Sign Language

Sign Language Ss

What the Science Tells Us

Sign languages like American Sign Language (ASL), Langue des Signes du Québec (LSQ) have emerged and evolved in communities of Deaf people in Canada. Along with Indigenous sign languages they are now protected as “the primary languages for communication by Deaf persons in Canada.”

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In sign languages, handshapes, movements, locations on the body and in space, palm orientation, and facial expressions combine together to create sentences. Voice is not used. Each sign language has its own signs and grammatical rules. Sign languages are not spoken words converted into signs. They are different and distinct, just like French and English are different.

Sign languages can be used to do all of the things that spoken languages can: engage in conversations, tell stories, make jokes, create poetry, teach, and explain scientific concepts.

Babies who are deaf or hard of hearing evolve like hearing babies through the various stages of language development. However, they babble with their hands. Babies who learn a sign language and a spoken language babble manually and vocally at about the same age developmentally. All children develop their receptive skills before their expressive skills. To develop their receptive language it is important for babies with hearing loss to see the signer and have eye contact with them.

“Sign languages can be used to do all of the things that spoken languages can.

Most children with hearing loss – 90% according to statistics – are born to hearing parents. In the past it could take months or years for us to know that our child does not have full hearing and would benefit by learning a sign language. That is no longer the case in British Columbia and many other jurisdictions today.

The province of British Columbia recently celebrated screening 500,000 babies through the BC Newborn Hearing Screening Program. Because of this, hearing loss is most often identified at birth. As with other conditions, early identification has many benefits. With early identification, we can make decisions early in our baby’s life about communication methods. We will want to learn more about sign languages, explore other options, such as spoken languages, and consider hearing assistive technologies.

Early exposure to sign language input is very important for children with hearing loss. More and more research shows that language deprivation (when a child does not have access to a language) in the early years of life has long-term consequences for their cognitive and social and emotional development. If our child is language-deprived they may have difficulties in school, even in subjects like math where they may have excelled early on, doing arithmetic. Once problems written in sentences are introduced, our child may find it more difficult to do math if they have not had full, early exposure to sign language.

When a child is deaf or hard of hearing, they cannot hear (or fully understand) the language spoken around them, and this too can lead to language deprivation. If our child is deaf, a cochlear

implant may be suggested if it is of benefit. Cochlear implants provide access to sound for many children, but they do not transmit speech sounds the same way as natural hearing. Because of this, cochlear implant users will need speech and listening therapy. Sign languages can be valuable for all children with hearing loss as they enable communication in many contexts.

Children with hearing loss rely on their other senses to learn. Sign language engages vision and touch enabling sophisticated language development.

If we are new to sign language, there are resources available to help us learn along with our child. Learning a sign language can coincide with our child’s hearing and speech development. It can minimize or even avoid the effects of language deprivation, and it has other benefits too. It can also open new doors to lead us and our child into a whole new language and culture.

What You Can Do

You may find this section helpful if you are the parent of a deaf or hard-ofhearing baby or a caring friend or relative who wants to provide support.

If you learn that your baby is deaf or hard of hearing, there are resources that have been designed especially to support you and your family. Seek these out. (see Appendix C Sign Language Resources).

# Join parent support groups and meet other families who use sign language.

You may be surprised to learn how enriching it is to connect with other families who are on the same journey as you.  In the Deaf community you will find support and signers who can communicate with and make friends with your child

• Meeting with a variety of families, along with health professionals, can help you make informed decisions about the various communication opportunities available for your child. Your child’s life can be enriched by more than one language # Teach your baby sign language beginning as early as possible after they are born.  Take sign language classes offered by the specialized agencies, such as the BC Family Hearing Resource Centre or the Deaf Children’s Society of

BC.  If you live outside of BC search out the resources that are offered in your community.  Services may include a Family Communication Program where a

Deaf ASL (or sign language) instructor comes to your home and teaches the whole family together  • Signing between parent and child does not have to be perfect! Often, family members learn together and figure out ways to convey messages amongst themselves # Attend ASL story times at public libraries such as the Burnaby Public Library,

Surrey Public Library, Okanagan Regional Library and Vancouver Public

Library.  Wherever you live, check if your local library or community organization offers sign language story times; if they don’t, then suggest that they do so  # Introduce your child to books early in life (see Books). Books can have added benefits for your child as the grammar in sign languages is different from that found in books.  If your child is familiar with the way story books are written, this can help them when they are older and learning to read and write 

# Hearing babies learn language by hearing language that is directed to them and language they overhear others speaking.  If your baby can’t hear, you can still direct language to them and give them opportunities to see sign languages being used between signers  • Attend play groups, Deaf community events, watch TV programs and videos to create opportunities for your baby to see others using sign language # Your baby with hearing loss will benefit when as many members of the family as possible are able to fully communicate with them. Siblings generally love learning a sign language and chances are other family members will too.  Everyone in the family who is learning to sign benefits when language is directed to them and when they can observe others signing  • The first months of life are an emotional time of intense learning for all new parents, so remember to be gentle with yourself and make some time for self-care

There can be a variety of reasons why your baby needs to learn a sign language. Maybe you or others in the family are Deaf. It’s good to know that:

# From the beginning of life, babies can learn multiple languages and these can include signed and spoken languages (see Heritage)  Your baby learns sign language best when they see your face and hands, and this gives you an ideal viewpoint to see their language progress.

