The failure to develop an effective and sophisticated language at an early age has negative consequences for all aspects of psychological development, and thus for children's mental health (Hindley & Parkes, 1999). There is evidence that deaf children of deaf parents who use sign language in their communication have significantly better linguistic, social, and academic skills than their deaf peers with hearing parents. Deaf children of hearing parents who have contacts with deaf people and share the language seem to have a similar advantage. Thus, the deaf children who are the most competent in their social, cognitive, and linguistic development are those who have participated in active linguistic interaction with their parents from an early age. This applies both to deaf parents and to hearing parents who have learned sign language, which permits them to interact meaningfully with their children. The child not only learns facts through this interaction, but also gains behavioral and cognitive strategies, an understanding of self and others, and a feeling of being part of society.
The present study shows that it is important for hearing parents to start communicating early with their deaf child in sign language. The early start is crucial, even though hearing parents are naturally far from fluent in sign language at the time. A simplified and partly nongrammatical sign language is used by deaf mothers in their communication with the child during the first 2 years. In order not to confuse the child, they tend to simply use hand signs with respect to Wh- questions, keeping a neutral face, while using facial expressions only when expressing affection. This permits the child to read only "one visual channel at a time." When the child reaches the age of 2 years, the mother, without being conscious of the change, shifts her strategy and starts using the adult language withi "two simultaneously active visual channels," where the hand signs are complemented with grammatically correct facial expressions (Reilly & Bellugi, 1996).
For a deaf child with hearing parents, it is vital that parents start signing with their child to initiate communication, though the signing may first be simple and incomplete. This provides the opportunity for the child to start developing language. Thus, it is essential to communicate with the child by sign language, even though the parents may eventually opt for cochlear implantation.
There is nothing to indicate that the combination of signs and speech mitigates the development of concepts. One study indicates that the child seems to be able to code-switch in relation to the actual context and his or her partner (Preisler & Ahlstrom,1997). There are also no data to show that sign language as a first language will inhibit spoken language. Deaf children who learn sign language as a first language usually have better skills in reading and writing than deaf children who have only been exposed to spoken language (Marschark, 1993).
Magnuson, M. (2000). Infants with congenital deafness: on the importance of early sign language acquisition. American Annals of the Deaf. 145-1. 6-14.
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