What Is Sign Language?

Overcoming Barriers

by Deborah Kent

For people who are deaf, learning language is different. Many learn sign language to let people know what they are thinking or feeling. They motion with their hands, faces, and bodies to communicate. Learn the history of sign language, how it is used today, and how it is the first language for a special fourth-grade girl.

48 pages, Library Binding

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

Deborah Kent was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Little Falls. She graduated from Oberlin College and received a master's degree from Smith College School for Social Work. For four years, she was a social worker at University Settlement House on New York's Lower East Side. In 1975, Ms. Kent moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she wrote her first young-adult novel, Belonging. In San Miguel, Ms. Kent helped to found the Centro de Crecimiento, a school for children with disabilities. Ms. Kent is the author of numerous young-adult novels and nonfiction titles for children. She lives in Chicago with her husband, children's author R. Conrad Stein, and their daughter, Janna.

Reviews

[Lagobond · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative children's book that goes into more depth than I expected. I thought I knew a fair amount about deaf culture, but I had never heard of Gallaudet University or Pidgin Signed English, just to give two examples. Much of the history of ASL was new to me as well. I appreciate the way the book opens and closes with one deaf girl's personal story, which makes the general information in the middle part more relatable.

[Yareli Arellano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend this book because the students will learn more about the topic of sign language. It also tells the history of Thomas Gallaudet which incorporates another subject which is social studies.

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sign language is the fourth most widely used “language” in the United States. Whether a person is born deaf, becomes deaf, or lives in a deaf family or community, learning is language is different for those who cannot hear.

Sign language reflects deaf culture and is a language with syntax and grammar rules of its own. For many years, use of sign language was forbidden in schools for the deaf. Deaf students instead focused on lip reading and finger spelling English. Sign language has only recently become accepted as a legitimate form of communication. Many find the language to be very expressive, conveying thoughts and emotions through motions with their hands, faces and bodies to communicate.

Kent explores the history of sign language, how it is used today, and how it is the first language for a special fourth-grade girl. It is interesting to note that Deborah Kent was the first blind student to attend public school in Little Falls, New Jersey.

In addition to colorful photographs featuring deaf individuals, the volume includes several useful websites, suggested readings, and a brief glossary and index.