The Importance Of Language On Deaf Children

Two centuries ago, the Deaf community arose in American society as a linguistic minority. Members of this community share a particular human condition, hearing impairment. However, the use of American Sign Language, as their main means of communicating, and attendance to a residential school for people with deafness also determine their entry to this micro-culture. Despite the fact that Deaf activists argue that their community is essentially an ethnic group, Deaf culture is certainly different from any other cultures in the United States. Deaf-Americans cannot trace their ancestry back to a specific country, nor do Deaf neighborhoods exist predominantly throughout the nation. Additionally, more than ninety percent of deaf persons are born

First, this book allowed me to see the negative way in which deaf people were perceived. This book is not old by any means, and I was taken aback by the way deaf children were perceived by not only others in the community, but often times by their own parents as well. The term

American Annals of the Deaf is an educational journal that is committed to providing educational experiences of high quality as well as related services for the deaf. This journal has been around for over 150 years, and over time they have been dedicated to making sure that children and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing are receiving quality assistance for their disability (NEED CITATION). In July 1996, they published a scholarly article in response to a survey Catherine Gillespie and Sandra Twardosz conducted about the literacy environment and different practices that children are receiving in a residential school for the deaf.

The history of the deaf goes far back to the biblical times. Being born deaf or going deaf made it very difficult back in the days. As a deaf person you were never treated the way you should be treated because people either respected you are not. Deaf people lacked many social opportunities that everyone had because they were seen as disabled. During biblical times it is even recorded that if a child was born deaf the father of the child could decide if they should live or not. As time developed the deaf were even forbidden to attend church, control their properties, or even

Most people are born in a cultural group getting direct access to their family and community, cultural, traditions, norms and values that are passed down from parent to child. Most deaf children, on the other hand, are born to hearing parents. For most Deaf children spread of the culture of the family or that of the deaf community does not occur right away. Deaf children typically gain access to the Deaf community through education in Deaf programs with other deaf children and adults. It is in these visual-spatial environments that a Deaf child becomes “acculturated” through language immersion as well as social interactions with others who share the same language and a similar world view that is experienced primarily through visual rather than auditory experiences.

Deaf people are not limited by hearing loss and are able to achieve what the hearing people can achieve. Some deaf people are proud of being deaf not from the medical perspective, but from the linguistic perspective. Since ASL is capable of supporting the highest levels of abstract mind-to-mind communication, it is considered to be a rich language. From the linguistic point, the deaf people are viewed as bilingual in ASL and English. Unlike others, their first language is ASL instead of English. There are so many deaf people out there that are teachers, writers, lawyers, doctors, etc. Sharon and Candy, the deaf couples who want their children to be deaf in the article A World of Their Own by Liza Mundy, all performed well academically and are graduates from universities. They see how successful deaf people can be as well as the capabilities of their deaf child. Parents always want to give the best to their children. If Candy and Sharon searched around and worked so hard to get a deaf baby, I am sure that this is what they think the best for that

This chapter examined three different scenarios looking into the future of what could evolve of the Deaf community.

90% of all deaf children are born to hearing parents who never thought much about the deaf community (Bat-Chava). That is why in mainstream society, the quality of being deaf is seen as a disability rather than something to be praised. The common view of deafness is that it is simply a person who cannot hear and “is deficient in some way because

Deaf Parents Perspectives on Deaf Education was written by Carlene Thumann-Prezioso. This article consist of a list of questions asked to Deaf parents as it relates to school systems and the changes they would like to see. Prezioso also discusses, how the things that are viewed as disadvantages affect the Deaf culture. She begins the article by first talking about what the deaf students believe the problem is. John, who is deaf, stated that he believes “the teachers have low expectations for deaf children.” This statement may hold some truth because some hearing people tend to view deaf children as having a learning disability; however that is not true. A learning disability and a language barrier are on two different ends of the special education

