Kindergarten Readiness For Deaf Children In American Sign Language Summary

Winn, J. (2016, November 3). The importance of early exposure to american sign language with deaf Children. Signing Savvy Blog. Retrieved February 09, 2018, from

They have made an effort to learn ASL in order to communicate and support with Michael. They sought help and intervention immediately after finding out of his deafness, and integrated him into a deaf- based school community where he is receiving a significant amount of support from a deaf community; with the hopes that ultimately, Michael will be able to embrace his deafness and still connect to the hearing world. His participation in therapy and his school’s “ready to learn” program is already demonstrating tremendous academic and speech

Deaf children are entitled to know that they are heirs to an amazing culture, not a pitiful defect. In order to follow through on that obligation, one of the best things I feel we can do is try to educate other hearing people about the realities of American Sign Language and Deaf culture. Language is one of the most critical aspects of most cultures, and one which sets deafness aside from other defects such as blindness, physical disability, or illness. Sign language is not universal, nor does it always correspond to the spoken language in the same country. For example American Sign Language is native to the United States and Canada. Deaf Canadians might use English, French, or both as a written language. But deaf people in Great Britain, while they may write in English, use a completely different sign language. (nad.org)

Early intervention, at its core, is “services provided to infants and toddlers who are at risk for, or showing signs of developmental delays” (Coleman, 1993). The intervention is individualized for each child and family and their specific needs. Thus, when the service providers work with the families, they can “create optimal environments for language learning” (Moeller, et. al., 2013). Research shows that language of routines and joint attention are two successful evidence based practices families and interventionist can use with children who are d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Joint attention relates to “the eliciting and directing of another person’s attention to an object for mutual engagement with the object,” (Tasker, Nowakowski, & Schmidt, 2010) while language of routines emphases the idea that “when a child is familiar with routines, the interventionist can focus on scaffolding new and more complex learning” and language (Vygotsky as cited in Jennings, Hanline & Woods, 2012). By utilizing both methods of interventions in a child’s natural environment, their language will flourish.

Development focuses on information processing, conceptual resources, language learning, and other brain development and psychology. A significant amount of research has focused on cognitive development and the deaf community because it is considered the domain for language development. In 1987, Abraham Zwiebel conducted research with three groups of deaf children—a) children from all deaf families that used manual communication, b) deaf children of hearing parents that used partial manual communication, and c) deaf children of hearing parents that used aural/oral communication-- and a group of hearing children. He studied cognitive development using three measures—teacher evaluations, the Draw-a-Person test, and the Snijders-Oomen Non-Verbal Test. The research concluded that manual environment factors are responsible for the higher cognitive development of deaf children of deaf parents (Zwiebel, 1987). Zwiebel’s research holds merit today because of his use of grouping and differentiating within the deaf community along communication

In this essay I will be talking about speech, language and communication skills and how they affect several areas of development. I will talk about the impact of speech, language and communication (SLC) difficulties and how adults can support children and extend their SLC. I will also talk about the positive effects of adult support and the different levels of speech and language between children entering an early year’s provision.

There may be a recognised syndrome or disorder that causes language difficulty for the child and is not able to communicate with others. The child may have a lack of stimulation and support to provide the rich language experience necessary to develop speech, language and communication skills. For example at school, the setting may not have an enabling environment to stimulate the child’s different interests necessary for acquiring language. The books, music, songs and so on may not stimulate and interest the child.

The Book I decided to read is called “Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf”. In this book the author Oliver Sacks basically focuses on Deaf history and the community of the deaf developed toward linguistic self-sufficiency. Sacks is a Professor of Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He became interested in the problem of how deaf children acquire language after reviewing a book by Harlan Lane. The book was titled “When the Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf”. This book was first published in 1984 and was published again in 1989. Before reading Harlan’s book Sacks did not know any sign language. The book encouraged him to begin studying sign language. Sacks became extremely interested on how the deaf learn to communicate with the ability of sound being nonexistent. He wanted to know what this process may tell us about the nature of language. Seeing Voices is made up of three chapters, the history of the deaf, a discussion of language and the brain, and an evaluation of the problems behind the student strike that occurred at Gallaudet University, in March of 1988.

In learning about the deaf culture I have taken on a new understanding about the people it includes. Through readings and the lessons, I have learned that being deaf has both its hardships and its blessings. The beauty of the language alone makes one want to learn all that he or she can about it. In this paper I will discuss the beauty of the language and the misconceptions the hearing world has about deafness.

The growing numbers of both hearing and deaf people wanting to understand the deaf community and be apart of it allows for an optimistic outlook. In 2001, Lucas, Bayley and Valli, emphasise the importance of pursuing research in sign language, commenting that it will help contribute to the empowerment of deaf people in society. (Johnston and Schembri 2004, p. 3). This empowerment will allow for deaf people to be treated and seen as equal members of

After watching the video about Rachel Kolb, who has trouble hearing, the insights I gained were not to put limitations on children who are deaf or have trouble hearing. Educators must give these students words of encouragement rather than bringing them down like one teacher did to Rachel. She mentions that she is more than disabled. She is just like everyone else and is capable to do everything like everyone else. Rachel is a great inspiration to all children with disabilities. She courage’s to go beyond the expectations. Rachel would love to be a writer one day and she states that people do not think she could do it but with her motivation, nothing will stop her. Some of the education considerations described in chapter 11 for learners with

Despite the perceived limitations of being Deaf or hearing impaired and various forms of oppression and social injustice, Deaf Americans identify themselves as members of a cultural community and linguistic group – which highly values literacy. Through the use of American Sign Language (ASL), Deaf and hearing impaired individuals and groups are given a unique way to express themselves personally – and with that, a totally different way to communicate through hands, faces and bodies without the use of sound. “Deaf culture focuses on the stimulation of the eyes and the enhanced visual

In the article “Language acquisition for deaf children: Reducing the harms of zero tolerance to the use of alternative approaches” the authors talked about children need regularly and meaningfully accessible to human language. Children that have not acquired a language in the early years might never speak fluently in any language. This critical period is for children to develop their first language skills. Most children that are born deaf in the developed countries have cochlear devices implanted, but these devices do not offer accessible language to many deaf children. This device might cause the child to miss the critical period that is needed for children.

Should the language competence of children from low-SES backgrounds be considered deficient or different? Evaluate the evidence for and against each claim.

When children experience early speech difficulties they tend to be at risk later on. By being susceptible to language skills early on allows the child (ren) to be more proficiency and react in a way that contributes to them being able to express themselves in a way that causes them to use a variety of different phonemes and at the same time mix and maneuver other language and literacy skills. Numerous studies have found that there is a strong link between language problems, reading and overall academic achievement (Konza, 2006, Snow Burns and Griffin, 1998, Justice and Ezell, 2000).