I don’t know about speed of learning, but there’s some evidence — it seemed to me pretty strong — that kids can learn sign language at an earlier age than they can oral language.
This seems to be due to the “dexterity” which is necessary to enunciate sounds and the fact that it develops to the appropriate level later than hand dexterity.
Well it really depends on the parents. Children (hearing or deaf) of Deaf parents learn to sign 3 months before children of hearing parents learn to speak. But what about deaf children of hearing parents?
90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and only about 30% of parents learn sign, and even if they do learn to sign, they probably wouldn’t learn it fast enough to be able to teach their children the language at the same rate as a haering child. So those children are at a disadvantage for language. Most go to either a school for the Deaf for their early years or get early intervention in mainstreamed schools, but either way deaf children of hearing parents are normally the last to gain language.
The most important thing is to expose your child to language. If you know any sign language, no matter how much, sign all the time. Hearing children do not learn language exculsivly from interactions with adults, but from listening to adults. The same is true for deaf children, if you only expose them to sign language when you are interacting with them, then they won’t gain the language skills until later, but if they see you signing all the time, they will learn faster.
ANy child, hearing or deaf, with a deaf parent will have sign as thier first language. If a parent signs to a child they will inevitably pick it up, just as with talking.
Children (deaf or hearing) learn sign language at the same speed as hearing children learn spoken language, as far as research can tell at the moment. The two differences are:
first, that due to the difficulty of controlling vocal chord muscles compared to arm and hand muscles, babies are able to produce recognisable signs at an earlier age than they can produce recognisable words, and
second, deaf children will only learn sign as fast as hearing children learn spoken languages if they are exposed to sign at the same age (i.e. from birth) and to the same amount (i.e. all the time) as hearing children hear spoken language.
If you are asking this question because you have a deaf child, or know someone who has, I have three recommendations if you don’t know sign yourself.
1. Get a deaf babysitter to come and visit often to sign to the baby. As he/she gets older, contact your local Deaf organisation and get involved there.
2. Learn sign yourselves. It will take you years to become fluent and you won’t learn it fast enough to significantly help your child (that’s why you need the babysitter) but it will be of great help when they’re older.
3. Also learn Cued Speech (link below). This is not sign, it’s a way of making spoken English “visible” to deaf people and it has three good features: it’s very quick to learn (20 hours), it will help your child understand English and it can be used as well as sign, not just instead of.
I don’t know about speed of learning, but there’s some evidence — it seemed to me pretty strong — that kids can learn sign language at an earlier age than they can oral language.
This seems to be due to the “dexterity” which is necessary to enunciate sounds and the fact that it develops to the appropriate level later than hand dexterity.
Well it really depends on the parents. Children (hearing or deaf) of Deaf parents learn to sign 3 months before children of hearing parents learn to speak. But what about deaf children of hearing parents?
90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and only about 30% of parents learn sign, and even if they do learn to sign, they probably wouldn’t learn it fast enough to be able to teach their children the language at the same rate as a haering child. So those children are at a disadvantage for language. Most go to either a school for the Deaf for their early years or get early intervention in mainstreamed schools, but either way deaf children of hearing parents are normally the last to gain language.
The most important thing is to expose your child to language. If you know any sign language, no matter how much, sign all the time. Hearing children do not learn language exculsivly from interactions with adults, but from listening to adults. The same is true for deaf children, if you only expose them to sign language when you are interacting with them, then they won’t gain the language skills until later, but if they see you signing all the time, they will learn faster.
ANy child, hearing or deaf, with a deaf parent will have sign as thier first language. If a parent signs to a child they will inevitably pick it up, just as with talking.
Children (deaf or hearing) learn sign language at the same speed as hearing children learn spoken language, as far as research can tell at the moment. The two differences are:
first, that due to the difficulty of controlling vocal chord muscles compared to arm and hand muscles, babies are able to produce recognisable signs at an earlier age than they can produce recognisable words, and
second, deaf children will only learn sign as fast as hearing children learn spoken languages if they are exposed to sign at the same age (i.e. from birth) and to the same amount (i.e. all the time) as hearing children hear spoken language.
If you are asking this question because you have a deaf child, or know someone who has, I have three recommendations if you don’t know sign yourself.
1. Get a deaf babysitter to come and visit often to sign to the baby. As he/she gets older, contact your local Deaf organisation and get involved there.
2. Learn sign yourselves. It will take you years to become fluent and you won’t learn it fast enough to significantly help your child (that’s why you need the babysitter) but it will be of great help when they’re older.
3. Also learn Cued Speech (link below). This is not sign, it’s a way of making spoken English “visible” to deaf people and it has three good features: it’s very quick to learn (20 hours), it will help your child understand English and it can be used as well as sign, not just instead of.