Visual Language: Now or Later ??

[Frisky Feline]

i can't vote.

 

[posts from hell]

i can't vote.

lol

 

[Sunshine]

Born deaf, can't use speech, but sign fluently so not need speech

 

[KarissaMann05]

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.

Since there is no option in this poll, so I would vote two another options:

• "I have been born deaf .. and can sign fluently."

• "... and can't use speech."

Two years ago, March '10, I did take a speech class and learned only some, but it is so expensive and it is kinda of difficult to practice because of it was only once a week... I stopped. I don't mind to take a class again someday. It is never too late to learn, anyway.

 

[dotcomkari]

I was raised completly oral. And I now resent my parents for not allowing me to learn sign langauge earlier in life. I wish I had the chance to learn both.
I am learning ASL now later in life.

If I had a magical time machine though I would go back and give myself the chance to do both oral and sign as a child.

 

[KristinaB]

I can't vote either.

 

[overthepond]

I was born deaf in the late 70's, the doctors thought my mum was being over anxious first time mum, she KNEW i was deaf from day one as when i was born, there was a fire alarm going off, I was the only baby who slept through it! It took my parents 2 years to convince the doctors that i was deaf. During those years my mum had researched, she learnt to sign, looked for deaf mentors, she found one, a lovely deaf lady who could sign and speak well, she had a daughter of same age as I, she is also deaf. We all became firm friends, still are today.
When I was finally diagnosed deaf, i was fitted with Hearing aids (body worn types) I found my voice and I began to speak. The daughter and I began to attend the same school..... mainstream, with unit for the deaf, we never really go in the unit unless our HA needs looking at as we were academically on par with the hearing peers so we stayed in the class. There were no pull outs for speech either, I had private speech therapy at home once a week to catch up. I was signing less as i speak more. The daughter was same, her mum was brought up as oral but did sign when we were around.
We passed the scholarship to attend private oral school, it's probably the best move in my opinion, I probably would do well at hearing school but my family felt that being in class of 30 is too much with too much back ground noise, also the school I was going to refuse to let me take french and music as I would require a support for those classes, they wanted me to attend extra english classes instead, whereas the grammar school provided music and french with specialist teacher for the deaf (they are TOD but also specialises in those subjects) and I did well in the exams. I play on the paino, can speak french, okayish, it's not perfect but I enjoyed it.
When I left the school to go on all hearing college it was like a culture shock as I had spent many years in safe haven with group of deaf friends. Nothing had prepared me for the hearing world but I took it like a duck into water and spent 4 happy years at college. I havent really signed since i was about 5/6 years old, i was quite happy being in the hearing environment but there was quite alot of communication barriers where i wish i had some deaf friends living close by. It was not easy but I got on with my life. When I got the CI 3 years ago, I made few deaf friends through the centre and they were local, I signed more in those years too but as I spent 99% of my time in the hearing environment, i am glad i could speak. It wasn't my parents choice, it was my choice to speak. Like I chose to sign again later, therefore i am glad that my parents gave me that language to start me off.

Sorry for this long post.

 

[Cloggy]

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.

Summercamp vs Holiday in Holland with her Dutch family and neighbors... Learning sign or learning more speech..
Sorry... Speech wins

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".

Very true, and Lotte will determine that date...

 

[DeafCaroline]

She doesn't have to go for the whole summer, just one week. Just one. 5 days.

 

[Cloggy]

This poll wasn't very well constructed since it doesn't account for those who both speak and sign. .....

I agree... sorry about that..
Wish I could change the poll...
Does anyone know how to do that?

 

[Jiro]

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.

you'll get there!

Does your daughter sign proficiently? as in better than you?

 

[CSign]

My bad...
I thought you was... We should communicate more.. LOL..
CSign must be fluent... right?

I am proficient/fluent in SEE, and more "intermediate" with ASL. It's a work in progress, but I'm getting there.

 

[Jiro]

I am proficient/fluent in SEE, and more "intermediate" with ASL. It's a work in progress, but I'm getting there.

how's the transition from SEE to ASL?

 

[CSign]

how's the transition from SEE to ASL?

The answer to your question lies within the quote you pulled

 

[Jiro]

The answer to your question lies within the quote you pulled

that's not what I'm asking for. I'm asking for more detail. Did you find ASL a lot simpler and easier to communicate with than SEE?

 

[GrendelQ]

you'll get there!

Does your daughter sign proficiently? as in better than you?

We are at the point of diverging: i have more vocab, but she's more fluent, she's at age-level proficiency. I'm not! I'm taking a workshop every Friday starting next week to ramp up. I'm on a board with Deaf requiring much more advanced conversational and technical vocabulary skills than have. 5 y o ASL won't cut it.

 

[Jiro]

We are at the point of diverging: i have more vocab, but she's more fluent, she's at age-level proficiency. I'm not! I'm taking a workshop every Friday starting next week to ramp up. I'm on a board with Deaf requiring much more advanced conversational and technical vocabulary skills than have. 5 y o ASL won't cut it.

I wish other parents follow same path. Vocab is not important especially for her age just like hearing children. It's the mode of communication that's more important and I can see that both of you can communicate each others' thoughts & intentions effectively and fluently.

To treat one as a hearing person is a very very dangerous path to go down to and the result is already apparent. The studies means nothing when you are already seeing many of us here that disputed the findings otherwise.

 

[posts from hell]

I wish other parents follow same path. Vocab is not important especially for her age just like hearing children. It's the mode of communication that's more important and I can see that both of you can communicate each others' thoughts & intentions effectively and fluently.

To treat one as a hearing person is a very very dangerous path to go down to and the result is already apparent. The studies means nothing when you are already seeing many of us here that disputed the findings otherwise.

I agree with you 110%

 

[shel90]

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...

ASL does not interfere with a child's ability to use speech. It is an age old myth.

 

[shel90]

I agree with you 110%

Ditto from a former oral-only deaf person who learned ASL at 25 years old and became fluent at 28 years old and uses ASL 99% of the time at the age of 39.