They view it as a denial of Deaf culture and a failure to accept a child's deafness. Parents and educators, on the other hand, use it because they wish to expose the child to English in a clearly visible modality. In addition, many parents prefer it because English is their own language, and they wish their children to know the same language. A number of families and schools use such a system as one component of a total approach to communication, including ASL, amplification, speechreading, reading, and writing. Persons who work with families of young children, or with the children themselves, should be familiar with the system used in their locality.
Children learn the language of their environment when they perceive it clearly.
Use of an English-based sign system provides them with access to English during the language learning years. Such a sign system is also useful with older students who have not yet mastered English, when used with a second language learning approach. When fluent and complete models are consistently available, English can be learned in a normal manner. This is a critical point for English-based sign systems, since English literacy has been and remains very important and very difficult for many individuals who are deaf. Because English-based sign systems do differ from ASL in grammar and in the use of English markers, some Deaf adults do not like them.