Learning a Sign Language Does Not Hinder Acquisition of a Spoken Language

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine whether and how leaAmerican Sign Language (ASL) is associated with spoken English skills sample of ASL–English bilingual deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children. Method: This cross-sectional study of vocabulary size included 56 DHH dren between 8 and 60 months of age who were learning both ASL and sEnglish and had hearing parents. English and ASL vocabulary were indedently assessed via parent report checklists. Results: ASL vocabulary size positively correlated with spoken English vocalary size. Spoken English vocabulary sizes in the ASL–English bilingual children in the present sample were comparable to those in previous repormonolingual DHH children who were learning only English. ASL–English bgual DHH children had total vocabularies (combining ASL and English) that equivalent to same-age hearing monolingual children. Children with large vocabularies were more likely to have spoken English vocabularies in the age range based on norms for hearing monolingual children. Conclusions: Contrary to predictions often cited in the literature, acquisitiosign language does not harm spoken vocabulary acquisition. This retrospectcorrelational study cannot determine whether there is a causal relationsbetween sign language and spoken language vocabulary acquisition, but causal relationship exists, the evidence here suggests that the effect woulpositive. Bilingual DHH children have age-expected vocabularies when consering the entirety of their language skills. We found no evidence to supporommendations that families with DHH children avoid learning sign languaRather, our findings show that children with early ASL exposure can devage-appropriate vocabulary skills in both ASL and spoken English.