Research American Sign Language and Cognitive Development - 825 Words

Research American Sign Language and Cognitive Development (Research Paper Sample) Content: Students Name:Institutions Name:Course Name:Submission Date: American Sign Language and Cognitive DevelopmentAmerican Sign Language (ASL) is a natural gestural or rather visual language that its users, the deaf, have developed over a period of time. Like any other language, ASL has governed rules, which determine the meaning of each of the symbol that is used. The symbols in this case are specific configurations and hand movements that are enhanced by facial expression in order to convey meaning. The gestures and symbols in this case are normally referred to as signs (Emmorey and Lane 10). In essence, ASL provides a formidable avenue through which persons that are born deaf can express themselves and be understood. This paper will look at the effects that learning ASL has on a persons cognitive development. The Effects of ASL on Cognitive DevelopmentAccording to Marchack and Houser, in order for the effects of ASL on cognitive development in children to be appreciated , it is critical to first take into account the contributions of hearing to the development of humans (70). Hearing provides the child with the acoustic correlates of their physical world: it exposes them to sounds such as music, footsteps, pouring liquid and the voice of their caretakers. This is what deaf children miss in their early developmental years. Courtin argues that since deaf children cannot hear, they invariably cannot perceive speech and this in turn inhibits the speaking and comprehension (264). It is not easy for logical and complex thought to develop in the absence of the spoken language. There is ample evidence from previous research, which has demonstrated that the children that are born deaf normally exhibit learning difficulties that lead them to underperform in their classrooms (Mayberry 74). However, research has also demonstrated that when deaf children are taught ASL, their literacy and cognition levels are significantly developed. The learning deficiencies i n the children that are born deaf is largely attributed to their lack auditory experience (Mayberry 74). Children are capable of understanding the representation-generation of the mind; at a very tender age, they are able to develop skills in regards to the coordination of visual perspective, which is the pathway through which they understand the representational mind (Mayberry 76). By the time the child is four years, they are able to know the visual representation of each person in their lives and or a particular object; they are also unconsciously cognizant of the fact there are varied visual representation of objects, depending on the point of view that that particular object is seen (Emmorey and Lane 283).Marchack and Houser note that the childs ability to manipulate and understand the mental representations are thereafter transferred from their perceptual domain and into the conceptual domain (75). The conceptual domain is the stage at which the child is able to predict and un derstand action of other people according to what they know. This stage is critical for deaf children. Emmorey and Lane argue that parents of deaf children should carefully consider the communication modalities at this stage since the properties of sign language could be essential in determining if and when the visual perspective is effectively mastered (287).Children that are exposed to ASL from the day of their birth acquire it spontaneously in the same manner that hearing children acquire spoken language (Mayberry 76). However, the child is not able to fully master the ASL grammar until they are about five years old. This is implies that congenital deafness by no means affects the ability of the child to acquire grammar (Courtin 265). According to Mayberry deaf children that use ASL have demonstrated an above average performance on various types of visuospatial tasks, which include movement detection, block design, spatial memory and face recognition (77). However, the degree at which these cognitive functionalities are developed in these children is determined by the age upon which the child began to be exposed to sign language (Mayberry 77). On the other hand, Emmorey and Lane established that research on deaf children has broadened the understanding of neurocognitive development in all children (287). This is in the sense that deaf children have demonstrated that the development of the mind of man is characterized by significant linguistic activity. Therefore, whenever language is not available, the mind of the child invest one for itself, which has come to be referred to as the home sign...