Communication to Language: Deaf Children’s and Hearing Children’s Development Compared

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Abstract
Videotaped interaction of six children between 8 and 24 months old, some deaf (in an American Sign Language or Italian Sign Language environment), others hearing (in an English or Italian speaking environment), when analyzed, shows quite comparable stages and sequences of communicative development: the use of performative gestures or single vocalizations for general reference to situations precedes the use of referential gestures, signs, and words; and use of the latter precedes the combination of elements (signs, referential gestures, words); finally signs are combined with signs or words are combined with words, depending on the language to which the child is exposed.

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