As your baby observes you and others signing they will start to babble with their hands. As they get older their babbles will develop into sign attempts and eventually, clearer signs.

Babies who are both deaf and blind benefit from “hand-over-hand” signing. Other babies learn by watching you. If your toddler becomes frustrated trying to sign, you can ask, “Do you need help?” Or they may gesture that they need help by holding their hands up in front of you. You can then sign, “Help?” (meaning, “Do you want help?”) If they say yes, you can:

# Pause your child # Model the correct sign # Correct their handshape # Do hand-over-hand if needed

All babies:

# Love to see your face and facial expressions (see Face-to-face) • When practical, position yourself face-to-face across from your baby so they can see your face and hands.  Use sign language along with pictures and objects. Repeat the sign while pointing to the picture or object several times (see Repetition).  Your smiles and enthusiasm, with every sign attempt, will encourage your child to keep trying.  It does not matter if your baby does not make a correct sign.  Continue modelling and encouraging them to sign.  They will get better. • When you use books sit so that your baby can see you and the book clearly.  You may want to sit across from your child and have a bookstand placed so that your child can easily see you and the open pages of the book.  That way they can see you sign while looking at the book.  No doubt as your child grows you will come up with many creative ways to share books with them

• Show us what they are interested in.  Follow your child’s lead.  Notice where your eyes and their eyes are looking.  They will often look where you have just looked, and then look back at you.  That’s your cue to sign about whatever your child has just looked at  # Enjoy songs, signs and rhythms  • You can use signed chants.  For example, at bath time, you can sign, “I… WASH, WASH, WASH! [pause] SHOWER, SHOWER, SHOWER! [pause] BATH, BATH, BATH! [pause] FUN WITH MOM/DAD!” • Lay your child on their back on the floor.  Lean over on your knees and sign, tap, walk fingers, tickle and invent other motions, using the above chant or other chants with rhythm, and lots of repetition (see Repetition, Vocabulary) • When your child is on their back on the floor or sitting across from you, you can sign “bear,” then make the sign “bear” on your child, tapping their arms and legs with rhythm and repetition to mimic the bear walking up and down # Learn more easily from interactions that are simplified for them infant-directed signs in the same way as hearing babies benefit from infant-directed speech • Infant-directed speech is more interesting to infants than adult speech, and infant-directed sign is more interesting to infants than (adult-directed) sign language.  Infants pay more attention, enjoy the slower pace and exaggerated movements.  These things make it easier for your child to learn.  So don’t feel silly using IDS, use it knowing that you are connecting with your baby and helping them learn at the same time  When your child is not in your arms, you can use the “tap/ sign” signal. This lets them know a sign communication

is coming. You can gently give them a light double-tap on their arm or shoulder from the side or tap on a surface so they feel the vibrations. If you are a hearing parent of a deaf child, this “tap” technique also reminds you to sign to your child. A wave of the hand can get your child’s attention when you are at a distance.

If you are the parent of a deaf or hard-of-hearing child, you can try, perhaps with some modifications, ALL of the things recommended in this book as your baby learns sign language.

Some examples are: 

# Turn-taking (also called serve and return) conversations where you follow your baby/child’s lead # Reading and signing stories to your young child starting when they are an infant # Playing little games, including rhythms and songs, especially ones that involve touching parts of your baby’s body with repetition # Signing to your child while carrying out daily routines such as preparing meals or doing the laundry.  (Things may take a little longer, such as dressing your child and signing at the same time)

You can use a sign language, the practical strategies above and elsewhere in this book, and loving touch, to build the trusting relationship your baby needs. As your child develops language and literacy skills they will be able to explore their interests and grow to become happy and contributing members of the communities they belong to.

Baby Sign is Not Sign Language

Many parents are familiar with baby sign. Baby sign is not a true language like American Sign Language or Langue des Signes du Québec. It does not have sentence structure rules, and cannot be used to speak with other people in full sentences to convey complex ideas. With baby sign full voicing is used.

If our child is deaf or hard of hearing, they need to learn a real language, like ASL, not baby sign.

Baby sign can be thought of more like gestures, not language. Gestures carry meaning and play an important role in communication, but we cannot have full and complex conversations using gestures alone.

To date, there is no strong research to support any long-term languagerelated benefits for teaching our child baby sign. There is also no evidence that it is harmful for our child. We may find it helps us to communicate and connect with our child early on.

There may be other positive outcomes for our baby too. Baby sign may encourage us to pay more attention to our baby’s expressions and intent to communicate. It may also give our child the tools they need to express what they want while they are still learning to speak, though once again, there is no reliable evidence to indicate this.

Baby sign can also be helpful for children with normal hearing who are experiencing speech or language delay.

Common signs include: help, more, stop, dog, cat, milk, apple, or bubbles. There are websites, videos, books and classes where we can learn the baby sign gestures for these words.

Frequently, we naturally create our own signs within our family, often initiated by our child. This can be especially true for children who are experiencing communication delays. If they start using made-up gestures for words, we can treat these as “verbal attempts.” We can respond by saying the word, and then following through with their request. For example, if our child gestures for milk, we can say, “Milk. You want milk. Okay! Let’s get you some milk.” Providing this repetition in a natural way helps them learn to say the word and lets them know we have understood them.

We do not need baby sign to communicate successfully with our baby. When we are attuned to them, pay attention to them, try to learn their cues and engage them in back-and-forth conversation, using turn-taking or serve and return, our baby does benefit in long-lasting ways, and there is strong research to support that!

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