Can a Deaf Child Learn to Sign From Hearing Parents?

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The aim of the project is to document and compare 30 individual case studies of initial acquisition of sign language in Dutch deaf children in the age range from 15 to 36 months. The data consist of longitudinal video recordings made in home and preschool settings, vocabulary checklists gathered from parents, and scales of motor and cognitive development. Two samples of deaf children of hearing parents are compared: 13 using a natural sign language (SLN: Sign Language of the Netherlands) and 13 using a nonnatural sign system (SSD: Sign Supported Dutch). In both samples, the parents began to learn a manual language before the child was old enough to begin linguistic communication. A control group of four children learned SLN from deaf parents. The video recordings will be transcribed and coded on a number of linguistic, gestural, and communicative dimensions. Transcription and coding will include the communicative behavior of children, parents, and preschool teachers. Quantitative and qualitative analyses will be carried out, relating coded dimensions with each other, with measures of vocabulary and nonlinguistic performance, and with types of parental input. Developmental patterns will be established for each type of input. Four major predictions are made: (1) Adequate sign language development is possible with "imperfect input" from hearing parents provided the input is a natural sign language (SLN). (2) SLN is a natural language, and is acquired in similar fashion to other natural languages spoken and signed. (3) SSD does not provide sufficient input for adequate primary language acquisition. (4) A natural sign language (SLN) can successfully function as a second language for hearing parents in interacting with a deaf child. (Findings with regard to SLN, in the age range considered, are expected to closely match findings with regard to American Sign Language.) Confirmation of these predictions would argue for early intervention programs in w hich hearing parents are taught a natural sign language, such as SLN or ASL, in order to establish normal language and communicative development in a deaf child. It is expected that the study will lead to new insights into the linguistic structure of SLN and other natural sign languages with consequences for linguistic theory and for the assessment and education of deaf children. Implications will be drawn for theories of child language acquisition, including the cognitive, communicative, and biological foundations of human language. The findings and implications will be of immediate relevance to deaf children and their families in the United States, as well as the Netherlands and other countries.