literacy and deafness

[Aliyah MORGENSTERN]

>From Dan Slobin

Issues of deafness and literacy acquisition were raised in the April 15 science section of the New York Times.  I wrote a reply that was published in the April 22 section.  Here is my reply, with a link to the April 15 article.

Dan Slobin

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A version of this letter appears in print on April 22, 2014, on page D3 of the New York edition with the headline: Reactions.

TO THE EDITOR:

I've spent over 50 years studying how children learn language, including many languages, spoken and signed. In "A Son's Deafness Prompts a Scientific Journey" (April 15), Katherine Bouton notes that many deaf children who are raised with American Sign Language succeed in learning to read and write English as a second language, while the median reading ability by age 18 in deaf children overall remains stuck at a fourth-grade level. Although she correctly observes that early communication in A.S.L. is the key, she does not draw the conclusion -- supported now by research in several countries -- that when hearing parents begin to use sign language as soon as their baby is diagnosed as deaf, those children achieve levels of language, cognition and literacy comparable to those of deaf children with deaf parents. As Ms. Bouton reports, cochlear implants have mixed results. The best insurance for hearing parents of babies with implants is to learn A.S.L. and to use both hands and voice in communicating with their small children. Native fluency in A.S.L. provides a bridge to English literacy and, if partial hearing is available, to spoken English.

Dan I. Slobin

Berkeley, Calif.

The writer is an emeritus professor of psychology and linguistics.



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Dan I. Slobin
Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Linguistics
University of California, Berkeley
email: slobin at berkeley.edu
address: 2323 Rose St., Berkeley, CA 94708
http://ihd.berkeley.edu/members.htm#slobin
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