Learn Deaf

Question: How do deaf people learn how to speak? i don't know a lot about deaf people, as i don't personally know anyone who is completely deaf. i'm not referring to people who become deaf later on or have already learnt how to speak. i was wondering how babies or children who are born deaf learn how to speak for the first time? i mean, they cannot hear other people and themselves speak, so how do they know how to pronounce words?

Answer: Hi as a member of the deaf community I can answer that! :). (I'm not deaf myself but have deaf family.) Some parents want their children to be able to speak, to varying degrees of proficiency. If the deaf child is not brought up with sign language he will most likely learn sign first and then speech. If the deaf child knows sign from a younger age (under school age basically..) they may take him to a speech pathologist to learn how to correctly pronounce words, they teach them movement of the lips, tongue, and how to "activate" the vocal chords and eventually learn how to form specific sounds, then later words. Part of the reason deaf people talk is because their parents didn't want them to even know sign language! Years ago, many parents of deaf children were told the only way the child could become successful where if he became able to fully read lips and speak; naturally this is very hard for a deaf person! Another reason why most deaf people only speak a little here and there is because many people do not realize American sign language has different grammatical structures than english. A deaf persons grammar is normally not to par with a hearings, because we are speaking a different language. Some people (the ignorant ones) either think that deaf people are uneducated or "Stupid" because their poor grammar. For example a signed phrase directly translates to: "You enjoy food you?" while the english counter-part is "Did you enjoy your food?" This is just one of many examples, the language is completely different and my little ditty probably didn't do justice too it. To sum it up, learning speech is a very complicated method, and every institution uses different methods! Even if deaf people can learn to speak properly they prefer to sign, for multiple reasons. Hope this helps. Some post-script: I Just got done skyping with my cousin (My sister was never taught speech.) and she said they first taught her how to make "Oohs, ahhs, eehs" and then form words with them eventually. They used a lot of visual aids and signing. She also reminded me something very important, deaf children work *very* hard to gain even the slightest speech, some children learn speech until their teen years.

Question: How do people who are born blind and deaf learn to read braile? I was watching this programme once and there was this kid who was using braile to read, however he was born deaf and blind. How did he learn to do this? because it's not as if people can show him how to read braile as he is blind, and nor can he be told how to read braile since he is deaf. I am not taking this piss or anything, I am genuinely curious as to how they do this? It is quite remarkable and just goes to show what humans can achieve despite great disabilities in their life.

Answer: The first thing that they need to learn is that there's a connection between a symbol and its meaning (if you've seen "The Miracle Worker," think of Annie Sullivan constantly signing words into Helen's hands). You can't get anywhere until this connection is made. Once you've done that you can get them to understand that the hand symbol for "A" (or whatever) is the same as the braille symbol on the page that represents "A". Then on to "B" and so forth. Bear in mind that there's very little other sensory input so these people don't have a lot to distract them from exploring and learning, if they're motivated.

Question: How does someone blind and deaf learn a language? I believe it was Helen Keller thats was deaf and blind. how does someone that can't see or hear learn a language?

Answer: It takes a LOT of work ... and a whole lot of patience on the part of the teacher. In the case of Helen Keller - her teacher would put out her hand and use sign language (VERY SLOWLY) - and Helen would grasp and feel her teacher's hand. Later - she would touch and feel the placement of her teacher's tongue, teeth, and lips to try to emulate the sounds which her teacher was producing.

Question: How do people born completely deaf learn to read written languages? I'm not deaf (and dont know anyone who was born deaf) and when I read a book I hear the words in my head as I read them. I presume that I have learnt to associate the written word with the sounds I make as I speak them and I use this association to read the passages to myself. If I had been born deaf and therefore unable to hear the sounds associated with words, would I know what to make them sound like? I've seen signed TV programmes but the person signing the dialogue appears to finish very early on compared to the characters in the programme which leads me to assume that the signed information is a stripped back form of the spoken communication. Does anyone know of any (born) deaf authors? Ta

Answer: Written English is not your native language, spoken English is, so when you read, you are associating the word on the page with the word you hear. Deaf people (for the most part) have sign language as their native language, so when they read, they associate the word on the page with the sign for that word. Obviously written and spoken English is related, so written English is easier for us to read and write. Sign language is not a simplified version of English, it is its own language. Think about if you were reading a foreign language. You may still "sound-out" the word, but in order to make sense of it, you have to connect it to an English word. For example, Latin is no longer spoken. Obviously it can be spoken, but when you learn it, you don't need to know how to pronounce it to translate it. The reason that you see the signing finish before the dialogue is because ASL does not follow English. For example, if the line is "I was driving down the road and then the cop pulled me over", in ASL you would use the handshape for representing cars, extend your arm in front of you, then sign "COP" and then you would add another car handshape and demonstrate both cars going to the side...while this took a while to explain, it takes no time at all to sign. But as you can see, it is very difficult to explain this in writing, which is why Deaf people tend to have difficulty with English. There is another version of signing called SEE (signed exact English) which is just as the name implies...you sign every word in English word order. SEE is not favored by the Deaf community and takes a long time to sign. According to Gallaudet University data, the median literacy level of Deaf students STILL IN SCHOOL is a fourth grade level. I have a Deaf friend who graduated high school last year, and just in the year I've known him, his English has improved drastically (though still not good). I also have another Deaf friend who is an English major, and he helps me when writing papers. If you want examples of hearing people who can't read or write, just take a look at Yahoo Answers. The point to this very long answer is that you don't need to know how a word sounds to understand its meaning. Actually it is grammar and word order that are more important to understand. There are many Deaf people with excellent English skills. I know of people who write books on deafness, but if you are looking for a fictional story author, check out the second link below. Sorry this was so long

