Marvin Miller and Kelby Brick Here is the excerpt from Harm Reduction article about language deprivation... it is list of suggestions for the medical professionals working with Deaf babies- Remedies recommended to prevent linguistic deprivation There are several remedies that the medical profession can enact by making sign language available. Recommend Sign Language – 1 )The medical profession must protect the health of deaf children by setting a foundational goal of prevention of linguistic deprivation can be achieved via sign language. 2) Deaf children need to be given an opportunity to interact with other Deaf peers (i.e. signing children) during their childhood. This ensures that they develop social and communicative abilities. 3) For expanded professional and social opportunities, the medical profession can and should also recommend training in spoken language skills. However, such recommendations should never exclude sign language because sign language prevents linguistic deprivation. This is a reliable and implementable remedy to reduce the risk and the harm of linguistic deprivation. 4) The cochlear implant team must protect the implanted child by demonstrating ways that the family can raise the child with sign language. 5) The medical professionals should direct the family to sign language classes if the family has not already done this, and to support services that will help introduce the family to the Deaf community. 6) The medical professionals should require continued sign language exposure, both regular and frequent, through the elementary school years to help ensure that deaf children will have good language skills regardless of their success with the cochlear implant. Sign language skills are essential in successful use of interpreters in educational, professional and social settings, especially those requiring communication in large and complex interactions (such as a public presentation). 7) The medical professionals should understand and help the family understand that using a sign language is not an inferior method of communication, but that sign languages are complex, expressive languages in which any matter can be communicated, no matter how technical or nuanced 8) In order to give knowledgeable advice in this regard, schools and continuing education programs for health professionals should include courses on language acquisition for deaf children as well as the status of sign language as a natural language and Deaf communities as rich in culture and history which a family can look forward to exploring. 9) The traditional deference to parental autonomy needs to be mitigated when parents’ knowledge about language acquisition in deaf children is not sufficient to make well-informed health decisions for their deaf children.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 02:24:52 +0000
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