BTW, I know you do not insist on ASL always and only for kids, but there are those out there. It’s just that I could hear the people beginning to assume… and wanted to point these things out. She isn’t one who developed early pathways via ASL. By 14 months many hearing or implanted kids have spoken words for the things they want.

Of course, now we know you haven’t potty trained, because most kids are not potty trained until they are old enough to speak, so ASL wouldn’t be helping that along. Unless they are a savant in that category. Which would be pretty special. My other thought is that the kids of mine who are likely to be tantrum throwers were not helped by language of any kind, receptive or expressive. Some kids are just more demanding than others. Ahem. But they grow up to be very high achieving people. Yeah, that’s what I keep telling myself.

If you would provide a credible link regarding Leah’s CI, I will update the article with that information.

Also, many hearing families are using signs with their young children as a means of facilitating communication. Teaching a child to sign, “more” enables a 2-year-old to ask for “more water” without throwing a temper tantrum. Same with “toilet.”

Ignoring all the academic bullshit regarding “Deaf Education,” teaching hearing children signs is simply a way to ease parenting issues, namely angry, frustrated children. I am not at all suggesting that teaching a hearing child the ASL word for “toilet” is going to make the child fluent in ASL, a Deafhood freak or anything else, including an English professor at Harvard.

Paotie

Any languages that any disabled person who cannot talk *CAN* earn their welfares.

Glad to know that the parents of the CP girl did not buy the doctor’s advice. They proved him wrong in a huge way!

Doctors can be the blunders.

Doctors are really @#$%^!

ASL opens a door to a world of communication for all sorts of disabilities!