Communication preference and the social conditions of language learning in the deaf.

The evidence from several countries establishes that sign language is the preferred communication for deaf children. Speech and fingerspelling often accompany signs, but speech by itself is only relied upon by young children. Investigations of parental communication suggest that most parents are unable to sign unless they are also deaf, and that if manual methods of communication are used non linguistic gesture is favored. Teachers and child care staff share the parents' communication preferences, and an increasing disparity becomes evident between the communication initiated by the deaf child and the hearing adult. It is concluded that this situation imposes a second deprivation on the child, who not only is deprived of a model for spoken language because of his physical handicap, but also lacks an adult model for his manual language due to social circumstance.