Language Deprivation Syndrome

Language Deprivation Syndrome Sanjay Gulati is a medical doctor who has been working with Deaf children for over 20 years in the state of Massachusetts. In his lecture, Language Deprivation Syndrome, he went into detail about what causes Language Deprivation Syndrome (LDS), Theory of Mind (ToM) and if assistive devices such as hearing aids and cochlear implants actually help avoid these issue. These topics were of great interest to me since I am going into the medical field and do not have any prior knowledge. Gulati stated that the most important issues in the deaf world and community is LDS. LDS is formed when a primary language is not developed; which also termed as L1. He believes that hearing is about language and his definition of deaf is a person who cannot enjoy an easy naturally learned spoken primary language. He believes that hearing is not required for living but language is; emphasizing the point by stating that one can go as far as dying without language. Gulati gave an example of a child being born blind; they will show delays such as with walking or rolling over but language will be for the most part okay. If a child is born deaf and parents do not sign, then LDS develops which results in the child …show more content…
This allows for empathy. To someone who is hearing, this seems like an inborn phenomenon, how can someone not experience empathy. Interestingly enough, a child without a L1 does not experience this. Studies done in Italy showed that children who were deaf and hard of hearing using cochlear implants or hearing aids in an oral/aural classroom had worse ToM scores and could not pick up on language. Children who were deaf but learned sign language as an infant, exceeded expectations with ToM and even did better than those who hear. This is due to sign language being their L1. This caught me by surprise; these devices are supposed to