ASL Rose Newsletter
Vol. 3 No. 1
February 2009

"Ending the Heartbreaks of Deaf Children
by Ending the Theories of What Professionals Say about Deaf Children"

Language acquisition is so critical during the first three years of human life.  Unlike primates, every human being is endowed with acquiring a language.  Deaf children are human beings too and should have no problem acquiring a language.  Hearing children acquire language naturally through spoken communication whereas Deaf children acquire language naturally through signed communication.  It sounds rather simple and logical.  In reality, too many Deaf children are strongly discouraged from acquiring a signed language during their formative years.  Denying Deaf children to have access to a signed language for their first language development during the critical period is an illogical move and is considered a crime to humanity.

There is an abundance of scientific evidence that the earlier the Deaf child learns a signed language as a first language, the more access he will have to pick up information about the world around him. That child captures, in a timely manner, a window of opportunity for optimal language learning.  For those who are strictly forbidden to use a signed language during the early part of their lives, most of them will be doomed to meager existence as adults along with poorly developed cognition that stay with them for the rest of their lives.  Why do many professionals discourage a signed language for young Deaf children?

Simply, those professionals who believe they know what is best for Deaf children are basically clueless, ignorant, biased, and brainwashed about the Deaf world. Many people believe their "god-like" advice when they seek professional services from them about how to deal with Deaf children.  Throughout the child-rearing years at home and school, most Deaf children are misguided, eventually miseducated, and finally banished to second-class citizens when they emerge into the world as Deaf adults.

ASL Rose feels deep pain over continued mistreatment of young Deaf children.  Many of them have heartbreaks, yet the professionals continue such practices because they simply are blinded to Deaf children's pains.   ASL Rose wishes the reader to take notice of ten key points that promise to end the heartbreaks of Deaf children.   The end of believing what "know-nothing" professionals say is the very first move if we want to put a stop to Deaf children's heartbreaks.

	Do not believe that early identification of a Deaf newborn automatically yields positive results.
	Do not believe what doctors/pediatricians say about how to best rear a Deaf child.
	Do not believe that the cure of deafness is cochlear implants in the Deaf child.
	Do not believe that early intensive speech training for the Deaf child will automatically lead to fruition in his speech.
	Do not believe the equivalence of speech and language as a necessary intervention on the Deaf child.
	Do not believe the benefits of Auditory Verbal Therapy on the Deaf child's residual hearing.
	Do not believe that the Deaf child's increasing ability to hear will result in better educational achievement.
	Do not believe that sign systems (i.e. Signing Exact English) will enhance the Deaf child's mastery in English.
	Do not believe that mainstreaming must be the first move for the Deaf child as educational placement.
	Do not believe that the Deaf child's signed language is responsible for educational failure.

The pied-piper act must be stopped.  Too many Deaf children are pushed into the river and, needless to say, drowned intellectually, emotionally, and socially.  Too many stories applauding the "success" of cochlear implants, as one example being mentioned in the ten points, become increasingly mythical because they tell of Deaf children who, after being implanted, can speak and hear as if they had never been deaf.  The plain truth is that those cochlear-implanted children won't become hearing at all. Many Deaf people know for a fact that it doesn't require fanciful ideas in terms of offering solutions that work perfectly fine every time for every young Deaf child.  Their early exposure to a signed language is the simplest answer and, as always, the best solution.

Since the inception of ASL Rose, the company is dedicated to demythologizing a number of misconceptions about signed languages.  The DVD/book companion of "Have You Ever Seen...?  An ASL Handshape DVD/Book" is an illustrious example of their effort to help the viewer/reader of all ages gain better understanding of signed languages and the Deaf world.

There are several illustrations in the book that challenge the pied-piper. If you have a book in your hands, you can find one good example in the drawing along with the text on pages 36-37 where the co-authors have challenged the professionals about cochlear implants.

ASL Rose strongly believes that none other than signed language, namely ASL in the USA, is better for communication with Deaf children and it is of paramount importance that Deaf children start learning it as early as possible.  It will end more heartbreaks of Deaf children.