Question: How do deaf people learn how to read and write? I have come across numerous websites and/or message board postings by deaf people and notice that often the grammar and spelling are perfect and the writing is very eloquent. I am curious about the process that is used to teach reading and writing to someone who is completely and profoundly deaf (with no residual hearing). I know how hearing individuals learn, but would be very interested to hear from a deaf person how they learned. It seems to me it would be extremely challenging to learn about how language works if the person cannot hear phonemes or know about root words/suffixes/prefixes, etc. What is the frame of reference so they don't have to just individually memorize every word, but instead master the language?

Answer: When a child is born Deaf in a DEAF family where one or both parents are Deaf, the parents will begin signing to the baby as they bring it home from the hospital. The baby "sees" the signs, mommy, daddy, milk, etc etc over and over with a lot of pointing, acting and using expressions paired with the signs. Deaf parent place the baby right in front of them and in the midst of all the sign language. The child grows up knowing about his/her environment very much the same as their hearing peers. When they do get to school, the teachers reinforce and build on that -5 years of knowledge. When a child is born deaf to HEARING parents most hearing parents try and get him/her to learn speech, put hearing aids on or a cochler implant in to help them hear. Some kids become successful and with very small student teacher ratio will learn to use speech as their major means of communication. For a huge number of these kids, the parents may not find speech the best mode of communication. All too many times the child may then be sent to school having missed out on tons of language. For the kids with proactive parents, the parents will learn sign themselves and teach the child, in the same way as mentioned above- word by word, short phrases over and over, at home, and fight with the teachers and districts to provide good quality interpreters (public school) or state schools for the deaf. Too often than not, kids show up in kindergarden with less than 100 signs and it is then the teacher's job to start from scratch. You as a hearing person could learn more signs in 3 months than many parents bother to learn!!! I commend all the many parents who have learned who are reading this, but I have had H.S. kids for over 20 years,tell me their parents never learned "their" language . 28 yrs teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing pre-school through H.S

Question: How exactly do deaf and blind people who were always deaf and blind learn? How does a deaf person learn sign language? They can't hear, so how do they learn what the different signals mean? How does a blind person learn to read braile? What about people who are both blind AND deaf, like Hellen Keller, except born that way? How are they taught to communicate at all, when they can't see or hear, and never could? SERIOUS ANSWERS ONLY, PLEASE. I REALLY WANT TO KNOW.

Answer: Think of this: When you are reading your screen, you are not listening. You could have earplugs and still be able to read. That is is visual understanding of language. Again, if you can´t see anything, like in a closed dark theater, you can still understand a conversation. The blind person will have their hands and ears to relate to their environment. Using Braille and a cane use these resources. Braille uses a set of spaced dots, something like the alphabet used last century for telegrams: Morse code: a series of dots and lines. You just have to learn to read and write them. The blind and deaf person are a real problem. I know a man who has never heard or seen anything! He uses the palm of his hand to communicate. Something like Hellen Keller. Of course, like Ms. Keller, he does have a preson who can see and hear who types in his hand and receives the typed messages. Education of the Blind and Deaf is extensively described elsewhere.

Question: How do deaf children learn sign language? I've always wondered how a child could learn sign language if they are deaf. I could understand a child or even an adult knowing sign language if they studied it before they became deaf but what about children that were born deaf? How did they learn sign language if they grew up not being able to hear? It must be difficult to teach someone like that.

Answer: Deaf children learn sign language the exact same way hearing children learn spoken language. Hearing children learn spoken language by hearing and interacting with those around them. Deaf children learn signing language by seeing and interacting with those around them. The process is almost exactly the same. The only difference is that sign can be acquired sooner and much faster then spoken languages. I know a 5th generation Deaf 22 month old - he has more language then any hearing children his age. He also knows all the letters of the alphabet in English and can read about 8 words. His first words were at 5 months of age.

Question: How does a deaf person learn a language? How does a person who is deaf since birth learn a language? Sure, he or she can see and talk but he or she has no familiarity with a language. How would he or she translate what he or she sees into a language? Therefore, how would this person learn a language? I understand that this could be done but I am not exactly sure how. Thanks! Sorry, I was not clear. I mean learning THE VERY FIRST LANGUAGE.

Answer: you've seen people using sign language right? that is universal...meaning no matter what language one uses the signs mean the same things...ie, for chair their is a specific sign or signs, for "i love you" there is a specific sign....i use that one all the time with my grandchildren when they can't hear me. hope this helps.....it's really fun to learn, you don't have to write notes back and forth you can just sign and most people don't even know what your saying. google or ask yahoo about sign language and movies about the subject because there was a movie made about 30 years ago about Helen Keller and how she helped children....she was deaf and blind....what a marvelous lady.