Multilingual Aspects of Signed Language Communication and Disorder ed. by David Quinto-Pozos (review)

Abstract

Multilingual Aspects of Signed Language Communication and Disorder, edited by David Quinto-Pozos (Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2014, 288 pp., hardcover, ISBN 978-1-78-309130-0)In the United States, children who are deaf or hard of hearing are being screened for hearing in the newborn period. This screening facilitates earlier identification of hearing status and earlier initiation of intervention services if needed. In addition, at least in some state systems, parents are offered an opportunity to learn sign language, often in the home, in the first few months of their new infant's life. Because these children are being introduced to sign language, hopefully from a native and/or fluent signer, they are able to access a competent communication in a visual language. The ability to begin to assess and diagnose communication disorders that interfere with the typical development of sign communication will become increasingly important as the field attempts to identify these disorders quickly so that appropriate interventions can be developed for these specialized subgroups.Until this text was published, the field has lacked a comprehensive discussion of the topic of communication disorders and sign language communication.The book presents a wide-ranging discussion of this topic by an illustrious group of authors who, as experts in the field, provide compelling data and case examples of atypical sign communication. This text should be a requirement for students who are preparing to provide educational services to children or adults communicating with sign language. The information in this volume provides a framework for the assessment of sign language development and communication that can be used to devise new intervention strategies for these special populations. It would be an invaluable resource for any professional working with children and adults who sign.As Karen Emmorey has pointed out, the information in this text can significantly inform theories of language development and disorders that have focused exclusively on spoken language disorders. Information about special subpopulations can provide valuable insight into variability in sign language development and language-learning processes, as well as the interactions of language, cognition, and socialemotional development.This book in the series Communication Disorders across Languages is the first to exhaustively explore communication disorders in individuals who sign. Part 1 deals with developmental language disorders in the signed modality. Topics include information about identifying (1) specific language impairment (SLI) in children who use sign language, (2) other developmental signed language disorders, (3) sign language characteristics of children who are deaf with autism, and (4) guidelines for the development of sign language assessments.Part 2 of the book deals with fluency disorders, neurogenics, and acquired communication disorders.This section discusses stuttering in signed languages, sign dysarthria in sign language, and dementia and its impact on signed languages. Part 3 of the book, which deals with the subject of hearing children from signing households, discusses KODAs (kids of deaf adults) (a special form of bilingualism, p. 211) and bimodal/bilingual language development in ASL.It is not unreasonable to hypothesize that additional disabilities would occur at least at a rate similar to that in hearing children; they might even constitute a higher proportion because a significant percentage of children who are diagnosed as deaf or hard of hearing have spent time in the neonatal intensive care units. Thus, when considering the prevalence of specific language impairments among hearing children, as indicated by Dr. Laurence Leonard in the foreword, there are likely as many-if not more-deaf children with SLI. A study of British Sign Language and specific language impairment has found about 6.4 percent based on 13 children of a total of 203 deaf children who had atypical sign language development. …