It is a linguistically complete, natural language. Sign language was first developed as a means of communication for hearing impaired individuals to communicate with each other and has existed as long as there have been Deaf Americans. Standardization was begun in 1817 when Laurent Clerc and Thomas H. Gallaudet established the first school for the Deaf in the U.S. Students spread the use of ASL to other parts of the U.S and Canada. ASL is not universal; there is no set language' that all Deaf people follow. Deaf people use different sign language, just like there are different dialects in English, there are in ASL. (ASLinfo.com) ASL is now a credited foreign language in many Universities and Schools. American Sign Language is now being used not only for the Deaf community, but for teaching slow to develop speech and leaning disabilities, such as autism. .
Does American Sign Language benefit learning disabled children, such as those with autism? According to Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D. it does, "Sign language is useful for those who have little or no verbal abilities or communication skills. It is not recommended for those who have a large vocabulary. People with a variety of functioning levels can be taught to use sign language. Many aberrant behaviors associated with autism and other developmental disabilities, such as aggression, tantrumming, self-injury, anxiety, and depression, are often attributed to an inability to communicate to others. Signed Speech many, at the very least, allow the person to communicate using signs and may stimulate verbal facilitation of their attentiveness to social gestures of others as well as of themselves."" (Stephen M. Eielson).
Dr. Marilyn Daniels, associate professor of speech communication at Penn State University, has spent the last 10 years researching the effects of teaching sing language to hearing children. With Dr. Daniels work, she has come to the conclusion, "All the research I've done shows that sign language definitely helps hearing children and helps them in a lot of different ways.
