Deaf children benefit from learning sign language, says research

By: Carola Finch source: http://www.examiner.com/article/deaf-children-benefit-from-learning-sign-language-says-research Recent research into the language acquisition of deaf children has challenged some long-held beliefs by some medical personnel, educators, and professionals providing speech/language and other services for deaf people. When parents first hear that their child has hearing loss, a doctor or audiologist may say, ”If you allow your child to sign, they won’t learn to speak” or “Teaching your child to sign and speak English the same time will confuse the child.” What the experts say Leading researchers and educators of the deaf such as Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), a college at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York State say that there is no evidence for these claims and that sign language can actually enhance a deaf child’s acquisition of spoken language. Recent research results Researchers at La Trobe University in Australia studied deaf adults who learned to sign either at birth, between the ages of 2 to 8, or as a second language later in life. Their findings reported that children who learned sign at birth were more accurate in British Sign Language (BSL) and more successful in learning language than children who were exposed to sign later on. “The advantages of early sign language exposure remain clear even with rapid advances in hearing aids and cochlear implants,” researcher Dr Adam Schembri, Director of the National Institute for Deaf Studies and Sign Language at La Trobe University said in a press release. “Bilingual education is the best way of ensuring that deaf children have early exposure to both a signed language and a spoken/written language, which will provide the deaf child with the best chance for successful language acquisition, in either or both languages, Says Schembri. “We know that bilingualism comes with a range of cognitive benefits, so we would advocate early bilingualism in both signed and spoken language for all deaf children.”