1) Early exposure to sign language is important for deaf children's language acquisition and cognitive development. Most deaf children are born to hearing families who do not sign naturally. 2) Studies show that deaf adults who were exposed to sign language from birth perform better on language tasks than those exposed during early childhood. The evidence suggests that earlier exposure to a first language is better. 3) Factors that help deaf children learn sign language include practicing signing new words to strengthen memory, developing vocabulary to understand the world, and parents using thinking words when talking to their children.

1. Deaf Children
Development Conference
Language Acquisition
1

2. Why is the early learning of
language important?
• All typically developing hearing children learn language through
their families
• Only about 5% of deaf children are native signers, from deaf,
signing families
– same as native spoken language acquisition
– same rate, similar milestones
• Most deaf children (≥95%) are born to hearing families who do
not sign
– acquisition of a sign language may begin in early or later childhood, later
in life, or not at all
– depends on exposure to other signers
– Late language learning has negative effects on children’s linguistic and
cognitive skills

3. Sentence judgement task
Judge if the sentence is a possible or impossible
sentence of BSL

4. OLD PEOPLE GOVERNMENT HELP
“Old people are helped by the government”
OLD HELP PEOPLE GOVERNMENT
“Old people are helped by the government”

5. ✓
possible
OLD PEOPLE GOVERNMENT HELP
“Old people are helped by the government”
✗
not possible
OLD HELP PEOPLE GOVERNMENT
“Old people are helped by the government”

6. The earlier, the better
Native adult signers exposed
to BSL from birth do this task
better than adults who
learned BSL in early childhood
(up to age 8)
Cormier, Schembri, Vinson, Orfanidou (2012), Cognition

7. What does it mean?
• Many other studies have found similar results:
– American Sign Language (e.g. Mayberry & Fischer 1989, Newport 1990, Mayberry & Eichen
1991, Emmorey 1991, Emmorey et al. 1995, Newman et al. 2002, many others)
– British Sign Language (e.g. MacSweeney et al. 2008, Cormier et al., 2012)
• These differences have been used to support the idea that
there is a critical/sensitive period in first language acquisition
• When it comes to sign language exposure in deaf children,
evidence from deaf adults tells us: The earlier, the better.
• If you wait there is a risk the child will not develop any first
language.

9. What other things help deaf children
learn sign language?
• When children hear or see a new word they
have to use their memory to rehearse the
form as they search for the meaning

10. • Vocabulary development is a crucial part of
deaf children’s ability to understand the
world, express themselves and access the
intentions of other people and education

11. New sign repetition test
• We made a test suitable for school aged deaf
children to assess how well they could
perceive, store in memory and repeat new
signs. This will tell us if their basic language
learning skills are working well.
Mann, W., Marshall, C., Mason, K., & Morgan,
G. (2010).
The acquisition of sign language: the impact of phone
Language Learning and Development 6, 60-86

13. Errors %
Other strong
predictors:
1. BSL Receptive
Skills Test (Ros
Herman)
2. Bead
threading
(motor skills)

15. The cake story
We made you a cake today!
Yum yum
15

16. ?
16

17. Explicit False Belief
False belief

18. 18

19. Predictors
desire
emotion
think, know
orienting
physical state
repetition
elaborations
links to child’s life
19

20. 20

21. Meristo, M., Morgan, G., Geraci, A., Iozzi, L., Hjelmquist, E., Surian, L., & Siegal, M. (in press). 21
Belief attribution in deaf and hearing infants. Developmental Science.

22. Parent talk to their children
DoH HoH
20
18
16
proportion of utterances
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
desire emotion mod.assert think/know elab. links ch. Life