Other Benefits

Benefits for children

Higher Reading Level

A 10-year research was conducted by Marilyn Daniels from Pennsylvania University. She looked into preschool and kindergarten-aged kids who were taught ASL. Over 10 years she came to the conclusion that the kids who learned ASL always had a higher reading level and a 15–20% improvement in vocabulary. From Daniels,“[ASL] helps children in terms of giving a picture for the words. Most of the signs are iconic, so since the signs look like what the words are, it helps the child remember what the word is. Since the child can associate the letters in a word with a sign, they are more easily able to remember it.”

Long term benefits

Over the course of a 20-year long study, it has been determined that learning ASL as a baby is linked to having a higher IQ. They also discovered that it leads to heightened reasoning skills. Dr. Linda P. Acredolo and Dr. Susan W. Goodwyn conducted this study and found that the babies were speaking much sooner than the non-ASL babies and they were using more complex sentences.It was also discovered that the ASL- learning babies had an average of 12 points higher on IQ tests.

Helps Babies Communicate

According to the American sign language university, babies even as young as eight months old can sign words and imitate signs from their parents. Having this way to communicate early allows for less frustration if the child is hungry, thirsty or in pain.This also allows parents and children to bond and create trust within the relationship.

Elementary Schools

With all the research on the benefits of teaching kids ASL, I believe it should be taught in elementary schools. ASL should be taught as a second language similar to how we teach French. Teaching children ASL will improve their fine motor skills, accelerate their speech development, and help them remember words since muscle memory is involved. ASL also brings more senses into the learning experience which makes it more enjoyable and memorable.Not only does learning ASL improve many factors in a child's life but it connects them to the Deaf community as well as people with various disabilities who may not be able to communicate verbally.

Benefits for people with disabilies

Studies have shown an improvement on children with disabilities when they learn ASL.Anne Toth did a 10-year study on children who had been diagnosed with autism, down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome and other learning disabilities. She used sign language to try and improve their communication. The children were exposed to ASL through parents, teachers and a DVD from Toth, which outlined simple ASL words, letters and numbers. The findings of this research showed that the children overall did show improvement in communication and were able to recognize signs and respond appropriately. The experiment worked so well that all the families and people surrounding the children also wanted to learn ASL. One story from the experiment included a 4-year-old who was diagnosed with down syndrome. Her parents applied for this because she was showing sings of wanting to communicate, but not being able to verbally get her thoughts across.After 6 months in the program she could imitate all the signs as well as speak the words and, read and sign the words before the video clip played. Overall this was a success and greatly improved the lives of children with disabilities and their families