Only a Quarter of Parents to Deaf Kids Know Sign Language

GrendelQ said:
I'm reading a lot about what doesn't work, how many of us (and those mentioned in the original article) have been let down by families who didn't or couldn't sign.

What would be the "right" path and how would you make it happen? So, a deaf child is born ... and everybody mobilizes to a new ideal plan. What happens?

child: exposed to ASL input (how/where?)
parents: begin ASL classes? fluent by when? Classes available where/how?
families:
neighbors:
teachers:
employees of local businesses:
Click to expand...

Just remember, We aren't asking families or neighbors to learn it. Just our parents since they are the parents.oh and siblings too.

Other people just come and goes. This includes cousins and aunts and uncles.Rather you are hearing, HOH, or deaf. They definitely goes when they can't communicate with you well (this includes oral deaf or HOH too) ..
 
GrendelQ said:
I'm reading a lot about what doesn't work, how many of us (and those mentioned in the original article) have been let down by families who didn't or couldn't sign.

What would be the "right" path and how would you make it happen? So, a deaf child is born ... and everybody mobilizes to a new ideal plan. What happens?

child: exposed to ASL input (how/where?)
parents: begin ASL classes? fluent by when? Classes available where/how?
families:
neighbors:
teachers:
employees of local businesses:
Click to expand...
:) Perfect answer for this:

Third world countries are now accepting sign language (Most of them are using ASL) as an official language at a very rapid rate these years.
They also are teaching a LOT of kids sign language. Which easily translates into much higher amounts of people knowing sign language. The whole process would take only 20-30 years then you have a significant portion of your population knowing sign language or VERY easy access to someone who does.

It's already pretty easy here for me to find someone who knows sign language. If I go out, I pretty much find someone who signs on a daily basis.

People love sign language. Why not make it an official language? ASL is now only behind Spanish in popularity in the USA. I give it another 5 years then that will be changed.
 
posts from hell said:
:) Perfect answer for this:

Third world countries are now accepting sign language (Most of them are using ASL) as an official language at a very rapid rate these years.
They also are teaching a LOT of kids sign language. Which easily translates into much higher amounts of people knowing sign language. The whole process would take only 20-30 years then you have a significant portion of your population knowing sign language or VERY easy access to someone who does.

It's already pretty easy here for me to find someone who knows sign language. If I go out, I pretty much find someone who signs on a daily basis.

People love sign language. Why not make it an official language? ASL is now only behind Spanish in popularity in the USA. I give it another 5 years then that will be changed.
Click to expand...

Given that sign language is based on communicating concepts, and is not mapped one to one to vocabulary in a particular language, it's really too bad we don't have a universal or global sign language, which would serve so many purposes and provide even more incentive for learning it and practical application in the world.

Li-Li's cousins have all been exposed to sign language in school, many elementary schools include it as a learning module, but that instruction seems to stop after the basics.
 
deafgal001 said:
Just remember, We aren't asking families or neighbors to learn it. Just our parents since they are the parents.oh and siblings too.

Other people just come and goes. This includes cousins and aunts and uncles.Rather you are hearing, HOH, or deaf. They definitely goes when they can't communicate with you well (this includes oral deaf or HOH too) ..
Click to expand...

Why not? One of the greatest benefits to having access to sound via a CI as well as ASL is that my daughter can communicate easily with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins (near and far, in person, by phone), with the children in the neighborhood, with her dentist, local shopkeepers. The thought of isolating her from family, neighbors, community members is pretty horrible. And it's a recurring issue among deaf adults: the misery of the Thanksgiving table, the isolation of family gatherings. What is the solution to that sense of "otherness", that isolation, if not providing ASL for those people with whom we interact daily?
 
GrendelQ said:
Given that sign language is based on communicating concepts, and is not mapped one to one to vocabulary in a particular language, it's really too bad we don't have a universal or global sign language, which would serve so many purposes and provide even more incentive for learning it and practical application in the world.

Li-Li's cousins have all been exposed to sign language in school, many elementary schools include it as a learning module, but that instruction seems to stop after the basics.
Click to expand...

