Teaching Signing to Toddlers Before They Can Speak May Be Very Harmful

[JuJuBean]

True, its the parents who should make the decision, but a children's speech therapist who interacts with children that have speech disorders or Deaf children should be educated in their field. Im glade my speech therapist is up to date with the research and encouraged ASL. But the other one who thought of it as a crutch is basing their opinions on outdated information which can be harmful, if the Deaf parent is told by a speech therapist that they shouldnt use sign with their child because it can cause them to have speech difficulties...a professional saying that..it can sway the parent's opinion on whether to use ASL with their child, and a Deaf parent whos being told not to use ASL with their kid, thats going to cause problems communicating together on the basis of something that isnt even accurate. My daughters speech therapist's suggestion to learn sign helped us communicate better, and all the children that other speech therapist is seeing are being turned away from ASL by comments like that.

 

[deafdyke]

True, its the parents who should make the decision, but a children's speech therapist who interacts with children that have speech disorders or Deaf children should be educated in their field. Im glade my speech therapist is up to date with the research and encouraged ASL. But the other one who thought of it as a crutch is basing their opinions on outdated information which can be harmful, if the Deaf parent is told by a speech therapist that they shouldnt use sign with their child because it can cause them to have speech difficulties...a professional saying that..it can sway the parent's opinion on whether to use ASL with their child, and a Deaf parent whos being told not to use ASL with their kid, thats going to cause problems communicating together on the basis of something that isnt even accurate. My daughters speech therapist's suggestion to learn sign helped us communicate better, and all the children that other speech therapist is seeing are being turned away from ASL by comments like that.

Idealisticly yes......but biased speech therapists CAN and do project their biases onto hearing parents. Speech therapists need to get their thinking out of the box, and more pursue ALL types of tools and options!

 

[BecLak]

Hearing people in general are wired in such a way that they cannot fathom not having sound. Its best for very young deaf to be surrounded by Deaf community where there isnt a bias for the use of sound, whether is hearing technology or speech.

Sent from my SM-T705 using AllDeaf App mobile app

 

[dogmom]

like<above>

 

[caz12]

never use Germany as any example where deaf is concerned good or bad as lots of hang ups left over from ww11

 

[AlleyCat]

:bsflag:

As if you need to learn 1 language before you learn another. My children learn Norwegian and Dutch simultaniously. Sure, sign is diffferent but there is no problem learning that together with another language. (And that's my unprofessional opinion based on experience.)

We started of with sign language with our youngest daughter. She was exposed to it daily on her kindergarten for deaf and HOH children.

I wonder if the author(s) have ever seen a child learning to communicate with sign. It's beautifull.

Where's that :bsflag: when you need it?

Your daughter does not use sign language. You've repeatedly admitted that in recent years. I realize you're not on the forum much these days, but just wanted to throw that in for new users reading this thread.

 

[Frisky Feline]

Where's that :bsflag: when you need it?

Your daughter does not use sign language. You've repeatedly admitted that in recent years. I realize you're not on the forum much these days, but just wanted to throw that in for new users reading this thread.

I do remember that one.

 

[AlleyCat]

Yes, and here's just one of Cloggy's posts that directly contradicts what he said above in post #8 with

As if you need to learn 1 language before you learn another. My children learn Norwegian and Dutch simultaniously. Sure, sign is diffferent but there is no problem learning that together with another language. (And that's my unprofessional opinion based on experience.)

ASL is a wonderful way to start communication with your child, and that time is never wasted if you would decide to stop with it at a later stage.

We used sign language with our child and found it very useful in the transition zone from deafness to hearing when she got her CI.

We have decided not to pursue sign language when it became clear that Lotte preferred speech. Living in Norway, being a Dutch family, there were already two languages she has to learn. We felt that a third language (that neither of us - her parents "speak" fluently) would delay learning the other two.

In fact, we can see that having two languages slows down development in both. Particularly when we have been in Holland, where she uses just one language, we see how her vocabulary grows faster, as does her cognitive capabilities.

Yeah, good try. I hope no new parent follows this advice.