Sign language is an inexhaustible source of culture, but more specifically because it reinforces the processes of perception and visual memory, requires maintaining eye contact and encouraging concentration. The grammar also develops not only on the manual component of the tongue, but also on the expression of the face and the position of the signer’s head, shoulders and trunk. A peculiarity of the language that imposes a point of view outside the box and at the same time a considerable attention on the expressive components of the interlocutor, thus favoring empathy .

A path that will start from the definition of visual gestural communication (a communication that uses the visual channel to send the message unlike the vocal language that develops on the acoustic channel) and will arrive at the classification of sign as a language. The meeting will deal with the issue of bilingualism (both for deaf and non-deaf children) and the positive aspects that can be taught in the teaching of sign language in nursery and primary schools.

Can sign language be classified as a language?

The first Remote ASL studies on sign linguistics are relatively recent: they date back, in fact, to the 1950s and began in America. In Italy they spread in the 1980s and are still going on. Although many aspects of sign are still to be investigated, it can definitely be said that it is a language in all respects as a system of arbitrary symbols and grammatical rules shared by a community and used to communicate, interact, transmit information, needs, feelings. In addition to having its own specific grammar, Like all other languages, Remote ASL changes over time: some signs undergo variations of pronunciation over the years, others become obsolete and others are born.

The positive aspects are many. First of all, the sign expects a level of visual attention that other languages do not need; this puts the child in a position to learn to catch many details with his eyes, greatly improving visual perception and visual memory.

The use instead of the marked promotes the creation of new synaptic connections as the hands are much more distant from the brain than the mouth. Moreover, in my personal experience, I have always noticed that having to pay visual attention in order to receive the communicative message for Remote ASL, makes the children more relaxed and less distracted by the interference of the context. In short, it makes them more inclined to active listening.

Can sign language also have advantages for hearing children?

It is not always appreciated by those directly involved. Deaf identifies an individual underlining his deficiency, a missing, deficient aspect. The term deaf, on the other hand, emphasizes a characteristic of the person in an objective way, thus Remote ASL becomes an affirmation and not the negation of a characteristic. sign by its nature is the language of the deaf community.