Posted by The right of the deaf child to grow up bilingually is the title of an article by François Grosjean. This article calls for the need of the deaf child to grow up bilingually, firstly using the sign language, on the other hand, using spoken language – in its written form and if possible in its spoken modality. To be able to express yourself bilingually as a deaf child is important because language has a number of functions, notes in the article:
- The deaf child needs to communicate with its parents and relatives as soon as possible.
- The deaf child needs to develop its cognitive abilities during childhood, such as: reasoning, abstract thinking, memorization.
- The deaf child needs to acquire world knowledge.
- The deaf child needs to communicate fully with the surrounding world.
- The deaf child needs to culturally belong to both worlds (the deaf world and the hearing world).
François Grosjean points out in his article the importance of starting early with sign language and not wait too much, as this may cause delays in language, cognitive, social and personal development of deaf children.
More about this article here.