Gma

I am attempting to teach a deaf child to read. His reading is delayed mostly as a result of vision issues. Currently taught in a public school, he has a teacher who is deaf and uses ASL with him. While I have read a lot of the benefits and ease of teaching English through ASL I have a question concerning signs used which are considered SEE. Doesn't it provide clarity when signing--I, me, the, at, to, etc. when using signs that are not necessarily ASL? I wouldn't think this would delay him acquiring ASL just make English easier.

Deafness

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scottw

What about Expression of ASL? You need to action ASL too. It help deaf visual to understand what the word mean. First, you need word ASL practice and know what this word mean.

Many Deaf student from Gallaudet have problem with word definate that I not know what the word mean. Like I was problem with reading. I was long story. I can't explain why I had a problem with reading. Because many deaf not enough mature reading.

souggy

My grandmother, who is an English teacher, taught me how to read. She just gave me a lot of stuff to read that she felt like that were at my level and constantly encouraged me to read. In regard, for ESL (English as a Second Language) students, she worked with a lot of Japanese and Korean students. She doesn't know the languages, but she was able to teach them English. She just encouraged them to read and write as much as possible while avoiding giving them material that they wouldn't like.

How old is he? What is he struggling with? It would be more helpful to understand how grim the situation is.

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Gma

I don't if I would say the situation is grim yet. He is only six. He seems to have a more than normal difficult time remembering words. I say this because my daughter learned much more easily, but she also did not have vision problems.

I am giving him books with short sentences and mostly sight words. I'm not worried about expressions used in ASL cause he gets the "picture" it is the word meaning like-me, I, the, a, etc. When he reads "a lot" he is wanting to read "a many" rather than looking at it as a combo. You know what I mean. In ASL three or four words may have a combined meaning or one sign.

Do I teach the word and worry about meaning later? In time he will get the meaning.

shel90

You sound like you are doing the right thing. It is important that he reads and learns the different English expressions. You can explain them in ASL and then show him the printed expression. He will eventually make the connection and become a fluent reader.

The key is having him read, read, and read..

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Shel~

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -George Santayana

faire_jour

I don't understand, how to you encourage a child to "read, read, read" when they can't read yet?

What is the first step? Since phonics is out, HOW do you teach them to read?

shel90

See post #4

When he reads "a lot" he is wanting to read "a many" rather than looking at it as a combo.

It seems like he can read..the more the child reads at whatever level they are at, the better.

The first step is building sight word vocabulary via the sandwiching method, then simple sentences, and then go from there. Hope that answers your question.

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Shel~

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -George Santayana

Bottesini

I learned from flash cards with the word and picture on them.

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It's a joke Nathan!

Gma

We are using flash card too. What is the sandwich method? And that's to all for advice.

loml

faire jour - A phonemic approach to reading IS available through the use of Cued Speech. Cueing is a very viable, valuable and effective tool for learning to read.

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- Dr. Edward C. Merrill, Jr. past president of Gallaudet

Gma

I appreciate that you use Cued Speech but my grandson will use ASL to aquire all the language he needs. Hopefully, the family and school will sign well enough with him so that this is possible and he becomes fluent in ASL and English. I am not worried about him having auditory memory for language but meaning to the words that he reads.

souggy

A lot of people can read without hearing a sound in their life... or seeing cued speech. Think about how the Plains natives trade with each others or with white men without having a common language. If you really want to know how, talk to an ESL teacher. Contrary to people's popular belief about English Sign Language, ESL means English as a Second Language.

See the word dog? Point to a picture of a dog. And so on...

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shel90

The sandwich method is the use of fingerspelling...like point the object, fingerspell it, show the printed word and then fingerspell it again.

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Shel~

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -George Santayana

loml

souggy - Indeed some pre-lingual profoundly deaf and post-lingual profoundly deaf individuals become literate without hearing a sound or having had the opportunity for Cued Speech. There are numerous variables involved with all success stories,one must bear these in mind. Even as far as the individual(s) definition of success.

I find it interesting that you choose as a comparative, people who presumably from your post, are hearing, are successful in their home/native/first, spoken language and individuals who "do not hear a sound".

ESL, in my field, has never been consider English Sign Language. It is quite clearly English as a Second Language. Currently, in my geographic, that acronym is under review, and may be changed to ELL, meaning English Language Learner. This move is underway, because of the fact that even though some hearing individuals have a language orally (obviously age specific), they have not as yet acquired the skills necessary to decode print. Meaning that they are not "literate" in one language, meaning then that when they are learning English, it is not a second language.

All children and their families, imo, should be provided access to whatever tools are available, empowering them, so that they are able to make informed choices to meet their unique family needs.

As far as see the word dog, point to the word dog. Definately an approach that works, imo, for the primary reader, but tell me when you see the word: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis or supercalafragalisticexpialadoshus; how do you teach that?

Thanks.

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- Dr. Edward C. Merrill, Jr. past president of Gallaudet

loml

I wish you every success.

