Originally Posted by jenni-m

I could not read the whole post at this time...

But I will give my opinions on whether or not ASL is 'damaging'.

Inherently, I feel it ASL itself is completely benign. Where 'damage' to learning can occur, is developmental history.

If a person only knows ASL, for 30+ years, and has never really studied English or English writing/literature very much, then of course they will be severely delayed, and very 'hard wired' to ASL, because the period where the brain has the most development capacity is mostly over by that point. It becomes a whole way of thinking and being, by then.

It is easier to introduce something like that earlier, at the right times (this also gives more time for natural development, and you don't end up with a 30 year old student reading at a 1st grade level and fighting to catch up, after 30 years of ingrained, intuitive knowledge and habit...).