sign language re: danischrimpe's reply

[Guest guest]

Dear Dani,

I read your post to Chasley and I must say while I agree with most of your

post, I did have to comment on 2 things you mentioned. Let me first say I do

not know the age group for which you are commenting on. To say to someone " as

long as you know what your child needs, who cares if the sign is done

properly " is very misleading to another parent. Please be careful when

giving advice, we are parents, we want the best for our children and that's

why we are here to share information. American Sign Language is a language.

At this time, you do not know the full potential of this child's speech. Some

children may need to rely on sign short term while others may require it for

a much longer period of time. What if these children are in daycare, or with

family & friends and your not around, how will they get their point across?

If they are entering a school or in a school that uses TC how will the

teacher understand? Worse case scenario, if they are lost in a mall or theme

park they would probably be able to get their point across if they had the

language (sign and or speech)

Secondly you mentioned " always accompany the sign with the proper word or the

child will use the sign to replace the word " The first part of that

statement is absolutely true, but the latter comment....where did you get

that information from? To the best of my knowledge that is unfounded. If a

child has full potential to speak then the words will come. There are

hundreds of studies done and research in this day an age shows, that a child

with full potential to speak fluently will do so. If the child has other

issues at hand, then maybe the child will rely on other means.

Just thought I would share my thoughts.

All the best,

Lori D.