Growth Of Language - Amrit Virk

Growth of Language

Acquiring a first language is essential

Learning a second language

Birth of a word (seed)

Bilingulism rules! - Amrit Virk

Many Deaf/HH children are born into a hearing family who may initially panic and think, "How can I communicate with my child?" Doctors may wait to mention ASL and discuss what medical options there are to fix the child's hearing. Don't panic, though, because your child can learn both spoken language and sign language. Bilingual language spoken and sign are taught to many deaf/hh children. Writing and reading in English while learning ASL. I hope this infographic helps you learn the benefits of learning both!

Spoken and sign language why learn just one when you can learn both!

Theory of mind

learning language in school

Reference

Adi-Japha, E., Berberich-Artzi, J., & Libnawi, A. (2010). Cognitive flexibility in drawings of bilingual children. Child Development, 81(5), 1356–1366. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01477.x Carlson, S. M., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2008). Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children. Developmental Science, 11(2), 282–298. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00675.x Gulati , S. (2014, April 2). Language deprivation syndrome lecture. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yy_K6VtHJw Humphries, T., Kushalnagar, P., Mathur, G., Napoli, D. J., Padden, C., Rathmann, C., & Smith, S. R. (2012). Language acquisition for deaf children: Reducing the harms of zero tolerance to the use of alternative approaches. Harm Reduction Journal, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7517-9-16 Piper, T. (2007). Language and learning: The home and school years. UpperSaddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice-Hall. 4th EditionPublic Broadcasting Service. (Feb. 2019). PBS NewsHour. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/video/brief-but-spectacular-1548982798/

Why learn one language when you can learn two?

"If the deaf child is truly finding the spoken language accessible, there is no reason to expect that child to abandon acquiring the oral language simply because they are also acquiring a sign language." (Humphries, et al, 2012)It is important to remember that just because your child learns a sign language does not mean they cannot learn another language especially spoken language. Your child may not want to speak the language verbally but they could read and write in that spoken language.

Bilingual children have been shown to have an advantage of executive function, their memory, inhibition of attention to distracting responses. (Carlson Meltzoff, 2008) It may feel scary about being unsure what to do for your child. But I hope this infograph reminds you that you don't need to pick one way for your child learning so soon. Your child has the ability to learn both spoken and sign language. Exploring both options would be good for your child and allow your child to communicate with you on how they feel about learning both.

Bilingual learning is important

- Deaf children majority of the time are born into hearing families. The families most likely don't understand any ASL. The families may believe their child needs to learn speech to communicate with them but what they don't know is that deaf and Heard of hearing children can learn both English and ASL. Deaf/HH children can be bilingual. Just because a child can not hear does not mean they have an inability to learn any spoken languages. - Bilingulism is the ability to function in more than one single language. (Piper, 2007)

Cognitive flexibility

A quote that's powerful that I think is important is "bilingualism leads to a developmental advantage in nonlinguistic tasks that necessitate cognitive flexibility " (Adi-Japha et al (2010)Bilingual children have an advantage on cognitive flexibility because they often manage and control two different languages. This has developed bilingual children to be better at task switching and inhibitory control. Deaf and Hard of Hearing children could benefit from learning more than one language because of these skills that they can develop.

A quote about language that stays with me that shares the importance of language is "All children need and deserve an accessible language. This is a biological need." (Humphries, et al (2012)"Dr. Gulati says, “Hearing is not required for living, but language is required for living”. (Gulati, 2014) Language is important for individuals to grow as an individual and express oneself. Language allows us to understand that others have different beliefs, values and perspectives than our own. Without language our mental state would be affected negatively. Deaf and Hard of hearing children can use ASL to express themselves and use english for reading and writing skills because ASL does not have a writing system. Deaf and Hard of hearing individuals don't need to hear to live but they do need a language to survive. Everyone should be allowed to have accesibility to language.

The art of expression with language (Theory of mind)

The first language is a subconscious process because babies are exposed to the language but are not aware of the grammar rules. A child learns their first language by parents, families, and caregivers that are constantly around the child. Learning a second language is more conscious learning with more structure on the grammar rules. Learning a second language mostly occurs in a educational setting or at home. A deaf and hard of hearing child will likely develop their first and second language in an educational setting. It is important that the child develop their first language the first 5 years of their life.

The difference between the development of first and second language

Language has a critical period. It is important for childrens to learn a language before the age of 5 years old. After the critical period of not learning a language a child could develop a language disorder such as language deperivation. This has shown to change the structure of one's brain which disrupts the brain to develop stronger. Many Deaf and HH children have experienced language disorders and delays because of being exposed to oral language and not exposed to sign language. Melissa Malzkuhn is a proud deaf women born into a deaf family who adopted her deaf son who did not know any language and experienced language deperivation. She taught her son ASL and English through storytelling. Her son became bilingual to both languages later in life but there was challenges learning your first language after 5 years old. (PBS newshour, 2019)

Developing a language is brain food