This paper investigated the consequences of late acquisition of sign language on reading comprehension of the Portuguese language as a second language by deaf who sign in Brazilian Sign Language. In order to look at the consequences, we applied a sign language comprehension test, taken from the Assessment Instrument materials of sign language (IALS), and Portuguese reading comprehension test adapted from the Portuguese Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). The participants were five people who were deaf from birth, males aged 19-41 years, who had acquired sign language at different ages. The results showed that the main consequence was a lack of strategies for identifying the main idea of the text. The results also showed that despite the factor of age of acquisition of sign language greatly interfering reading comprehension of Portuguese, there are other factors to consider, such as: contact with other deaf people who are fluent, support and motivation from family in the use of the two languages (Libras and Portuguese), the presence of sign language during school life. Another consideration are methodologies for teaching the Portuguese language in order to assist deaf people in discovering their own strategies for constructing meaning as well as showing them how to detect differences that occur in different language modes, and the singularities of each language involved and what is common to both languages.
Special Education; Brazilian Sign Language; Language Acquisition; Reading Comprehension
