year of life but lost their hearing after that year, still show normal syntactic development (i.e., language development). Later language ability There has been additional research done about fluent sign language users and their ability to pick up spoken language later in life. Sign language establishes an equally solid foundation in general language abilities as does a spoken language, whether it be reading, learning a second language, or basic linguistic skills, as long as it is learned in the critical period of language acquisition. Additionally, research shows that children who learn a sign language alongside a spoken language during their critical period of language acquisition develop comparably to bilingual children learning two spoken languages. Benefits of Language Exposure Sign languages such as American Sign Language, have been recognized as an official language after research that started in the 1960s. The research proved that signed languages are real languages with complex structure, syntax, and grammar just like that of spoken languages. Furthermore, they both make use of the same regions in the left hemisphere of the brain for planning and processing language. Both deaf children and hearing children with proper language exposure and education have normal cognitive developments. In fact, deaf children and hearing children have similar language milestones and timelines. According to the language development and milestone sources, babies that can hear who are exposed to language will typically start to babble (e.g., ma-ma, da-da) between the ages of 6 to 12 months. Similarly, deaf babies that are exposed to a signed language will start to "babble" with their hands by using organized and repetitive elements of their signed language. Deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing children have equal potential to develop typical cognitive abilities; deafness does not directly cause any cognitive impairments nor language delays. However, deaf and hard of hearing children are at much higher risk for having inadequate exposure to language during their critical periods which can in turn cause cognitive and language delays. Providing Language Exposure There are two primary approaches proposed for exposing deaf and hard of hearing children to language. The first is through sign language and the second is through spoken language. However, it is not necessary to choose one or the other. Research shows that learning two languages, regardless of what languages they are, can provide unique cognitive advantages to bilingual individuals. Furthermore, bilingualism opens up more opportunities for the individual by