It is most distressing to learn that there are still professionals that claim learning sign language at the same time as oralism is a bad idea and delays a child’s development.
I wish to correct this horrible misconception.
A child under the age of six can learn multiple languages, and the goal is to get an individual to have a language foundation before entering our schools. It has been proven time and time again that a deaf child learning oral considerably benefits from sign language, as well.
Both skills complement each other and oralism is not possible for all deaf children; whereas, sign language is.
So, to those specialists who claim that a deaf child learning sign language will ruin their abilities to learn how to “hear and talk,” please do the actual research instead of making up facts. Otherwise you are doing great harm to the children.
Travis Morgan
Whitefish