Trevor and Angus,
Will signwriting make that difference...the difference in 'knowledge'
and 'writing abilities' for DHH students leaving schools at age 18
'plus'? Will it narrow that appaling chronological age and reading and
writing grade level abilities of school leavers? That seems to be the
all important question especially among teachers who work with DHH
students. If it is not going to make a 'difference' than why 'burden'
kids with more stuff to learn? The 'young learners' of signwriting that
I am presently working with, age 6 through 11, do not appear 'burdened'.
They truely are enjoying learning to read and write the signs that are
very much a part of their knowledge and language abilities. I suppose
after another 8 to 12 years we could ask these young learners how
SignWriting has enhanced or burdened their lives.
Cecilia
ps Thanks Angus for your confidence.
Angus B. Grieve-Smith wrote:
>
> On Sat, 4 Mar 2000, Trevor Jenkins wrote:
>
> > On Saturday, 4 March, 2000 07:40:13, INGRID FOGGITT
> > wrote:
>
> > > In South Africa, the average Deaf school leaver has the general
> > > knowledge of what is thought to be 'normal' at 8 years old and
> > > writing skills of what is thought to be `normal' at 10 years old.
>
> > That's appaling! Do these ages vary depending upon ethnic origin?
>
> I don't know figures, but I seem to remember that the situation is
> similar for the US, even among Deaf people from relatively priviledged
> populations.
>
> My experience with Cecelia Flood's students has showed me that
> even though they're very bright kids, very few of them can figure out
> English writing by age 10. Without some kind of sign writing system, I
> can imagine them being stymied at the school levels described by Ingrid,
> but with it I could imagine them equaling or surpassing their peers. I'm
> very excited about Cecelia's project.
>
> --
> -Angus B. Grieve-Smith
> Linguistics Department
> University of New Mexico
>
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