hi! I'm planning on writing a profoundly deaf girl around 8 years old and I haven't seen much about how to write a deaf child, specifically who's primary language is asl. Would there be a difference in how a kid signs vs an adult, and would their signing be influenced by the fact that their parents are hearing?
ahh deaf children! This is something I enjoy talking about but (surprisingly) have had little chance to yet on this blog. Nice question, Nonny!
“Would there be a difference in how a kid signs Vs an adult?”
A sign-speaking child might use Makaton at first (it’s where I started). Makaton is a sign system designed to support speech – I like to think of it as the middle ground between verbal speech and sign language. The signs come from the national sign language but used in the same way as verbal speech. The first ever word I remember learning is “drink” followed by “more” and then, once I had more of an understanding of full sentences, “please”. When I was very young, I would just sign a single word for what I wanted in the same way as a verbal-speaking child would. “please” and “thank you” came later, and full sentences after that.
It’s also worth noting that Makaton doesn’t incorporate regional dialects like BSL, ISL, ILS, ASL etc, and varies from country to country. As the child gets older and transitions to their national sign language, they may pick up the dialect and drop the more basic Makaton signs. (The average signing 8 y/o would do this, btw. Children pick up language from adults in their life and then form their personal idiolect as they get older).
As with all talk of representation: people are people. Or in this case: children are children. This means that some basic features of children’s speech still translate into how a child uses signs. You might have noticed from that children between the ages of (roughly) 2-4 years over-generalise. All insect-like animals are “fly!” or all four-legged animals are “doggy”. So a sign-speaking child might, instead of “tea”, “coffee”, “juice” or “water”, just use the “drink” sign for everything. As the child ages, they would get a wider understanding of different signs and gather the words much like any other child would (barring a speech-related disability, that is). I highly recommend this post about child speech with additions from an actual expert, but keep in mind that some of these are unique to verbal speech/ wouldn’t work in sign!
“would their signing be influenced by the fact that their parents are hearing?”
can render some above advice useless. Here’s why:
As much as I would love to see more supportive parents, many parents of Deaf children ruthlessly mainstream their children. For the unaware, mainstreaming refers to the practise of pushing Deaf children into Hearing society without nuance, sensitivity or regard for what the child wants. It can include (but isn’t limited to): speech therapy, punishment for removing hearing aids/implants, sending a child to a mainstream Hearing school, cutting ties to Deaf culture, encouraging a Deaf child to actively shun Deaf culture, and having a child fitted with implants at a young age without their consent.
It’s also important to remember that although mainstreaming is an abuse, it doesn’t always mean that the child’s parents are abusive. Most of the time, the parents are simply… Hearing, (and raised in an inherently ableist society). They don’t know any better, and health professionals do nothing to educate them. These parents often believe that they’re doing the best by their child. Even “supportive” parents can might not understand the nuance of the Deaf community; they will take some very basic sign language courses, watch a few videos and then try to “compromise” between verbal and signed speech with their child. (which is confusing and upsetting)
If any of this is true for your character, then their development of signed speech may suffer.
Some things you need to know about the parents:
how do the parents feel about deafness/Deaf culture?
have the parents learned sign language?
how to the parents feel about sign language?
do the parents use signed or verbal speech with their child?
and some things to know about the child/their environment:
do they have access to the Deaf community?
are there any Deaf friends, family members or other trusted adults who use sign language in their life?
do they attend any clubs or groups with other sign speakers?
If your character has other sign-speakers that they trust and interact with, then their development of ASL (or any other sign language) will be healthy. But if not, or if their parents are awkward about sign language, then it would be harder for your character to sign freely.
Here in the UK we have the National Deaf Children’s Society where deaf children do fun things like drive cars blindfolded, go grass-sledging, venture out on sailing boats and go to see sign-supported pantomimes. (I’ve done all of those. And when I say fun, I mean,, chaotic and fear-inducing and also brilliant). The NDCS also provides resources for parents, encouraging them to embrace sign language and Deaf culture, partakes in activism and more. Do some research to see if there would be anything similar that your character could access.
