Short video by Ming @ Agents of Speech arguing that sign language does not cause speech delay. The speaker distinguishes natural gestures from full sign languages, endorses baby signs/gestures as tools to teach word meanings and support early communication, and gives an example (the sign for "eat") to show how signing conveys word content.
We want to talk about if sign language actually causes speech delay, basically the answer is no, because sign language doesn't replace speech. When we talk a lot, when we explain ourselves, our hands start moving and we start gesturing and we point there, point there. That in itself is kind of a sign language, right? But sign language in itself is a whole different language system. People who are having hearing impairments, they will use it a lot. And it's not exclusive. It's obviously a different type of language. And the grammar is different if you're talking about full on sign language, but if you're talking about baby signs, sign language, or the use of gestures, which we wholeheartedly recommend at agents of speech. And the reason is because it helps with learning to communicate and learning the meaning of a word. So for instance, if we say eat, like that, right? The acting out of which actually signifies to us that the kid actually understands what eating is about. It's about putting stuff in your mouth and swallowing it. That's why we do sign language, just to help them acquire the content of a word, the meaning behind the word.
