Visual Language: Now or Later ??

Deaf/Hearing and Sign/speech

  • I am hearing and can sign fluently

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ... and cannot sign

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ... and cannot sign

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ... and can use speech

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ... and cannot use speech

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    25

Cloggy

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When the child is deaf, learning to speak is very difficult.. as many deaf people here have explained from their own experiences. The first thing that a parent and child need to establish is communication. A visual language is very important to establish communication.
Signlanguage e.g. is a beautiful language to use. Deaf or hearing..

For those children that are born deaf, a visual language like sign-language or cued speech, is definitely the way to go. However, when the child starts to hear; listning & speaking will follow.
For the children implanted as early as they do nowadays, speech becomes a natural (first) way of communication. If the parents can manage to let the child grow up with speech and sign, thats wonderful..

Research has shown that the first couple of years in a child's life are the most important for establishing speech.. When parents have made the decision to let the child hear, this period is when you want the child to be exposed as much as possible to speech...
The visual language is great to use in the transit period between deafness and hearing, but with the parents not being able to be a rolemodel for the child, sign will get to the background as speech improves...
Especially when one has in mind that the visual language can be mastered later in life..

But here's the question.....
How many adults here have learned to speak fluently later in life... and how many have learned to sign fluently later in life?
I think the latter are in the vast majority..
 
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I was born profoundly deaf. ASL was my first language. In the first grade, my parents decided to use the AV- T approach, thus I began aural rehabilitation (aids and auditory trainer) and intensive speech training. I learned to speak at age 10 and developed fluently at around 12 or 13.

I'm now 32 years old, and I don't use the speech and listening skills I had worked so hard to gain. I choose to use ASL because it is natural for me.
 
Did / Do you use HA's in the tiime before / during AVT..?
Must have been a lot of hard work either way..
 
I'm learning it now but wishing I learned it as a kid. Many deaf oral adults learning ASL feel the same way.
 
I'm learning it now but wishing I learned it as a kid. Many deaf oral adults learning ASL feel the same way.
That would be the easiest.. But is it hard for you to learn? People like GrendelQ, Jillio and many others have had no problems learning it when they wanted to - for their child....
Obviously the best way to learn it is being immersed in it...
btw... make a vote above...
 
That would be the easiest.. But is it hard for you to learn? People like GrendelQ, Jillio and many others have had no problems learning it when they wanted to - for their child....
Obviously the best way to learn it is being immersed in it...

Not hard for me to learn. You would have no problems learning sign for your child - if you want to.

You asked how many learned to speak fluently or sign later later in life. There's no reason a child can't learn both sign and speech at the same time, it doesn't have to be an either/or.
 
Your poll doesn't include deaf people learning sign later in life which is a very common occurence. Most oral deaf adults I've met in my town all learned sign by the time they graduated high school. Some of them don't speak anymore.
 
That would be the easiest.. But is it hard for you to learn? People like GrendelQ, Jillio and many others have had no problems learning it when they wanted to - for their child....
Obviously the best way to learn it is being immersed in it...
btw... make a vote above...

:shock: you haven't seen me sign, Cloggy! I am in no way fluent, in fact, next week I'm putting myself through "remedial training" to clean up my sloppy basic signing and get moving past the wall I've hit.
 
Your poll doesn't include deaf people learning sign later in life which is a very common occurence. Most oral deaf adults I've met in my town all learned sign by the time they graduated high school. Some of them don't speak anymore.
I had a feeling I had forgotten a combination... sorry about that.
Will see if I can fix it, but I think you cannot edit polls... We'll see
 
:shock: you haven't seen me sign, Cloggy! I am in no way fluent, in fact, next week I'm putting myself through "remedial training" to clean up my sloppy basic signing and get moving past the wall I've hit.
My bad...
I thought you was... We should communicate more.. LOL..
CSign must be fluent... right?
 
Not hard for me to learn. You would have no problems learning sign for your child - if you want to.
I wanted to, I did, I can sign. Not signlanguage though...
You asked how many learned to speak fluently or sign later later in life. There's no reason a child can't learn both sign and speech at the same time, it doesn't have to be an either/or.
Absolutely..

But you have to realise that parents do no NOT sign because they do not want to learn it, but because they want to focus on hearing..
Learning multiple languages at the same time is not a problem for a child, but it can slow the process down.
Like with Lotte, we decided that we wouild use Dutch AND Norwegian for her. Her development would have gone much faster when we had only Norwegian (since we live here) but then, she needs to communicate with the grandparents in Holland as well..
Had we continued with signlanguage, this would have had an impact on her speech-development plus... we are in no way a rolemodel to teach her signlanguage... meaning even more time from her already busy schedule driving to signlanguage courses...
In the future she will learn it.. She shows interest when she see it...
 
