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How does language development in deaf children learning sign language compare with spoken-language development?

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Uncover the science behind the transformation of sounds into speech — speech Speech is the faculty of producing articulated sounds, which, when blended together, form language.

Deaf children who learn sign language from deaf parents follow a developmental course that is remarkably similar to the spoken-language development of hearing children.1

Research indicates that both groups progress through comparable milestones:
* Early Communication: Just as hearing infants produce vocalizations and eventually clear consonant-vowel utterances like "mama" or "dada," deaf infants produce their first signs for objects and later combine them to express complex ideas.1
* Syntactic Development: Both groups begin by using single words or signs that may represent entire sentences, eventually moving to two-word or two-sign combinations to describe their environment or make requests.1
* Language Acquisition: Children learning sign language master the rules of syntax and grammar naturally, without explicit tutoring, mirroring the way hearing children acquire the grammatical structures of their native spoken language.1

Furthermore, even deaf children who are not exposed to a formal sign language often invent their own symbol systems that share structural similarities with the language development of hearing children, highlighting the strong biological foundation for language acquisition.1