Home > Blog Posts > The Advantages of Learning American Sign Language

This page may contain affiliate or sponsored links. MyActiveChild.com will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on an affiliate link, and the presence of our sponsors/advertising partners is what makes this website possible. Thank you for supporting us. For more information, see our terms of use.

The Advantages of Learning American Sign Language

Diann Shorter is the owner of Sign With Me Virginia and will be joining us as a Guest Blogger to give you examples of common signs used both as a part of signing with young children, and to be used by anyone wishing to communicate with the Deaf community.

The Advantages of Learning American Sign Language by Diann Shorter, Owner Sign With Me Virginia
4469841629_8e00199500_n.jpg
It has been documented as of 2011-12 that ASL (American Sign Language) is the third most spoken language in the US and rising. English being number one (of course) and Spanish second. There are 3 types of learners…right-brain (visual) that is me..left brain (speaking and hearing) and kinetic or tactile learners. Sign Language is all 3.
1. You watch people sign (right brain)
2. You can speak and/or listen while signing or watching others sign (left brain)
3. You are using your hands and movement (Kinetic or tactile learning)
Studies were done with hearing and special needs children when teachers and caregivers noticed that a child that learned to sign at an early age or grew up in a Deaf environment seem to have a higher IQ and learned or caught on easier than many who had no signing experience.

Some of the most famous studies can be found in the book “Dancing with Words: Signing for Hearing Children’s Literacy ” by Marilyn Daniels. That study started in 1991 and documented the results of signing with hearing and special needs children. They were remarkable in that sign language gives a hearing student a linguistic advantage. Why is that?

According to the study and stated in Dancing with Words “Memory is connected to growth and relies on visual, movement, meaning, play and of course manual stimuli.” All of these components explain why sign language used along with games and other forms of learning can help give an added advantage in learning.
To be continued…….
Are you interested in being a Guest Blogger with MyActiveChild.com? Click HERE for more information!

Disclosure – this post may contain affiliate links and MyActiveChild.com does receive compensation if you make a purchase after clicking on an affiliate link. To read our full disclosure, please read our Terms of Use.

Tags: American Sign Language
Category: Guest Post