Study ASL, get smart

There is one thing that drives me crazy about ASL. It's this strange situation we have where parents of hearing babies are all flocking to teach their children ASL because of all the benefits to communication - but the parents of deaf babies are often told to NOT teach their children ASL because they need to learn English to survive in the hearing world. 

No hearing parent has ever taught their hearing child sign language thinking it would be their only language. But speaking is difficult for small children, and learning to sign can bridge some times when desire for expression is greater than verbal ability.

I just don't see any reason why these exact same things wouldn't apply for a deaf child. More language can only make you smarter and better off. Yes, teach your child to speak and read English. Teach them ASL, too. In fact, teach them ASL first. 

This evening, Sam said the family prayer. He's much more interesting when he prays in ASL. In English, he tends to just say the same things over and over, often mimicking phrases he's heard others repeat over and over. In ASL, he signs what he's actually thinking of. One that has all of us laughing in our house is last week, when he got paid to do a chore. This started a love of cleaning in his heart. I'm noticing that he really likes order and routine, and cleaning makes both of those areas of the brain light up. (I'm not saying he loves cleaning enough to put down a toy...I mean, he is only 5!) So he got paid to do this chore, then he cleaned his room all by himself, and he really liked the way it felt. For the next week or so, he'd pray, "Thank thee that we can clean the house, and please bless us to all clean the house more together." Seriously.

Oh yeah, that wasn't the story I was going to share. I was talking about how ASL makes you smarter...Oh yes, Sam saying the prayer this evening. He signed, "Thank thee for Family Home..." and then he couldn't remember how to sign Evening. (Family Home Evening is a family togetherness thing we do every week.) Without pausing, he just finger spelled, " E-V-E-N-I-N-G", and went on with his prayer. After the prayer, Marriner exclaimed, "This kid is going to have to skip Kindergarten AND first grade, he can already spell "evening". I hadn't thought much about it, but he's right, that is pretty advanced spelling for someone who hasn't been to school yet.

Martha's pretty close to brilliant, too. The other night at the table, she spelled, "R-Y-T-A" and said, "That's milk.

Ok, maybe she's not quite there yet. But she thinks she is, and that's got to count for something, right? :)

So, teach your kid ASL. It's great.