Re: Digest Number 118

[Guest guest]

>I hesitate to even say this, but here goes. One of the bits of counseling I

>got when my son was first diagnosed was NOT to learn sign language, because

>we had decided to go oral. The rationale was this: studies have long shown

>that children who grow up bilingual (not deaf kids, but any kids, and any

>languages) from infancy tend to (not always, but tend to) acquire language

>more slowly than kids in monolingual households. For example, kids in the

>US who use French AND English at home tend to learn language more slowly.

>They DO end up eventually learning both, and quite well, in most cases!

>

>This bore out in a study (I don't have a cite, but will try to find it)

>that showed not only did hearing impaired kids who were signing and

>speaking learn language and speech more slowly, it was more difficult for

>them to learn both languages, and were less likely to have a deep mastery

>of either, because they were learning different languages (vocabulary, word

>order, etc.) AND different MODES (visual v. aural) at the same time.

Only if you are talking about ASL are you talking about a different

language. Learning signs and signing while you talk is not using a

different language because you are signing in English word order. (Just a

little clarification here.)

>>So, we decided, for our son (severe bilateral SN diagnosed at birth, now 2

>y.o.) that he would be oral and only oral until he has a firm mastery of

>spoken English, or shows that he CAN'T master it (he's already proving he

>can, though!). At a later time, I would love for ALL of us to learn ASL,

>because it's a great skill to have...hey, I learned Spanish, what's

>different? If we learn ASL, there's a whole world of people we haven't been

>able to communicate with who now we'll be able to communicate with!

>

>That's our side of the multifaceted, er, coin as it were. :-) I hope I

>didn't offend anyone...that's not my intention, and I know, as well as

>anyone else, that it's COMPLETELY up to a family to decide what's going to

>work best for them...there IS NO ONE RIGHT ANSWER! :-)

AMEN, there is no one right answer and I agree with when she says

that whatever you decide we will support you. I will throw in my .02 about

our experience.

My daughter hears quite well with her hearing aides. She corrects to about

20 dB. This correction is under perfect listening conditions. If she is in

an auditorium listening to a speech she needs either her fm or an

interpreter. She does well orally and prefers to use voice over sign.

But she has CAPD which makes it difficult for her to learn language orally.

She first needs to process it visually. So she learns new language with a

combination of sign and cued speech. Once she has mastered the word she

will drop the sign.

Petya uses sign PRIMARILY for aquisition of language. So we don't use it

much at home. Other times she uses it are in difficult listening

situations, when she is swimming, bathing, or when she can't wear her

hearing aides due to an ear infection. I like sign because I too can

correct my children in public, without drawing attention to them or speak to

them from a distance without raising my voice. Also it allows me to explain

something Petya has a question about in church or other places without

disturbing the people around us.

I also worry that she may have a progressive loss so I want her to know

sign. Whether she uses it or not is up to her later on.

I was told at one point that she was learning language more slowly THAN

OTHER CHILDREN because she was having to learn two different things for each

word she used. But it became apparent to me and the school that by learning

with different modalities she was acquiring language faster than she would

have if she were learning only auditorily. So it comes back to " what is

appropriate for THIS child. " Be careful of studies. They are

generalizations that say in most of the children that were studied thus and

such was found. The study doesn't mean that will happen for your child.

>I also find myself doing the " Daddy Lecture " with him in ASL when we are in

>public. I can simply look at him and remind him to behave in a hand snap

>without drawing attention to us.

LOL I use this my hearing son as well.

I am not saying any thing different than and others have said. Only

sharing our experience and why we made the decisions that were made.

Barb