The Importance of Signed Language

We say time and time again how critical it is for ALL to learn through a multi-modal, multi-sensory approach.

But then when it comes to our deaf kids?
Kids who are already missing so much naturally occurring incidental language?

Suddenly the approach is “speech, speech and more speech” 🤷🏻‍♀️

Just one sense.
Just one pathway.
Just one language modality.

And before I go any further…
Yes, spoken language has visual elements - the face, the lips, the body cues. I get it.

But they alone do not = language.
They are simply visual cues and tools that a deaf / hard of hearing child must connect to as a matter of survival in the absence of a full visual language.

They are pieces of a larger jigsaw puzzle that our deaf and hard of hearing children are forced to solve every single day, because…

… it’s easier to put the responsibility on them - than change the way we do things.
… It’s easier to blame deafness for language deprivation than our refusal to provide accessible environments.
… It’s easier to believe that devices will “fix” our kids than acknowledge their limitations and the real (and varied) outcomes of device use.

Signed languages fill in the missing pieces of that puzzle, they safeguard our kids’ futures and they reduce the accumulative and debilitating exhaustion that can come from having to acquire their world through an artificial language pathway.

 

Signed languages = full access, full connection, full identity ❤️🙌🏼

We’ve got to stop pretending that one modality for language acquisition is “enough.”

Our deaf and hard of hearing kids deserve better x