Chapter 25 :)

Chapter 25 was full of very interesting and useful information! As a future speech- language pathologist, understanding the English language as well as speech sounds is very interesting to me. After our class discussion a few weeks ago about Deaf culture and reading this chapter, I now understand the importance of having positive language role models. This chapter emphasizes how important it is for children to know a language when entering school, as Deaf educator Sam Supalla points out"you can't learn a language in the classroom unless you already know a language." 
This chapter really reinforced the importance of early deaf/ HOH detection. If the Deafness is detected in the neonatal unit, or in the very early toddler years then the parents (if the child is lucky) will begin learning ASL and signing to the child. As this chapter emphasizes, if the child is forced to start school with no language skills, it "can have a disastrous effects on their educational development." 

I really like the point made in this chapter about "Deaf English," and how "it is not the writing of ignorant, unlanguaged persons, it's the writing of persons whose first language is ASL." I feel that if more people (teachers and parents) were better educated about ASL and its form then they would better understand how to teach as well as understand Deaf people's struggle with English. 
The use of computers for promoting good literacy sounds very interesting to me. I would like to know more about how Deaf people con become computer literate without becoming English-literate. I feel like if the student learns to understand things from the computer it is a positive thing, because computers have become a big part of people's lives. 

I think that the literacy gap would become smaller if more educators and families learned more about ASL. Just from past experiences, the better I understand/know someone the better I can teach them. 
I think the reason so many children (both deaf and hearing) show up to school with language delays is because they do not have positive language models at home. The language you are exposed to as a child is proven to have a major impact on language development.