aslinschools

[aslinschools]

Works cited

“Hearing- Impaired Students Could Take ASL at Community Colleges.” Community College Week, vol. 30, no. 16, Mar. 2018, p. 2. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=128546526&site=ehost-live.

Priestley, Karen, et al. “Altering Practices to Include Bimodal-Bilingual (ASL-Spoken English) Programming at a Small School for the Deaf in Canada.” Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, vol. 23, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 82–94. EBSCOhost,

WOODWARD JAMES, and HOA NGUYEN THI. “Where Sign Language Studies Has Led Us in Forty Years : Opening High School and University Education for Deaf People in Viet Nam through Sign Language Analysis, Teaching, and Interpretation.” Sign Language Studies, no. 1, 2012, p. 19. EBSCOhost,

Peggy J. Selover. American Sign Language in the High School System. no. 1, 2013, p. 205. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1353/sls.1988.0026.

Rosen, Russell S. “American Sign Language as a Foreign Language in U.S. High Schools: State of the Art.” Modern Language Journal, no. 1, 2008, p. 10. EBSCOhost,

https://www.algoafm.co.za/article/domestic/92327/sign-language-recognised-as-home-language-in-school-curriculum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sign_Language

https://alborsalnet.com/asl-int/

https://www.speechbuddy.com/blog/language-development/5-ways-sign-language-benefits-the-hearing/

https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/52606-Why-you-should-learn-sign-language-in-the-new-year

[aslinschools]

This is my video for my ASL project. Unfortunately it took longer than expected to finalize on youtube but this is the final product. Enjoy!

[aslinschools]

Overall, I believe that students should be taught ASL starting in Kindergarten. The positives for learning ASL are substantial. Students that learn ASL tend to be less aggressive, more confident, more inclusive, have higher IQ’s than their peers, etc. Students that are taught ASL from the get go acquire more problem solving and rhetorical skills as well. There is nothing but positives that can come from teaching students ASL from a young age. Schools nationwide should implement ASL courses into their curriculums.

[aslinschools]

All they ever know is "I love you"

Thomas Adler (Student at University of Tampa) 

I also interviewed a boy named Thomas Adler. Thomas is a hearing student with a deaf younger brother. I asked him what he wished the general population knew in sign language. His response was “Anything! I think that at the very least, people should know the basic words like eat, drink, bathroom, water, thank you and their name spelled out. All they ever know is “I love you”.  It shouldn't always have to be the deaf persons responsibility to bridge the communication gap. Instead of saying “I can't believe they don't speak english”, people should be taught “I can't believe I ONLY speak english”. My brother was born when I was 7 years old. Learning sign language that late in my childhood was really really hard to say the least. It didn't make any sense and I would get too frustrated to practice. I started to resent my baby brother all because I had never been exposed to the deaf culture sooner. If Deaf customs and teachings were implemented into schools at an earlier age, it would have just been a social norm that I was used to and I wouldn't have found myself in that hatred filled position. I am very happy that I know ASL now. Not only does it set me apart from others but it also makes me happy that my brother and I have something like that that we can bond over. ASL is more than a language, its a life practice.” 

[aslinschools]

I wish people wanted to know what was going on with me

Bridget Warner (Deaf Student at University of Tampa

I interviewed a young lady named Bridget Warner from the University of Tampa. Bridget is a fully deaf student and I required an interpreter for this interview. I asked Bridget what some things were that she wished hearing people knew in sign language. Bridget said “Please, Thank you, and Im sorry. I wish that hearing people knew the basics in order to be decent to me. Usually they speak and I can read their lips but it is not the same. I wish people had the want to communicate with me. I wish people wanted to know what was going on with me.” Her interpreter (Amber Yoder) also chimed in “Although there are a good amount of people that are informed on ASL and Deaf Culture in the area, the knowledge and tolerance is not wide spread. The deaf community should not be shunned or unappreciated, they should be embraced and studied. Sign language is such a delicate and intricate language, anybody that takes time to learn about it would fall in love with the language. Schools should make sign language a basic requirement from the start. Students will grow up being more observant as well as smarter and tolerant. It should be an educational standard!”

[aslinschools]

The educational statistics of Before the year 2000, deaf children could only gain an education from Kindergarten to 5th grade. The Dong Nai Deaf Education program changed that. This program opened up the opportunity for Vietnams deaf community to grow in their education. They implemented deaf studies in middle and high school as well as secondary education. Some results of this project were 1) One Deaf student ranked 5th out of 1,333 hearing and deaf students taking the national exam in Dong Nai Province in 2003. 2) One Deaf student ranked 1st out of 999 hearing and deaf students taking the national exam in Dong Nai Province in 2005. 3) One Deaf student was in the top 10 students who had the high score in university exam of Art university in Ho Chi Minh City in 2010. 4) One Deaf student won the World Deaf Leadership scholarship of Gallaudet university for study for the M.A degree in Sign Language Teaching in 2012.  She is not only the first deaf vietnamese student to gain this scholarship but also the first to reach this level of education. 5) There are two more deaf students came to Gallaudet university in 2014 to study in B.A. degree and M.A degree in Deaf Education. The educational statistics of deaf versus hearing students in vietnam since this change has also resulted in higher scores in the deaf community than hearing. This is just a few bits of successful evidence of why sign language and deaf studies should be implemented in schools world wide.

[aslinschools]

http://www.quotehd.com/quotes/ina-faye-price-quote-english-is-an-auditory-language-asl-is-a-conceptual-and

Sign language taught to infants and toddlers highly improves their abilities to communicate before establishing verbal abilities. According to Dr. Linda Acredolo and Dr. Susan Goodwyn, by three years of age, children who signed as babies were talking with the skills of a four year old. The study also showed that children raised with ASL in their household had higher intelligence levels than those who did not. By 8 years old, students who had been raised with ASL scored an average of 12 IQ points higher than their peers. Their study also showed that babies who were raised with ASL were less aggressive with higher self confidence.

[aslinschools]

https://smackhappy.com/2017/10/asl-benefits-communication/#content

ASL is highly influential to all who take the time to learn it. Scientists and doctors alike suggest learning sign as early as possible. If schools today implemented sign language as a foreign language credit, a plethora of positives would occur. For one, naturally deaf and hard of hearing kids would fully be involved and included within the school community. Second, students would grow up being bilingual if not multilingual. This can be very beneficial to students no matter what career path they decide to pursue. Third, students will embrace the idea of inclusivity as well as tolerance early on.