Principle #1

First language acquisition should be effortless.

Definition: When an infant, toddler, or young child is acquiring language, their brain naturally takes it in. Professionals should not have to explicitly teach language to a young child. Of course, providing a good language model and utilizing strategies to increase language learning is recommended, but not instruction of grammatical concepts.

This principle looks like:

  • Providing a good language model to an infant or young child

  • Expanding on what the child says to increase their length of utterance

  • Providing a Deaf child with a language that is 100% accessible and therefore effortless to acquire

  • Ensuring a Deaf child is meeting language acquisition milestones

  • Finding another professional who is fluent in the Deaf child’s language, if needed

This principle doesn't look like:

  • Explicit instruction of grammatical structures to a very young child (i.e. “Remember, when there are many, we add an ‘s.’”)

  • A young Deaf child becoming exhausted from effortful first language acquisition3

  • Teaching the grammar and syntax of a language

  • Assuming that hearing devices give a Deaf child full access to the ambient spoken language around them

Key concepts:

  • Language in infancy and toddlerhood is acquired best when it is effortless

  • Young children’s brains are wired to pick up language effortlessly

References

1. Comparison between asset and deficit based approaches. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.memphis.edu/ess/module4/page3.php

2. Gibbons, S.M. & Szarkowski, A. (2019) One tool in the toolkit is not enough: Making the case for using multisensory approaches in aural habilitation of children with reduced hearing. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups 4, 345-355.

3. Kushalnagar, P., Mathur, G., Moreland, D.J., Napoli, D.J., Osterling, W., Padden, C., & Rathmann, C. (2010). Infants and children with hearing loss need early language access. Journal of Clinical Ethics 21(2), 143-154.

4. Soma, C. (2016). Strength-based versus deficit-based thinking. Retrieved from https://starr.org/strength-based-versus-deficit-based-thinking/

5. Whitebread, D., Basilio, M., Kuvalja, M., & Verma, M. (2012). The importance of play: A report on the value of children’s play with a series of policy recommendations. University of Cambridge.

6. Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University. (2007). The Science of Early Childhood Development (InBrief). Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu