*It has long since been acknowledged that the Deaf community has their own language and culture, known as American Sign Language (ASL). This language, unlike almost all others, is not based on a spoken language. Rather ASL is considered to be an exceptionally distinctive language that can convey even the most complex of thoughts. ASL is not produced in combination with speech becasue it is basically impossible to sign one grammar and speak another simultaneously. Studies prove that ASL is a combination of several signed communications including, French Sign Language, Abroiginal Sign Language, and a self-fashioned underdeveloped gesture system.
Communication Challanges
*ASL is considered to be the sixth most commonly used language in the United States, yet many Deaf individuals face communication challanges in the hearing world every day. Many, though, have become accoustomed with making use of different strategies to make communication more plausible.
Will It Impair their Children
*There are some Deaf parents who believe that signing with their children will cause problems such as confusion, adn speaking will impair the child's speech. There is also the idea that there will be an over-reliance on teh child's part of future interpertation for their parents. Because of this notion some parents decide to communicate with their children with reduced speech precision and in an ungrammatical form.
The Result of Reduced Percision
*The result of this form of communication is a child who cannot sign with their Deaf parents, and therefore the child/parentdiscourse becomes restricted. The most beneficial interaction is the one in which the parent is most comfortable with, even if that means using only sign language. Even in a situation where the child is only spoken to in sign language, he or she will eventually learn English from other sources, such as the case of Ruby Aguayo.
In the Case of Ruby Aguayo
*Ruby is a child who was born to two deaf parents. Even though her parents were worried about signing with her, for fear of Ruby not learning English she excelled at language, as any other baby would. The communication learned by Ruby may not have been the typical language, but she was able to communicate with her parents in an effective manner. Her first sign was produced as teh age of three months, when she protruded her tongue slightly and held it there while staring into her mother's eyes. By doing this she was communicating to her mother that, she wanted her pacifier. This just shows that children have the innate ability to communicate. Ruby went on to be a normal baby in teh area of communication. She learned different signs at the rate, or faster, than a "normal" child would learn to use spoken words. The early exposure to the importance of percise movements, which she uses for communication, contributed to the awareness she peaces on mimicking other movements closely, which is not always normal in other hearing children.