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First language acquisition should be effortless.
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:
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:
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
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