It's a myth that once you know basic sign language, deafies can talk with each other anywhere in the world. Have you ever talked with a deaf person from Ireland? Kenya? The Philippines? Good Lord, it would make you feel one inch tall! :lol:
 
Beowulf said:
It's a myth that once you know basic sign language, deafies can talk with each other anywhere in the world. Have you ever talked with a deaf person from Ireland? Kenya? The Philippines? Good Lord, it would make you feel one inch tall! :lol:
Click to expand...

Exactly. Think of the power of a language that transcended nationalities.
 
GrendelQ said:
Why not? One of the greatest benefits to having access to sound via a CI as well as ASL is that my daughter can communicate easily with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins (near and far, in person, by phone), with the children in the neighborhood, with her dentist, local shopkeepers. The thought of isolating her from family, neighbors, community members is pretty horrible. And it's a recurring issue among deaf adults: the misery of the Thanksgiving table, the isolation of family gatherings. What is the solution to that sense of "otherness", that isolation, if not providing ASL for those people with whom we interact daily?
Click to expand...

it's their choice, just like saying "never mind" is their choice. If they want to, great... but I do think the parents motivate her family to take up signing if they start learning themselves.

Just to let you know, I was talking about bilingual. I think deaf children and parents ought to learn ASL together while the deaf child can use her voice for outsiders. As a oral deaf whose family that often say never mind, I don't see them taking ASL either, though.

I just move on and find friends on my own. That's my solutions. I have lots of neighbors and I been here since 2002 and I don't know a single one but they know I'm deaf. It doesn't bother me one bit.
 
That's so sad. If I had a deaf child I could never imagine not learning to sign. Really, for a lot of people there are too many resources for excuses.
 
Am I the only one that sees this as an attempt to sell software? I even wonder if the software they are trying to sell is any good.
 
I'm new here...i have a 3 yr old that i just found out is hoh. I'm new to this group and have reading this whole thread. My son's hearing loss is described as moderate to severe. right now our focus is on speech but once he gets caught up to his peers in speech i want to do both sign and speech with him.

Anyways...my question is this...is this a good site to learn ASL?
ASL Browser

if not can you recommend another?

Thanks
Susan
 
Aezin said:
That's so sad. If I had a deaf child I could never imagine not learning to sign. Really, for a lot of people there are too many resources for excuses.
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If you were the hearing parent of a deaf child, how would you go about learning to sign and how quickly would you expect to be fluent?
 
deafgal001 said:
Just remember, We aren't asking families or neighbors to learn it. Just our parents since they are the parents.oh and siblings too.

Other people just come and goes. This includes cousins and aunts and uncles.Rather you are hearing, HOH, or deaf. They definitely goes when they can't communicate with you well (this includes oral deaf or HOH too) ..
Click to expand...

A child needs an entire community, not just their parents. They need their grandparents, friends, neighbors, all the people in their lives to be able to communicate with them.
 
GrendelQ said:
If you were the hearing parent of a deaf child, how would you go about learning to sign and how quickly would you expect to be fluent?
Click to expand...

I would say...... to be morbidly honest with you.. only two semesters of ASL classes. ASL 1 and 2, you're pretty much set.

I hang out with at least 30+ asl 2 students every week and they're very easy to understand and they can undersatnd me well enough.

Only two semesters.... fkin a
 
Beowulf said:
It's a myth that once you know basic sign language, deafies can talk with each other anywhere in the world. Have you ever talked with a deaf person from Ireland? Kenya? The Philippines? Good Lord, it would make you feel one inch tall! :lol:
Click to expand...

I have.... And I don't see the "one inch tall" thing you're referring to?
 
posts from hell said:
I would say...... to be morbidly honest with you.. only two semesters of ASL classes. ASL 1 and 2, you're pretty much set.

I hang out with at least 30+ asl 2 students every week and they're very easy to understand and they can undersatnd me well enough.

Only two semesters.... fkin a
Click to expand...

You can NOT teach a child language with the limited about you would learn in two semester at college. My ASL classes didn't even cover farm animals. How are you supposed to teach a child morals and values and higher level concepts inckuding those used in math and science in school with a vocabulary of a few hundred signs?
 
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