What I refer to, in a linguistic and psychological frame, is the fact that even though English may be the first and only language of an oral deaf individual, it was not acquired in a native way as a mother tongue in the way that spoken English is acquired from home envionment of a hearing child. I did not say that sign was hte native language of a deaf individual, unless of course, we are speaking of deaf of deaf who have acquired language from the home environment. I am refering to the fact that spoken English must be taught to the deaf child, thus interfring with acquisition process. This in turn, affects the way language is used. A child who is taught any language, even a hearing child, in this way does not use language in the same way that a native speaker uses it. For instance, a child who is taught Spanish at pre-school, and speaks English at home may have as great a command of the Spanish language as of the English. That child will not, however, ever use Spanish in the same way that he uses English. This has a huge effect on issues such as reading and writing.
