The Acquisition of Spoken Language in Deaf Children

What makes us human is our ability to use language to communicate with the world around us. The capability to produce novel and complex sentences is a skill that every child learns if the conditions allow him or her to do so. What is most amazing about this is that children gain this capability in such a short amount of time. Within 5 years of life humans use the linguistic input of the world around them to produce novel ideas and thoughts. Regardless of where or how one lives, the process of acquiring language is often predictable. There are about 7000 languages spoken in the world today and infants can acquire any of them if exposed to enough linguistic input. This process is disrupted when the child is not receiving typical language exposure. This is the case for deaf or hard of hearing children. Depending on the degree of hearing loss, part or all of the speech signal is lost as an infant tries to acquire the language being used around them. Luckily, we live in a world in which we are able to compensate for the challenges thrown at us. We have developed new technology and new systems of language in an effort to comply with the demands of a world that requires communication between people. Although the life of a deaf individual can be a relatively normal one, here, we can look at the difficulties and choices that must be made as a deaf or hard of hearing child acquires spoken language in the first few years of their life. I hypothesis that deaf children will acquireShow MoreRelatedThe Acquisition of Spoken Language in Deaf Children3098 Words   |  12 PagesGovernment Intervention 5 4.0 Human Capital Investment 6 4.1 Human Capital 6 4.2 Endogenous Growth Theory 7 5.0 The effect of child marriage in Nigeria 8 6.0 Rebuttal 9 7.0 Conclusion 9 References 10 1.0 Introduction The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) defines child marriage as â€Å"a formal marriage or informal union before age 18.† This is before the child is psychologically, physically and physiologically prepared for marriage and child bearing (Walker, 2013). Child marriage is a commonRead MoreThe Importance Of Language On Deaf Children1582 Words   |  7 PagesDeaf and Muted In every facet of life, language plays a critical role. Virginia Frazier-Maiwald describes the significance of language saying, Language is the glue that allows us to establish and maintain our relationships. 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