The Impact Of Baby Sign Language On Language Development

Critique of Research Report: Howlett, N., Kirk, E., and Pine, K. (2011). Does ‘Wanting the Best’ create more stress? The link between baby sign classes and maternal anxiety. Infant and Child Development.

Gwyneth Doherty-Sneddon bring up points like is it fair to the deaf community to teach hearing infants signs, do deaf children get the amount of help that they need, and is there really enough research to prove that it helps hearing children. She brings up that baby sign language is really nothing new as it has been used with children with developmental delays for decades to help them to be able to communicate, there has been research done to show that it helps with behavioral problems during preschool years and therefore preventing the possibility of negative parenting that is brought out due to the frustration of said bad behavior. She also points out that one of the arguments around baby sign is if preverbal nurslings actually “need” the

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

Baby sign language is a specialized kind of signing which is used for communicating with toddlers and babies. Children at this stage are unable to communicate their wished and needs since they lack the ability to do so.

The two previous studies exemplify that the quality of language input and early onset has significant effects on linguistic and sub-linguistic mechanisms. It calls into question whether input quality is predictive of later sign language skills in deaf education program settings. In spoken languages, the quality and quantity of language input is predictive of a child’s later linguistic abilities (Cartmill et al., 2013). However, most deaf children entering education have hearing parents, creating a barrier to language development. Many deaf programs support bilingual philosophies in which the basis of English is also taught in order to facilitate communication between the deaf and non-deaf communities (Murphy-Swiller, 2014).

“Subtle measures of surprise (e.g., duration of looking toward the new sounds) are then used to assess whether the infant perceives the new sample as more of the same, or something different. In this fashion, we can ask what the infant extracted from the artificial language, which can lead to insights regarding the learning mechanisms underlying the earliest stages of language acquisition.”, according to Saffran. During this infant period, the discovered elements in sounds and gestures in language are beyond children’s understanding if only just based on intelligence. They have shown early inborn and involuntary assemblage of words and sounds, combining them into meanings without previous acknowledgements. They simultaneously crack the linguistic codes and rules surround them, integrating their capacities in learning process. Children have revealed excellent ability in solving linguistic puzzles, always surpassing other animal species in the mastery of communication in which, highly champions the theory of innateness in human language acquisition.

Language development is one of the most important milestones fulfilled during infancy and early childhood. Though, there is no exact answer as to how an infant learns language. I believe that the ability to learn language is something that comes from our interactions with people, such as parents, teachers, other children, and just about anyone who is in our lives for extended periods of time that may aid us in this stage of development. Though this may not be the way infants learn language, empirical research has been done that supports my belief. One such study relates the quality of center-based childcare to cognitive and language development. Another study found an association between infant gaze following and pointing and vocabulary growth. Lastly, a third study found a significant relationship between book reading and the development of language.

My essay topic is the language development of deaf infants and children. In my opinion, this is an important topic to discuss, due to the lack of public knowledge concerning the deaf population. Through this essay, I wish to present how a child is diagnosed as having a hearing loss (including early warning signs), options that parents have for their children once diagnosed (specifically in relation to education of language), common speech teaching methods used today, typical language development for these children, and some emotional, social, and mental difficulties faced by the deaf child and the child’s family that have an immense effect on the child’s education.

A foundational aspect of all children’s learning is oral language. Communication orally entails the ability to include four components of spoken language to incorporate, and build on, a child’s vocabulary and grammar. These four elements consist of the phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic components. Development of a child’s language skills should form together resulting in literacy success later in life. In order to master the teaching of oral language, three strategies are used. These include, the use of open –ended questions, talking about sophisticated words and incorporating sociodramatic play in to lessons, which in the end, enhance expressive and receptive oral language skills. Fellowes & Oakley and numerous other literature sources explore the significance of oral language in the child’s development.

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.

There are several different communication options available for children and adults who need them. There is the American sign language (ASL), speech reading, cued speech, finger spelling, and total, or simultaneous communication. The American sign language is a complete language that uses signs made with the hands and other movements, including facial expressions and postures of the body. Although the one I explained is the American one, there is other sign languages for different languages. With speech reading, children learn to read what someone else is saying by watching their face, mouth, tongue, and throat movements. Cued reading is a visual communication that uses eight hand shapes in four different placements near the face in combination

The use of infant sign language has proven to be beneficial for children in a wide variety of settings. Signing can even enable children to communicate effectively with their deaf parents or vice versa. Sign Language has proven to be a successful intervention with children with special-needs including autism and Down syndrome. Research shows that infant sign language accelerates speech development, decreases frustration in adolescents, increases parent-child bonding, and lets infants communicate important information. “ A study completed in the year 2000, funded by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, shows that young children who learn sign language speak sooner than other children (Glairon, 2003).” Infants who

Since the early 2000s, movements to teach all children American Sign Language have swept the nation. It has gained popularity with parents because it allows them to communicate with their non-verbal infants. Most infants start to talk between eleven and fourteen months, but with Baby Sign Language, he or she can start to learn signs at around three months. When asked why she taught her children American Sign Language, Sarah Whitcraft, graduate of Bowling Green State University with focus in Special Education(HH) and teaching ASL, responded, “I wanted to be able to communicate with them before they could talk.” Reducing the time it takes for a baby to communicate can increase the bond between baby and parent. Mrs. Whitcraft agrees that the bond between her and her children has been strengthened through the use of ASL in their house and explains, “It’s a special thing that we have that is fun,” and also, “We can communicate with each other about the people around us without them knowing.” The most underestimated benefit of teaching your infant ASL is understanding him or her. By understanding the needs or wants of an infant, you can eliminate most of the common frustrations parents have with their child. This is a significant reason why Whitcraft recommends parents should teach their children ASL. Whitcraft

This study aims to assess whether Sign Language taught to hearing children could positively affect social outcomes and educational achievement for deaf children in mainstream schools. Specifically, looking at the years 2010 onwards, as these were the years for many changes, for example, the change of the 2010 equality act, the 2010 spending review which made cuts towards education and the closure of Britain’s oldest deaf school. This dissertation will examine the key issues the deaf community face daily in education, such as the decline of deaf schools and low attainment.

I must commend you on a very well put together analysis. It took me a while to get the hang of APA formatting which I still have not perfected, but I would refrain from referring to a reference as “the article” when paraphrasing; I would refer to the author or sources, not the type of source.