I wanted to, I did, I can sign. Not signlanguage though...
Absolutely..

But you have to realise that parents do no NOT sign because they do not want to learn it, but because they want to focus on hearing..
Learning multiple languages at the same time is not a problem for a child, but it can slow the process down.
Like with Lotte, we decided that we wouild use Dutch AND Norwegian for her. Her development would have gone much faster when we had only Norwegian (since we live here) but then, she needs to communicate with the grandparents in Holland as well..
Had we continued with signlanguage, this would have had an impact on her speech-development plus... we are in no way a rolemodel to teach her signlanguage... meaning even more time from her already busy schedule driving to signlanguage courses...
In the future she will learn it.. She shows interest when she see it...

Kids have a more plastic ability to pick up languages. Maybe instead of sending her to sign class, you can send her to a summer camp where she would be fully immersed and have fun playing and learning at the same time.

I hope you have a definite date in mind for her to learn sign - not just "later". When there's a specific goal you wish to reach by a certain date, it's more likely to happen than just "later".
 
I am HoH that grew up in an oral enviroment. I was enrolled in a Deaf school and learned to sign in 1989/9th grade.

I can speak and sign.

Nothing on the polls about speaking and signing.
 
Too bad, I can't vote because there is no option for "I have been born deaf .. and can't speak fluently". =/

But, I think you should change your poll to have a multiple-choice poll. Just in my opinion.
 
These are the choices ??

I have been born deaf .. and can speak fluently.
... and can use speech
... and cannot use speech
I am hearing and can sign fluently
... and can sign OK
... and cannot sign
I became deaf later in life and can sign fluently
... and can sign OK
... and cannot sign
I became deaf later in life and can speak fluently
... and can use speech
... and cannot use speech

Where is the one that says "I have been born deaf .. and can sign fluently." Which is MANY (the majority of regular posters) of us on this board !
 
These are the choices ??

I have been born deaf .. and can speak fluently.
... and can use speech
... and cannot use speech
I am hearing and can sign fluently
... and can sign OK
... and cannot sign
I became deaf later in life and can sign fluently
... and can sign OK
... and cannot sign
I became deaf later in life and can speak fluently
... and can use speech
... and cannot use speech

Where is the one that says "I have been born deaf .. and can sign fluently." Which is MANY (the majority of regular posters) of us on this board !

Or I'm oral deaf and learning sign later in life.

It's quite revealing what he forgot to include in the poll.
 
This poll wasn't very well constructed since it doesn't account for those who both speak and sign.

I did take a class in ASL when I was a teen, but I forgot most of it since I rarely used it anyway. Now (10 years later) I have more deaf friends, I use it more often but still forgetting a lot of signs. You have to be constantly hanging out with deaf people to become fluent.

For children learning sign, I don't think it's as simple as teaching them ASL. Seems like you have to find deaf kids as well as deaf adults who are fluent in it and hang out with them often.

Relatively bigger cities seem to be the key. Seems like most deaf people who have trouble learning sign (later in life) are the ones who are having a difficult time finding a deaf community/class in their smallish cities/town.
 
When the child is deaf, learning to speak is very difficult.. as many deaf people here have explained from their own experiences. The first thing that a parent and child need to establish is communication. A visual language is very important to establish communication.
Signlanguage e.g. is a beautiful language to use. Deaf or hearing..

For those children that are born deaf, a visual language like sign-language or cued speech, is definitely the way to go. However, when the child starts to hear; listning & speaking will follow.
For the children implanted as early as they do nowadays, speech becomes a natural (first) way of communication. If the parents can manage to let the child grow up with speech and sign, thats wonderful..

Research has shown that the first couple of years in a child's life are the most important for establishing speech.. When parents have made the decision to let the child hear, this period is when you want the child to be exposed as much as possible to speech...
The visual language is great to use in the transit period between deafness and hearing, but with the parents not being able to be a rolemodel for the child, sign will get to the background as speech improves...
Especially when one has in mind that the visual language can be mastered later in life..

But here's the question.....
How many adults here have learned to speak fluently later in life... and how many have learned to sign fluently later in life?
I think the latter are in the vast majority..

Why do you think that?
 
These are the choices ??

I have been born deaf .. and can speak fluently.
... and can use speech
... and cannot use speech
I am hearing and can sign fluently
... and can sign OK
... and cannot sign
I became deaf later in life and can sign fluently
... and can sign OK
... and cannot sign
I became deaf later in life and can speak fluently
... and can use speech
... and cannot use speech

Where is the one that says "I have been born deaf .. and can sign fluently." Which is MANY (the majority of regular posters) of us on this board !

Funny, aint it?
 
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