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From: James.Womack@f14.n300.z1.fidonet.org (James Womack)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Command of English
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Date: 28 Feb 91 16:01:18 GMT
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Index Number: 13734

[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

Linda, there is no doubt deaf people must learn to fit in the "world
of the ablebodied." The question how should it be done. Quite frankly,
if the English crammed down your throat is the way to do it, why has
it failed after over 200 years? In one form or another: Speech training,
sound amplification for even those  profoundly and severely deaf. Signed
English, SEE and all that stuff has not produced improvment in the
average educational level of deaf students graduating from school.

The bottom line is that hearies who run the educational programs simply
refuse to accept the fact that a deaf child is deaf and English is
a phonetic language geared abledbodied ears. Such ears that are not
possessed by deaf people. Consequently, this phonetic model should
be replaced with a language geared to the visual organ. It must not
be a pseudo language, but a real one. Written and signed English do
not qualify. They don't because English is phonetic and written and
signed manifestations of English cannot convey the innumerable phonetic
properities of English. They can in a pseudo sense once one has mastered
the language via its natural acquisition process.

Research is showing more and more that visual methods of teaching English,
actually hinder language learning and acquisition among deaf children.
This happens mainly because of the way the mind acquires (as opposed
to learns) language. There seems to be some properity of this process
that the artificial methods seek to bypass and consequently the mind
reaches an impasse. After about age 5 or 6, the innate ability of the
mind to "absorb" language gradually slips away. By failing to allow
children to "acquire" the only language that can be naturally acquired
(in America at least)-namely ASL, we rob them of their minds' ultimate

potential. But if we did allow every deaf child acquire ASL, teacvhing
English as a second language wouldbe more achievable. Why? They would
have a referrence language to associate English concepts with. They
would have had a language that allowed them to bring knowledge of

environmental terms, language experiences, innate rule structures etc
to school so they could have some base from which to start. But no,
"experts' have tried to use a phonetic language in artificial manners

and despite repeated proof it was not working. They still refuse to
to back away from their holy cause to hearize deaf people.

To illustrate the folly of this approach and philosophy, try this.
If you know Spanish or any other language than English, Write a sentence
using the past tense of future tense following the rules of English.
No matter if that language has the same suffixes or prefixes or whatever
or not , use the English rules. As you figure , you get gibberish.
That's what deaf kids leave school with-gibberish.

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