I was an audiologist in a past life and have seen children unable to communicate verbally but use signs -
in the past, educators believed all chidlren had to be taught to speak. they discouraged signing as they said it made children look 'different' and that wasn't right. When I trained as recently as 20 years ago this was the theory.
You only had to look at these children to see how unhappy they were at not being able to communicate with each other - being told to stop if they were signing etc As soon as they got into the playground they would huddle into little friendship groups and sign away like mad - this shows how much they missed the normal interaction that goes on in groups
Once children were able to sign, they had a universal conversational structure - they taught their hearing friends a few signs and they tried much harder to talk cos this meant they were being accepted more and communicating with lots of different children - it was a much happier situation
for everyone concerned. They also made more use of other non-verbal communication such as pointing and facial expressions because they were so keen to form social groups
Without the signing and communication combined children were becoming withdrawn, socially inept and uncertain about the world - as soon as they were allowed free reign, they were much more secure and they could voice their emotions in a much clearer way - we know so much more now!
Sarahx
