IMAGINE……….. English literacy readiness for ALL Deaf and Hard of Hearing children!
This is the utmost goal of the bill. English literacy readiness for ALL Deaf and Hard of Hearing children.
PROBLEM? An alarming number of Deaf and Hard of Hearing children enter school with little or no language. Language deprivation has serious consequences for educational, social and vocational development! When provided full access and opportunities, they can develop language. If they have foundation of language, they will acquire English literacy.
Did you know that language acquisition foundation starts at birth. Each baby’s brain grows three times its size during first three years, at the age of five the brain is 90% finished developing. That time – from zero to five years old – is the most critical time for language acquisition. When the child passes the age of five, it is too late for language acquisition.
Unfortunately, too many Deaf and Hard of Hearing children missed this language acquisition window of opportunity. This has lifetime detrimental impact on the Deaf children’s lives! English Literacy! Career/Employment! Quality of life such as:
cognitive development
emotional development
executive functioning (most important thing for everyday functions)
family isolation
mental health issues
behavioral issues
academic struggles
suicide attempts
welfare
child abuse/sexual abuse
Who are we to blame? Parents? No. THE SYSTEM! The system is flawed. The system does not protect our Deaf and Hard of Hearing children’s linguistic rights. Don’t lose hope! With the language acquisition of ASL, English or both, the child has a guaranteed chance of a successful life and future!
This brings us this bill… The bill will:
ensure that parents are provided information that will help them to know whether their child is acquiring language relative to critical language development milestones for English, ASL or both.
require educational assessments that measure language achievement.
require ongoing data collection and annual reporting to ensure accountability.
What I love about this is that the law will empower families with knowledge and resources. The milestones will help parents to observe their child’s language development (in ASL or English or both) along established norms so that they can get support as needed. And language assessments by qualified educators will further ensure children are on track to arrive at Kindergarten ready to learn.
Whatever language(s) path the families choose, the families and educators will have language milestones accountability to monitor the child’s language acquisition growth. What we want is for the child to meet LANGUAGE milestones.The milestones will tell us how well language is being developed and established in the brain. And when the language foundation is being established, this leads to development skills in literacy!
Our main goal: English Literacy! Children have a better chance when they arrive at Kindergarten with full, intact language!
This is for our Deaf and Hard of Hearing children’s future.
