. Wonderful books.
Anyway, I always give the parents a link — babysigns.com
I also always told them that there are many options on communication modes that the parents can choose. I have advised them to research in the google — “communication modes for the deaf.” Parents often told me that it’s useful and helpful when they research some information through the google.
Dianrez | October 22nd, 2009 @ 7:09 pm
Usually parents will choose what they are most comfortable with and then seek support in their decisions, right or wrong. A few will ask if there are other options and seek and weigh the evidence. Of all parents, hopefully they keep flexibility open…to go with what works best at any one time.
And there is the choice of the d/Deaf person themselves. We all have hindsight and our opinions. Here is mine: reading English. I didn’t learn ASL early as my more fortunate friends have. I was taught to read early along with oral training, and this was a lifesaver. Reading was how I learned English, not by lipreading.
I have finished raising my children in ASL and they are all doing fine, but if I had to do it over again, I would begin with reading as soon as they were able to focus on objects ten seconds at a time. (A for “aaaa”. A for apple.) Then when baby is laughing and screeching “AAAA” every time he sees an A in the environment, I would go on to B. Foundation for English.
Anonymous | October 23rd, 2009 @ 6:51 am
I would say don’t even wait until the baby is 6 months old. Start signing (or whatever language) to them from the moment they are born. Remember that hearing infants don’t “talk” until they are about one year old. What are they doing during that year? They’re absorbing language from the environment through their eyes and ears (if they have any residual hearing). So time spent wasted signing to a deaf baby who doesn’t sign back is NOT wasted. The baby is imprinting language in her brain, making associations between signs, speech, nonverbal communication, and the environment. Hearing and deaf babies both start to sign before they talk, because the motor skills develop earlier for the hands and fingers than they do in the mouth. While ASL is the “natural” language, don’t discount other signing systems such as S.E.E., which have also been very successful for many individuals I know who now use ASL *and* English fluently. Language learning is such a miraculous process. Hearing parents of deaf babies can feel thrilled and encouraged when their child starts to communicate back to them. Seeing that first sign is as exciting as hearing the first word.
Adam Stone | October 25th, 2009 @ 8:07 pm
I need to respond to Anonymous above who has written, “While ASL is the “natural” language, don’t discount other signing systems such as S.E.E., which have also been very successful for many individuals I know who now use ASL *and* English fluently.”
Please DO discount SEE and its Manually Coded English (MCE) counterparts. Research has shown that deaf children using MCE have demonstrated vocabulary delays. A typical 7-year-old child using MCE had a vocabulary level comparable to a 4-year-old hearing child (H. Bornstein, Saulnier, & Hamilton, 1980; M. Bornstein et al., 1999; Lederberg, Prezbindowski, and Spencer, 2000). This is compared to deaf children of deaf parents who more or less follow vocabulary size milestones due to their full access to a natural language.