To the Editor:

''Why not teach deaf children to speak and read English as their first language?'' asks John K. Duffy (letter, March 10), who is opposed to the introduction of American Sign Language at a New York City public school for the deaf. Answer: because fluent language skills are vital to the development of intellectual abilities, and fluency is directly connected to ease of acquisition. Only natural sign languages like A.S.L. provide easy access for the profoundly deaf.

The deaf community in Ireland had a high literacy rate until the schooling system changed from sign language to an English-based pedagogy in the 1960's. Literacy rates plummeted. On the other hand, literacy rates soared for deaf students in New Zealand and Nicaragua after the introduction of natural sign language teaching.


Brooklyn, March 10, 1998

The writer teaches linguistics.