"But if you teach the baby how to sign, won’t it affect the learning of speech?" must rank as one of the most illogical leap of conclusions around.
P/S: Just search for "baby sign" in YouTube for more such videos. There are lots! The most common signs babies learn (if the parents teach them) seem to be ‘milk’, ‘more’, ‘eat. Note this is especially useful for the pre-speech phase of infanthood - when the baby wails, is s/he wet or ill or just hungry?
Another good read from Mark Drolsbaugh. (In fact, all his articles deserve a once-over.)
I know that if ever I have a baby of my own, hearing or deaf, I will use sign to him or her.
Even though the benefits of baby sign language have been clearly established, it seems that there’s a totally different reaction when a baby is diagnosed with a hearing loss.
Sign language often gets bumped aside in favor of a more pathological approach. Roll out the audiologists, hearing aids, speech therapists, and cochlear implants. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, mind you. But it’s as if sign language itself quickly becomes an afterthought.
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Mark did two articles on this. Here’s the other.
Actually, research on this fascinating topic has been going on since the 1980’s. But for whatever reason, it seems that only recently has it exploded in popularity (Robert DeNiro’s shenanigans with his signing grandson in Meet the Fockers probably had something to do with it).
Regardless, I’m here to share with you a very important message about baby sign language:
It works.
I don’t work for any of the booming baby sign language businesses that are out there. Rather, I kind of have my own little family business: my wife and I are deaf, and naturally we sign with our three kids. Likewise, having personally witnessed numerous CODAs (Children of Deaf Adults) signing full phrases at ridiculously early ages–well before theywere able to speak their first words–we’ve known all along that sign language gives babies a remarkable head start on language acquisition. So if you’re looking into baby sign language for your child, congratulations! I can promise you that you’ve made an excellent decision.
From a guy called Ed, this is a brief look at how changing times and technology have implaced on the traditional Deaf community. It links to another (good) FAQ-styled article on deafness too.
It appears that due to improved medication, loud music or cannons (war), and other related causes, that we are now seeing more and more persons with hearing loss who can speak well, and have residual hearing coming out with large numbers.
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