The label L-V?

[blank canvas]

So I was wondering if someone could explan the term L-V ("low verbal") to me from the cultural Deaf definition not websters dictionary.

My book basically says that it 'is used for educational unfortunates, but often aslo as a blanket term for low-income ethnic minorities.' Also a common alternative for 'not smart'.... wtf that doesn't make sense to me


its from Deaf in America:Voices from a culture

 

[deafdyke]

Can you post the sentence, so we can figure out the context? I think low verbal in relation to deaf ed means kids who may be severely behind language wise, or intellectucal disabled kids who can't pick up on speech.

 

[Reba]

I don't know if my reply fits the context of your question but I'll put in my two cents.

Years ago, while I was still in my ITP, I recall one of my instructors telling us that "low verbal" was an obsolete term. It was used back in the day when if a child didn't use a spoken language, he was gauged to be non-verbal, and if he used a little spoken language non-fluently, then he was classified low-verbal. This was before sign languages were considered true and complete languages. In those times, "verbal" was restricted to oral/aural communication. Now, "verbal" refers to all kinds of languages that enable people to communicate with each other. With that definition, a low-verbal label would be limited to someone who had very little communication ability of any kind, perhaps somewhere on the autistic scale, or a stroke victim.

That's my layman's explanation. It could be wrong.

 

[Anij]

If you can post the section of the book it's from (chapter and page number) I could look it up and see in context what they mean.

My uncle, who has severe Down's Syndrome is "low verbal" - which means that while he is able to receptively understand language, he is extremely limited in his expressive language skills. Can use very short phrases ("yes, please", "I'm thirty", "want coffee") however he is unable to form a "typical sentence" such as "I would like some coffee please" or "I need to go to the washroom" etc.

Like many terms - they are "broad brush-stroke" terms, meaning that there is often a fairly wide range of "correct answers" regarding the definitation. One might say "L-V is anyone who has expressive language less than the average 5year old", another might give a different definition based on the extend to vocabulary as well as how many words they are (typical) able to string together to form coherent/understandable (to strangers, not family) verbal expressions etc.


Hope that helps??

Again, if you can pin down the chapter/page, I'll grab the book off my shelf at take a look.
(Also, keep in mind that this book is about 15-20+years old now, so just because the terms are in the book isn't an indicator that the term is still used, or considered "correct" or socially acceptable.)