Ashley Ramos

Aisha Sidibe

English 21003

16 September 2018

Does Sign Language Delay Speech?

          In recent years there has been a controversy against teaching infants sign language before they begin to speak.  Sign language is a form of communication using gestures and movements of your hands to get across a message. This form of communication is mostly used by deaf or nonverbal individuals. Although widely accepted in older demographics, controversy begins to arise when infants are brought into the picture. Mainly because they are incapable of making their own decisions regarding their manner of living. Infants have an innate characteristic that requires them to learn through observation. Sadly, once something is done that goes against societal norms, people begin to favor one viewpoint over another, when in reality either side is negotiable.

          When teaching babies sign language you would start by teaching the children basic needs for certain items. The baby would learn hand gestures for milk or juice and later would learn the gesture for thank you, more, and please. Usually parents would say the word and along with it the sign that coordinates with the word. For example, for the word thank you, the parent would say it out loud, so the infant would hear and then she will put her hand on her chin and pull the hand away from her face this is giving the baby a visual and auditory version of thank you.

          According to Gwyneth Doherty-Sneddon a developmental psychologist, she argued that babies learning sign language was actually very helpful for the children in the future.She linked low self-esteem and lack of sense of self-efficacy to cause problems in behavior. When children are not given the opportunity to communicate with their parents and those around them they tend to keep in their problems. It is crucial for every child whether they are deaf or not to be allowed a form of communication skills. The benefits of teaching babies sign language allows,” larger expressive and receptive spoken language vocabularies, more advanced mental development, a reduction in problematic behaviors like tantrums resulting from frustration and improved parent-child relationship” (Linda Acredolo; Susan Goodwyn page 1). By teaching the children sign language it is increasing the interactions between the parent and baby. It builds a better relationship. The infant becomes very focused on trying to understand what the parent is teaching them. This enhances the child’s ability to focus. Science shows that children with down syndrome allows the child to be able to speak which is an advantage because they are born with developmental and intellectual delays. In studies sign language taught at a young age has helped the infant have an ability to speak sooner than those who do not know how to sign.

           While teaching you baby sign language may be beneficial there are always cons to every viewpoint. An article I have read discussed that teaching infants sign language will only allow them to delay speech. A writer named Aidenofthetower professed that teaching sign needs consistency, time and leads to frustration. Consistency is needed because if you do not keep showing the child the signs they will never learn the actual correct term. The article talks about an idea that even if you teach your infant sign language they will not be bilingual because they do not know the correct terms and grammar for American Sign Language. Secondly the infants need time to learn the material. If the parent is busy there will be no time for the child to consistently learn the words that their parents want to them to communicate with. Lastly it will lead to frustration Aiden states, “But there will be times when he is in situations where people around him don’t understand. This can lead to a lot of confusion and a lot of frustration both for the child and the person he or she is trying to communicate with.” (Aiden page 1)because teaching the infant will cause them to start communicating using the sign language outside of the house. The child will get frustrated because people from the outside will not know what the infant wants unless they knew sign language themselves. The baby will try to sign something to you and you will get a negative feedback and no response to the baby because you would not know what the baby is trying to tell you causing frustration. The infant would delay speaking since they are trying to use the sign language to speak to those around them. Scientist state that teaching the infant does delay the speech because the child is no longer trying to use words to communicate but more the sign language.

           Sign language is very much used today in those who do not hear or cannot communicate verbally. The delay of speech may be caused by the inconsistent teaching but if a parent is consistent then they are giving the infant time which may lead to the controversy of the baby having a larger expressive and receptive spoken language vocabulary. Both sides can be discussed setting pros and cons for teaching you baby sign language. It is not something that is mandatory to do but parents do it to allow communication while some do not.

 

Works Cited

 

[1] Aidenofthetower. “Pros and Cons of Baby Sign Language.” WeHaveKids, WeHaveKids, 8 Nov. 2016, wehavekids.com/parenting/Pros-and-Cons-of-Baby-Sign-Language.

 

[2 ]Doherty-Sneddon, Gwyneth. “The Great Baby Signing Debate.” Freud and Penis Envy – a Failure of Courage? | The Psychologist, 2016, thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-21/edition-4/great-baby-signing-debate.