AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE AS A PATHWAY TO LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE

Recently, it has been argued that American Sign Language (ASL) should be the first language of some deaf children and that English should be taught as a second language. This article supports that argument on b oth philosophical and empirical grounds. Philosophical support stems f rom viewing deafness as a cultural difference rather than as a medical disability. Empirical evidence dence demonstrates that (a) ASL is a n atural language, (b) deaf children acquire ASL in a normal and predict able manner when exposure occurs at an early age, and (c) deaf childre n who acquire ASL at an early age may outperform other deaf children o n all measures of academic achievement. Based on the empirical evidenc e presented, implications for educational practice are provided.