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dupontsalter

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Hi;

please forgive my ignorance, I am hearing with no one Deaf in my immediate circle.

I want to understand how a Deaf person (with ASL, or another signed language as a first language) learns English (or another written/oral language); for me, spelling is easy because it's somewhat phonetic and therefore I can make the link with what I hear. If ASL is your first language, English is only a series of groups of letter (almost random groups?)? how do you remember spelling (just visually)?

As well, (I know, this is silly, but I'll ask anyway), how do you choose your children's name? for me, it's sound often (how it sounds with last name, what feeling we get - some names 'sound' more serious than others, etc), with spelling (how it looks on paper).

Thank you.

and BTW, of course ASL is a language on its own - grammar, structure and words are different from other languages; just like the Québec sign language is different from ASL!
 
Don't worry don't harm you! we are might to provide you would be happened mistake on English if suppose you learn it asl and English fluent on language!
 
I haven't thought about that. I will ask my mother about it. It would be interesting for me to find it out.

Nowadays, if a hearing person became deaf, he/she is more likely to take the ASL class or maybe a private class. I'm sure that it is so tough for him/her at the being for a couple of months that lead to a depression for a while. It depends how well the teacher taught in the class.

I fairly remembered that I learned how to write like abc and the numbers (0 to 10) for my homework, not at school. Later then, I started to read in English at school. That was my old days which was probably not a good program. I don't know about how much different nowadays.

Believe me, I have met some deaf people, and their name are unusual. It probably makes no difference.

I was told that the best way for anyone who want to study by starting with ASL and then read/write. This is how they succeeded their education.
 
I am deaf and have really good spelling skills. Spelling does not always depend on phonetics. I mean, how many hearing people have lousy spelling skills?? :laugh2: It really irks me when someone doesn't know the difference between its and it's :roll:

There are several factors to learning a written language:

1. Early literacy. The sooner a kid can start read or be exposed to text, the better.

2. Familial support. Kids become good readers if they notice other relatives reading, have good support from their parents, have their parents read to them or alongside with them.

3. Early language development. If a deaf kid can establish language structure through ASL first, he/she is likely to have good English because the language structure is already there to promote English learning.

Just a few factors...
 
support family and lots of reading, sometimes I ask to friends reason lots of important!
I communication to mention! Learn English I reading on many time! I research lots of pretty sound! I am experience process fast to development!
 
makes sense that ASL first, and then reading English - I learned to speak before learning to read too! The other way around would mean a child could not speak until he/she reads.

Anyone who is hearing and had deaf children and taught them ASL? interested how one would start, since it's a 2nd language for parents and they may not have the reaction to sign all the time so the baby can pick up language even if the sign is not directed at him/her (just like many hearing babies learn from language around them, not just directed at them)...

Also think it's fantastic when Deaf parents sign to their hearing children from birth - talk about the advantage of 2 languages (English, say, and ASL) right from birth! My children spoke French and English from the cradle and it's been amazing to see them in France speaking to anyone they want (we live in English Canada).
 
dupontsalter said:
makes sense that ASL first, and then reading English - I learned to speak before learning to read too! The other way around would mean a child could not speak until he/she reads.

Anyone who is hearing and had deaf children and taught them ASL? interested how one would start, since it's a 2nd language for parents and they may not have the reaction to sign all the time so the baby can pick up language even if the sign is not directed at him/her (just like many hearing babies learn from language around them, not just directed at them)...

Also think it's fantastic when Deaf parents sign to their hearing children from birth - talk about the advantage of 2 languages (English, say, and ASL) right from birth! My children spoke French and English from the cradle and it's been amazing to see them in France speaking to anyone they want (we live in English Canada).
Click to expand...

Yes, two "foreign" languages that will work nicely. That makes a big difference.
 
dupontsalter said:
makes sense that ASL first, and then reading English - I learned to speak before learning to read too! The other way around would mean a child could not speak until he/she reads.

Anyone who is hearing and had deaf children and taught them ASL? interested how one would start, since it's a 2nd language for parents and they may not have the reaction to sign all the time so the baby can pick up language even if the sign is not directed at him/her (just like many hearing babies learn from language around them, not just directed at them)...

Also think it's fantastic when Deaf parents sign to their hearing children from birth - talk about the advantage of 2 languages (English, say, and ASL) right from birth! My children spoke French and English from the cradle and it's been amazing to see them in France speaking to anyone they want (we live in English Canada).
Click to expand...

I'm hearing, and my 5YO daughter has learned both ASL from about 13 months (starting a couple of weeks after we adopted her and suspected hearing loss) and spoken English from about 21 months (after getting a CI). She's working on reading/writing English now and beginning level Mandarin.

We expose her to English in the environment and she's acquired age-appropriate fluency primarily through incidental exposure, so English is pretty easy, given her CIs. ASL is the tough one, since we still don't consider ourselves near being fluent yet: we started with Family Sign classes in our home on a weekly basis, and then for the past 4 years she has attended an ASL-based school -- we drove her for the first 2.5 years and now she commutes by school van about 3.5 - 4 hours daily to the school where she is immersed in ASL. Without this opportunity, I don't think we could have taught her sufficient ASL in isolation or provided a fluent ASL environment as we can with English. We love that we've been able to make this happen, but I feel for parents who don't have such a great school relatively close by, with this kind of opportunity for immersion available from such a young age.

We chose to start with a language we could immerse her in immediately, with fluent language models right from the start: ASL. And followed with English only after she had full access to sound via a CI and it was something she could acquire naturally. If we lived elsewhere, and the school she attends was not available, her primary language would have been very different, more likely English.
 
I enjoyed your story about your daughter learning ASL first, and English only after- and still using ASL fully after the CI. I have a co-worker who's son is deaf; they chose a CI which he received at 18 months and the little boy is fluent in English. He uses a special system in school, where the teacher wears a microphone (of sort) that is linked directly to his CI. When he speaks, his intonnation is as 'natural' as mine and the only way you can tell he's deaf is that he looks around to locate sound (only one CI). However, I do worry that he knows nothing of ASL or the Deaf culture. He IS deaf, and that is emphasized when he takes off is CI (well, the external part) for swimming or at night.

I'm very well aware of the controversy of CI, especially when the decision is made by hearing parents for a deaf child, but this happens all over the world. However, the child IS well-adjusted and happy. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I'd love to 'talk' to deaf adults who received a CI very young (especially the ones who did not Sign as children). Does it feel like not belonging in either the hearing nor the Deaf world or does it feel like wearing thick glasses to see and feeling fine otherwise or is it something else entirely (I'm guessing here, although it is an educated guess)?

BTW, I have a PhD in neurophysiology and have done medical research for years - I,m VERY interested in the ethics (case by case more than population-wide) of that decision. I'm not sure what I would do if it were one of my children. I love the idea of ASL + CI and schooling in ASL. Didn't even think it was an option!

Anne in Canada
 
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