[Xmca-l] Re: deaf thinking

[Lois Holzman <lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org>]

Me too.
Lois





On Aug 8, 2013, at 4:00 PM, Natalia Gajdamaschko <nataliag@sfu.ca> wrote:

> 
> Hi Peter,
> I use video "Butterflies of Zagorsk" (BBC production) and  Awakening to Life by  A.Meshcheryakov (1974) in my Vygotsky seminar to illustrate those different ways of mediation for deaf and blind children. 
> Cheers,
> Natalia.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Smagorinsky" <smago@uga.edu>
> To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2013 12:16:57 PM
> Subject: [Xmca-l]  deaf thinking
> 
> I’m working with some colleagues in a small study group that is concerned with what we’re calling post-disability studies, i.e., research that eschews deficit labeling of people of difference (for me, mental health variation; for others, ADHD overclassification and deaf education). I was reading something that led me to pose the following question. Although LSV was in part motivated to take on defectological studies in response to the education of the deaf, I don’t think he ever gets into deaf cognition, especially in terms of how, in the absence of language/speech, thinking is mediated and represented. My question:
> Joe, one of the hallmarks of a Vygotskian approach is that thinking is tool mediated, principally by language/speech but through other means as well—images, sounds, etc. I’m wondering about people who have never heard speech. Has anyone ever documented what deaf thinking is comprised of/mediated by? Thx,p
> 
> The answer from Joe Tobin:
> This is a hot topic in deaf studies. A group at Gallaudet called VL2 has a NSF grant to do a series of studies on deaf linguistics/thinking/brain development. http://vl2.gallaudet.edu/initiatives_and_projects.php
> 
> Here is an example:
> http://vl2.gallaudet.edu/assets/section7/document163.pdf
> 
> One paper also attached.
> 
> Although I’m hardly a deaf education expert, I find this to be a fascinating question. Am I alone, or are others out there interested as well? Just don’t expect any definitive answers from me. Thx,Peter
> 
> 
>