ASL

In eighth grade I read the play The Miracle Worker and we were assigned to memorize twenty words in ASL per week. Personally, I struggle with memorization and I remember my frusration with the assignment because it seemed to isolate students who were naturally good with memorization and those who were not. I had taken Spanish for years, however, this memorization was different becase rather than being auditory-based it was visual/tactile. For hearing-abled people like me, auditory learning occupies the majority of our learning, however, it struck me then that for deaf students, that style of learning is not even a consideration. There is only visual and tactile, and for me, I could not imagine learning without auditory aid. For kids who lose their hearing as they grow older, I imagine this would be a signficant and difficult transition and I admire those who are willing to take it on and learn ASL.