Chapter 5 was really interesting! It’s amazing to me how both deaf and hearing people have such similarities in terms of language development. I learned how deaf people learn, think and read. It turns out that this varies somewhat from deaf person to deaf person, depending on their level of deafness and vocal training. Language has been shown to literally be the device driver that drives much of the brain’s core hardware. Those completely deaf people who are taught no sign language until later in life will often have learning problems that stick with them throughout their lives, even after they have eventually learned a particular sign language. The ability to hear words can influence whether someone thinks in words or in pictures. Many people who are born deaf have never had the chance to hear spoken speech. This makes it very unlikely that they can also think using spoken speech. Instead, because the primary method for deaf people to process language is through visual forms of communication, they are more likely to think in images. These images may be images and pictures of objects. Or they may involve seeing word signs, such as in sign language, or seeing moving lips, such as with lip reading. Throughout history, deaf people were thought to have less intelligence compared to hearing people and were concrete thinkers rather than abstract thinkers. Concrete thinkers experience the world through familiar objects and events while abstract thinkers find principles in recurring events and solve problems. Like hearing children, deaf children develop thinking skills as they experience their world through the senses. When they learn language, they label their experiences and concepts, reorganize them into new patterns, and talk about them. With language, they can translate thoughts and ideas into speech, signs, gestures, and written symbols and can share these with others. Children also develop even more cognitive skills. This is why it is important for deaf children to have early access to language. If they don't, they can’t develop thinking and social skills to their maximum potential. Deaf people use their eyes to think, learn, and remember. Compared to hearing people, Deaf people have the same abilities in seeing shades of color, distinguishing between flashing items and visual motion. Deaf people also have better peripheral vision. Memory for deaf children has been tied to their use of ASL as well as simply being deaf and relying on vision. I found it really interesting how Deaf children remember less than hearing children with numbers, printed words, and pictures, but they do remember better with tasks such as recognizing unfamiliar faces and remembering paths of lights arranged in space. Another thing that was interesting is how video games can increase children’s use of spatial and visual spatial and motor skills. One benefit that is visible and popular with parents and professionals is the improvements in speech perception and production with cochlear implantation. Improvements occur with literacy and academic achievement. Cochlear implants can provide the child with access to conversations in quiet environments. Even though the sound is limited and distorted, the deaf child can learn to connect sounds with meanings and in this way understand spoken language. However there have been a lot of great outcomes from cochlear implants. These devices are helpful in the development of speech perception, speech production skills and literacy skills. The part that stood out to me the most in this chapter is the story about Junius Wilson. It absolutely broke my heart! He had never been declared insane by a medical professional nor had he been convicted of any criminal charge but had to spend 76 years in a mental hospital because he was deaf and African American.
