0485302

DF2000

Language Development and Deafness

Module Leader:  Joan Fleming

Module Lecturer: Christine Jolly

Assignment: one

“Having researched the influences upon deaf people’s language development and communication modes, can it be stated that the language of deaf people mirrors the same developmental stages as that of hearing individuals.”

In this essay, we will look at language development and the many different stages of it. There are many theories of language development and language acquisition and we will look into these theories and contrast deaf children with hearing children in their language development. There are many different variables in deaf children’s lives, which could effect their language development and how they progress. All these different processes could have an effect on how language develops.

Speech and language are tools that we all use to communicate or share thoughts and ideas. Language is a code made up of a set of rules that include what words or signs mean, shared by individuals who are communicating, which allows them to exchange their thoughts and ideas. Speech is talking, which is one way that a language can be expressed. Language may also be expressed through writing, signing, or even gestures depending on the individuals’ communication mode. Language is important for communication; we all learn language from our language providers and peers. However, hearing problems can affect speech and language development. Early diagnosis will give the child and their family a better outlook and will help with language development.

Language is developed through the early years of childhood. Babies imitate sounds and gestures made from their parents. Every baby is born with the potential to acquire a language. Children learn language with only small amounts of knowledge but they adapt and learn it with ease. Babies acquire their language in the first years of their life. They go through many different stages of language development. In the first few months, babies make “cooing” sounds, a quiet, pleasant, repetitive vocalization. They interact with their parents and they respond to facial expressions and clearly show that they enjoy interaction with their caregiver. By six months of age, an infant usually babbles or produces repetitive syllables such as "baba" or "dada." “Babies begin to play with these sounds, often repeating the same sound over and over (such as bababababa or dahdahdah)” (Bee 1994:113). Parents will respond to this, give affirmation to the child, and point to reference “da da” as “daddy” Babbling soon turns into a type of nonsense speech that often has the tone of human speech but does not contain real words. However, parents or caregivers will expand on this vocalisation and reaffirm what the child is saying thus giving the child the confidence to repeat language and so learning all the time. By the end of their first year, most children have mastered the ability to say a few simple words (e.g. mummy). Children are most likely unaware of the meaning of their first words, but soon learn the power of those words as others respond to them and give them the correct speech and pointing to objects.

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In hearing infants, the first word usually emerges around 12 months, and by two years most children are putting two words together, while some are doing more than this. For deaf infants the pattern is more variable. Some will develop spoken language following a similar pattern to that of hearing infants. Some will develop sign language and again the pattern of development may be similar. Deaf babies also babble like hearing infants however, they babble in sign, “Deaf children show a kind of sign “babbling” between about 7 and 11 months of age, much as hearing children babble sounds ...

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