Ch 25

     This chapters talks about why deaf people have a hard time with English. I myself before taking this class asked the same question; however, since I have learned a little ASL I realize that the answer is obvious. English is primarily a spoken/hearing language, while Signing is a visual language. The same questions could asked, Why do people who speak English often have a hard time understanding ASL? Hearing children are surrounded by language from the time they are born. "They're surrounded by English; bombarded with it from all sides" (152). From the time a baby is one day old everyone talks to it. "You a good baby. Say I good. You're so cute." Before a child goes to school they can already without thinking make grammatical correct sentences because of the exposure they have had to the language. Most of the time deaf babies are nowhere near as exposed to their language of signing. "Since they cannot hear this 'language bombardment' they cannot benefit from it" (151).
     I did my observational work for my Communication Disorders class at an elementary school with a speech language pathologist. One of the classes she had she had three kids and a girl who was hard hearing, but she knew how to sign. All these kids were behind compared to the other kids. This was a public school  and the kids are surrounded by all hearing children which is a huge disadvantage for them. I honestly don't think it's fair, because you are hindering their education. They too should have an equal chance for education. The girl that knew how to sign was very fluent and she could communicate, but most people at that school did not know ASL, which was pointless for the girl. Even though that girl was ahead and knew her language it did not benefit anyone, which was really sad.

Works Cited

Morre, S. Matthew, and Linda Levitan. For Hearing People Only. 3rd Ed. Rochester, New York: MSM Productions, Ltd.,2003.Print.