I am curious though, if you don't mind me asking. Why do you feel that auditory memory for language is of no gain/value ?

Thanks.

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- Dr. Edward C. Merrill, Jr. past president of Gallaudet

souggy

Is being able to read at a post-doc level is proof enough for you? I am really tired of the notion that one needs to know phonics in order to read. All that matters is knowing the grammatical rules and concepts.

Are you SERIOUS? Simple. As long they have the basis of the language, they should be able to use the dictionary to look up the definition. I highly doubt ANYONE who doesn't know how to read English would be able to give you a solid answer. Hell, even the ones whose primary language is English would need to use the dictionary anyway.

So why are you nit-picking?

Edit: I also find it ironic that someone who advocate that phonics or cued speech is important to be able to read and write also use Internet slangs and abbreviations.

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Gma

I'm hearing and it was of no use to me. Taught whole word. When my older children where in school they assisted each other when it came to phonics. In fact, when my daughter recently had some in her first grade class I got the dictionary out and looked up the words to see what had the long and short sounds they were seeking. It may help to be able to read phonically, but not required.

Auditory memory is useful and my grandson does use it, but I would like for him to have a language which is ASL and then English which I hope will have the same fluency.

faire_jour

I don't understand. So, I have the word "dog" in a book. I show her the word "dog" and then I fingerspell D-O-G, and then show her the word again. How does that help her understand what that word means? She sees that it is spelled D-O-G, but it still doesn't have meaning.

faire_jour

So, how do I show her a picture of "is" or "was" or "the". These are some of the most common words in the English language. There is no picture for them, and no common sign. How do I teach the meaning of these crucial words?

souggy

The brain fills those in naturally.

If this is about the fact that Deaf people have a tendency to drop prepositions and indicating verbs from their sentence, well...

Newsflash:

A lot of foreign students struggle with that as well. Also, hearing people who speak English naturally as their first language, but emote or gesture a lot, also drop indicating verbs and prepositions from their speech pattern and writing as well. As long the child is reading constantly, he will learn the importance of indicating verbs, definite articles and prepositions. Even in everyday speech, people have a tendency to drop things that are normally included in formal writing and when they speak outloud from the texts they read.

It is the ones that are well-read that have a good understanding of the written language. HEARING people who write like they speak are often not well-read, and it shows when they drop components of the English language in their writing.

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faire_jour

So, let me get this right, the advice is....have her read? SHE CAN'T READ YET.

Step 1?

Here is a excerpt from one of her early reading books:

"I am Diz" "I am Nat" "I like running" "I can jump." "I will run to the store" "I will jump and run." "I can run and jump in the sun."


She has no concept for "am" or "the".

faire_jour

Oh, and no, I don't find it acceptable that she read as well a foriegn reader. If reading is to be her only access to the majority language, it needs to be her strongest skill.

souggy

* sighs *

I was tutoring a Korean once, and she always assumed "am" always follow "I" and "the" always come before nouns. When she read English, it came out as (using your examples):

"I Diz" "I Nat" "I like running," "I jump," "I run to store," "I jump run" and so on. That what was going on in her mind. She just filled in "am" and "the" based on repetitive experience.

Psst, she's now considered as fluent three years later.

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faire_jour

Nope. I don't think it ok to *assume* a child is going to figure it out. "The" doesn't always come before a noun, it is only if the noun is a specific item. "Hand me A book" vs. "hand me THE book"

souggy

Adults really need to stop treating kids like if they are stupid or incapable of understanding things. The way they perceive the world is completely different than how us adults view it. Most of what kids learn is not through rules, but rather exposure.

If she says, reads or writes: "hand me the book" when there is a pile of books, you ask "What book?" with a confused gesture. That will correct her to saying "Hand me a book," so when she start using the proper format, then you show that you understood her clearly.

Hope that provide insight in how my grandmother raised me.

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Gma

faire_jour, Have ever seen a child's book for early readers. Most have pictures and the short sentences on the page represents what takes place in the picture. I wasn't asking about teach a child with no language how to read just issues I'm having with some of the language in conjunction with ASL.

shel90

Show the picture or better yet, show a real live dog if one is around.

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Shel~

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -George Santayana

shel90

I have seen the same with many of our deaf students and even with foreign deaf children.

That's why kids need to read and read and read..

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Shel~

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -George Santayana

shel90

All kids, even hearing kids, have to start at the beginning. And the first thing you have to accomplish is teaching them that the printed word is nothing more than a symbol representing the thing being talked about. Just like the sign is a symbol and the spoken word is a symbol. Several of my students were taught to read using visual cues only through the use of flash cards that had a picture, a print word, and a sign on them. They make the connection of symbols naturally by being given visual cues. They were reading by the time he got to kindergarten. The key was that he had a strong L1 language. Without it, a kid can’t intuit the symbolic function of language, and they can’t transfer it to reading skills.

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Shel~

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -George Santayana

shel90

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Shel~

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -George Santayana