It is argued that those who are deaf are victims of colonization who must face policies which “eradicates and marginalizes sign language” and the culture of the deaf (Ladd 2005, p. 13). The medical model for the deaf categorizes these individuals as disabled and physically impaired where to successfully integrate and regain their “human status”, they must not interact with each other (Ladd 2005, p. 12). On the other hand, the social model doesn’t view these individuals as actual individuals within society; continuing to deny them their rightful human status due to being labelled as “disabled”. Thus, since they are considered to be impaired and therefore incapable, non-deaf or non- disabled people have taken it upon themselves to take over the culture, education, art forms and any deaf organizations. This excluded deaf people from contributing to their community; therefore, silencing and restricting them. Additionally, due to “oralism”, deaf people have been removed from contributing to deaf education and culture and instead are replaced by able-bodied/non-deaf individuals. Limiting the involvement of the deaf within their own community, reinforces the lack of control and power they possess in comparison to able-bodied individuals. This can also be further demonstrated and understood through the medical model and social model which silence and restrict disabled

One of the most emotional taxing yet gratifying parts of raising a deaf child is that the mother is typically the one member of the family most capable of communicating with the deaf child. She becomes not only a mother, but an educator, social guidance counselor, communication specialist, interpreter, and audiologist consultant (Mapp 15). The girl’s mother went to the school district when the girl entered high school hoping sign language classes were available as a precaution in case her half deaf child continued to lose her hearing. They refused to even consider letting sign language qualify for her foreign language requirement. Another recurring theme in the challenges faced by parents is the abundance of ignorance in the faculty of school systems themselves. One frustrated parent wrote said about mainstreaming her deaf child into a hearing school, “…the teacher sometimes forgets…her limits and limitations…and does something

However, from the Deaf community’s point of view, deaf children are the future of their culture and not teaching the next generation of signers is “genocide” of their culture (Lane & Byhan). Some children who are proficient in both spoken and signed language may choose later in life to live as if they were deaf, a choice they are largely unable to make if they are not introduced to a signed language early in life. (Dillier & Spillmann, 1997). One study showed that deaf individuals who are not introduced to a signed language as children never become fully proficient; even those who began learning as early as age 5 are significantly less proficient than those who were taught from birth (Newport, 1990). Children who are introduced to both a spoken and signed language from birth are introduced to both cultures, and hopefully excluded from neither. If deaf children are only taught a spoken language, the risk of being isolated from both cultures arises – if they are unable to communicate fully with the spoken world, and have no knowledge of a signed language, they may feel alienated and experience less-than-satisfactory social and physiological growth. (Krammer, p. 346). Although some Deaf community advocates argue that cochlear implants are “unethical” because they disconnect potential Deaf community members from

As parents welcome their child into the world, it can be a daunting experience. Parents must spend countless hours, money, and resources finding the perfect items for their little one. After all the grueling hours of planning, organizing, and shopping, a brief moment of relaxation is taken as the wait for the big day continues. Finally, as the moment the parents have been waiting for arrives, friends and family anticipate the news of a healthy, newborn child. However, not everything goes as planned, and the child fails their newborn hearing screening. Then, three months later, the child is found to have a profound hearing loss. This leaves the parents with a tough choice: Do they let their child enter the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community? Or, do they provide their child with the proper tools to participate effectively in a society that primarily uses spoken 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.

Bauman and Murray (2010) defines Deaf Studies as “interdisciplinary approaches to the exploration of Deaf individuals, communities, and cultures as they have evolved within a larger context of power and ideology” (p. 210). In other words, Deaf Studies refer to a specific academic field that studies deaf individuals and their unique communities and culture and may include constructs from anthropology, linguistics, bilingual education, disability, audiology, etc. Within the context of Deaf Studies, deaf individuals are no longer defined solely by their lack of hearing, but by their cultural, linguistic, and sensorial ways of being in the world (Bauman & Murray, 2010). That is why we hear people educated with Deaf Studies saying ASL kids to refer to deaf kids who use American Sign Language (ASL) system as their mode of communication or see them writing “Deaf” instead of “deaf” to give reference to the universally-recognized culture of people who are deaf or hard of hearing.