How can you think and work things out if you cannot speak?

By the way, I noticed that we're using the terms "words" and "language" almost as one. Come to think of it the words aren't all that important even in conversation. I believe it is something like 80% of the message that is delivered through body language and tone of voice. When you think about it it becomes evident that the written word is hugely overrated in these matters. At least, that is my opinion.

I visualize words often, rather than pictures. I guess I am strange.

Soz: what kind of cognitive delays which are usually permenant?
How severe, and in what areas of life does it impair a child's progress?

Are you referring to when a deaf child has no language in which to express themselves outwardly At All....or specifically a symbolic set of tools (like ASL, words, braille)?!

However; even if a child is impaired by not learning language: does that mean they can not think?! I don't think so, but I may be wrong.

flushd wrote:

Soz: what kind of cognitive delays which are usually permenant?
How severe, and in what areas of life does it impair a child's progress?

Are you referring to when a deaf child has no language in which to express themselves outwardly At All....or specifically a symbolic set of tools (like ASL, words, braille)?!

ASL isn't a symbolic set of tools, it is a true language, with all that entails.

I'll try to illustrate with three examples.

#1: Abby was born deaf, to deaf parents. She is signed to from birth, and is in a language-rich environment (that is, not only is she signed to but she sees her parents signing to each other, everyone at parties signs, etc.) Her cognitive development is exactly parallel to a hearing child in a hearing family. ASL is her first language, but since it is fully accessible and she has mastered it, her general language pathways are developed, and she can then learn a second language -- whether it is English, French, or whatever -- with relative ease. She goes to college, gets a few degrees, becomes a successful adult.

#2: Ben was born deaf, to hearing parents with no previous knowledge of ASL or deafness in general. They don't figure out that he is deaf until he is about 2 years old and hasn't started to speak yet. (Before universal infant hearing screening, this was the most common scenario.) In those two years -- vital language acquisition years -- he has received no useful linguistic information. He is profoundly deaf, with no residual hearing, and all of the linguistic information directed his way has been inaccessible to him.

When they find out he's deaf, Ben's parents start to learn ASL, but it takes them several years before they become fluent (less for him). They teach Ben, too. Meanwhile, when they do use it it is only to address him directly. When he starts school, he is mainstreamed (in a hearing classroom with an interpreter, the only deaf kid there). His language environment is impoverished.

Ben is likely to have significant cognitive delays; his ASL will likely never be at the level of Abby's, and his English won't, either. "Cognitive delays" just mean his level of thinking lags behind Abby's. Math, Science, English, you name it -- all subpar. But minimally functional.

#3 Carrie is born into an immigrant hearing family that is existing on the fringes of society and does not know where to turn -- they just decide to treat her as if she is retarded, though her only initial disability is deafness. They do not attempt to speak to her at all beyond rudimentary home signs ("eat", "sleep", "potty", etc.) (Home signs are the symbols a family agrees upon to represent certain words, and is separate from ASL.) Her language exposure is not only impoverished, it is destitute. She grows up to be actually "retarded", unable to function independently.

All of these are based on people I know and/ or former clients.

Quote:

However; even if a child is impaired by not learning language: does that mean they can not think?! I don't think so, but I may be wrong.

Not knowing a language at all severely negatively impacts the ability to think, yes. That's still a ways away from saying they can't think, at all.

Not knowing a language at all severely negatively impacts the ability to think, yes. That's still a ways away from saying they can't think, at all.

Interesting question, yitwail. What's your answer, re: yitwail-who-speaks-Japanese vs. yitwai-who-speaks-English?

I think I am different, but there is a major cultural component there too, hard to know where to put that.

Bella Dea wrote:

I visualize words often, rather than pictures. I guess I am strange.

At what point do the words acquire a meaning, rather than remain a jumble of letters?

Cyr, I honestly don't see how our capacity for many forms of thought would be a lid of a box not worth opening.