The "Mainstreaming" Experience: "Isolated cases"?

GrendelQ said:
A child's natural language is whatever language he or she is immersed in on a daily basis, what he or she acquires in the home, in school, in the community. If in an ASL-rich environment where that language is dominant, then yes. If in an English language environment, able to access that language, then English is natural. That's what studies and common language show. (source: Google, RIT, Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, etc.)
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Not exactly related to what I was saying but ok.
 
GrendelQ said:
A child's natural language is whatever language he or she is immersed in on a daily basis, what he or she acquires in the home, in school, in the community. If in an ASL-rich environment where that language is dominant, then yes. If in an English language environment, able to access that language, then English is natural. That's what studies and common language show. (source: Google, RIT, Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, etc.)
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I agree but I'd like to add to it...not only immersed in that language but have the ability to fully use it (both receptively and expressively)...as a result, many deaf children do not have a natural language when they start school (being immerged isn't enough). Unfortuantely, ASL isn't in the homes of many deaf children...and for many of my students in my current job, English isn't either (Spanish-speaking families).
 
deafbajagal said:
I agree but I'd like to add to it...not only immersed in that language but have the ability to fully use it (both receptively and expressively)...as a result, many deaf children do not have a natural language when they start school (being immerged isn't enough). Unfortuantely, ASL isn't in the homes of many deaf children...and for many of my students in my current job, English isn't either (Spanish-speaking families).
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Agreed, across the board.
 
She's saying that kids who use English fluently, either as hearing or deaf, will find that English is a natural language to them.

Cognitive mishaps aside, any human being is capable of learning any language when born.
 
deafbajagal said:
Curious--- what discussion?
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Probably similar to a "panel" that I sat on when I was 18. There were oral deaf, deaf kids in mainstream, and deaf kids at deaf school. Just sharing school experiences in front of an auditorium of parents with deaf kids trying to decide what type of placement to put them in. It was emotional at times, but I think productive.
 
GrendelQ said:
A child's natural language is whatever language he or she is immersed in on a daily basis, what he or she acquires in the home, in school, in the community. If in an ASL-rich environment where that language is dominant, then yes. If in an English language environment, able to access that language, then English is natural. That's what studies and common language show. (source: Google, RIT, Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, etc.)

edit: common language ==> common knowledge
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Is the language commonly used 100% accessable to the child? Spoken language is never 100% acessable to the deaf child and it often has to be formally taught to the child while the hearing just pick it up naturally.
 
deafskeptic said:
Is the language commonly used 100% accessable to the child? Spoken language is never 100% acessable to the deaf child and it often has to be formally taught to the child while the hearing just pick it up naturally.
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that is what I have been trying to explain to them. I was surrounded by spoken English 24/7 growing up but it wasnt natural and will never be as ASL is for me.
 
deafskeptic said:
Is the language commonly used 100% accessable to the child? Spoken language is never 100% acessable to the deaf child and it often has to be formally taught to the child while the hearing just pick it up naturally.
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In my daughter's case, she is formally taught ASL, and picks up English naturally. It depends on the child: some are in an environment where they pick up ASL naturally, some find English more accessible. At her school, the teachers report that some groups of kids gravitate towards English, some towards ASL, even with the same teachers, same CIs or HAs. And it usually, but not always correlates towards what language is in use at home, with siblings/parents.
 
shel90 said:
that is what I have been trying to explain to them. I was surrounded by spoken English 24/7 growing up but it wasnt natural and will never be as ASL is for me.
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Right, it wasn't accessible to you. It is to some.
 
What is a person's natural language, exactly? I know what *a* natural language is, and I know what a *primary* language is, but what makes a person's natural language their natural language? I'm right-brained (literally - I've had mapping done) but I don't think of English as an unnatural language.
 
Yep, Shel - being immerged in English isn't enough. The child has to be able to be fluent - both ways (receptively and expressively). Two-way street and at the level where the child feels comfortable driving on it.
 
TheOracle said:
What is a person's natural language, exactly? I know what *a* natural language is, and I know what a *primary* language is, but what makes a person's natural language their natural language? I'm right-brained (literally - I've had mapping done) but I don't think of English as an unnatural language.
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Language that comes to the person naturally without any barriers.
 
I always assumed any L1 was a child's natural language. I've seen opinion pieces that say "sign" and others that say "whatever comes first".

//dunno.
 
deafskeptic said:
Is the language commonly used 100% accessable to the child? Spoken language is never 100% acessable to the deaf child and it often has to be formally taught to the child while the hearing just pick it up naturally.
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It's not a matter of 100%, though. It's whichever language is more accessible. In some cases that's ASL, for those fortunate to grow up in a Deaf environment. In other cases, for a deaf child with access to sound at a very early age in a hearing household, that primary language is often English.
 
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