hearing difficulties and communication 3
Communication for learning and thinking
Children use communication to learn about the world, to relate to other
people, to express themselves, and to think and develop their ideas.
Without some form of communication, a deaf child cannot fully
develop her mind or abilities.
The more children are able to learn a language,
the more they can understand their world, think
and plan, and develop close relationships with
the people around them.
For more information about language and
children’s development, see Chapter 2.
Hi. My name is Carmen and I use my hands to
communicate because I am deaf. I went to a school
for deaf children in Nicaragua. There, we made up
Nicaragua’s first sign language. I still remember what it
was like to finally have people understand me.
It is as though I have
colors to paint the whole
world, where before I
had only gray.
Helping Children Who Are Deaf (2004)