Surdez e linguagem escrita: um estudo de caso

considering sign language as deaf peoples' first language, it is possible to conceive of the insertion of the deaf into the written world. this work aims to analyze the written productions of a deaf child during his initiation into literacy. we view language as a dialogic activity, as social and historic production, that enables constitution of individuals and their language. five written texts produced between 1998 and 2002 were analyzed. these were produced by a deaf subject, r, together with his speech and language therapist. it is important to clarify that this professional was fluent in sign language, and she acted as an interpreter and interlocutor, emphasizing language as interaction and interfering in written productions when requested. during the years she worked with r, it was seen that he started to reflect upon his written production and that his attitudes towards writing changed. the fact that r and his speech and language therapist shared sign language allowed him to talk about his life and experiences; this material was then taken down as written language. thus, r started to use written language with crossovers and juxtapositions of the two languages he used: portuguese and sign language. writting became an added possibility that could reveal his uniqueness as an individual, enabling him to rebuild the history of his relations to language.