My Versatile Daughter

This year has brought us to a new place in the road on educating our deaf child. After lots of prayer we decided to enroll our daughter into deaf school. We have not abandoned homeschooling! Actually this process, although fearful for me, revealed our teaching ability as Shelby was tested to determine her grade level.

I told the teacher at what level I guessed she was at so that she would know where to start with the testing. And guess what? I was right on! So that proved that I knew where she was at, so I was an active teacher, but it was also a little embarrassing because she was several grade levels behind. I knew this. We had struggled with reading for years! I just couldn't seem to make progress and felt it was because of our lack of ASL skills. I wasn't able to present the info in her language well. There was just a wall I couldn't break!

So we enrolled her in school to get this exposure to ASL, to develop positive deaf role models (which she really never had a problem with this), to meet friends like her, to get speech therapy since she wants to communicate with the hearing world so badly, and to get specialized teaching for reading. Reading is her key to success!

She has been in school for a month now. Over the past month her teacher, the speech therapist, the art teacher, the audiologist, the itinerant teacher from the local district, and the ASL teacher all observed her. And I got to meet with them this week for the verdict. I was a little nervous, but also excited to hear how she was doing.

And you know what! Her teacher is having the same problem with her as I was! I also learned that they didn't feel the need to work with her on ASL as she has better ASL skills than most kids her age! She talks in ASL and has trouble turning that into English, obviously. There was concern over her cochlear implant as it has issues. We are still waiting on parts, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Her teacher said that her ASL is fine, its her processing that is not quite right.

So all these years of struggling, came to find out that I had been dong a great job! Shelby has a loss of myelin sheath in her brain that the docs never could tell me how it would affect her. I spoke to neruodevelopmental specialist this summer and she explained to me how Shelby's brain is functioning. Her brain tires easily because it takes her so much longer to process information. This tiny bit of information helped us understand her a little bit more. Her teachers strongly feel this processing issue is a result of the myelin sheath.

She has an issue with time. She doesn't understand tenses. Doesn't grasp next year. She lives in the present (as Diane can testify to that!) And as one of the teachers mentioned, if after 8+ years, she can't remember that snack is always at 3:00pm, then there is something going on there. So they are working on a plan that will give her the concept of time so that she can function as an adult.

So anyway, we were sitting in this meeting and the teacher asked me what her skills and likes were so that she would be able to use that in class. I started listing things like cooking, sewing, knitting, using power tools, horseback riding, etc. Boy were they impressed! They started joking about the transition classes they have available in high school. These classes are designed to teach these kids this stuff so that they can transition into real life. Most of them live in the dorms and rarely see a kitchen. Shelby could probably teach some of these classes!

Needless to say they were very impressed with Shelby. But I learned that I wasn't doing a bad job. I don't regret putting her in school, but our goals have changed a little. So now she is in school to get more exposure to ASL, to develop more positive deaf role models, to meet friends like her, to get speech therapy since she wants to communicate with the hearing world so badly, and to get specialized teaching for reading, focusing on her processing issues. Reading is her key to success!

Giveaway

I love giveaways. And I wanted to share with you a really cool one!!

Go to Homeschool Notebooking and check out their boys and girls school planners. Who doesn't need a little help with keeping control on their school work?!?!

While you are there check out all the other cool products they offer for the notebooking mama!

Daily Conversations

I've been reading Literacy and your Deaf Child and have been brought to the table. This week I was reading a chapter about how we communicate with our deaf children vs. our hearing children. We do treat them differently, and we always will, but we need to be careful we don't expect little of them. I caught myself doing this to Short Stuff.

We have done well to let her communicate with her friends and family with a cell phone (texting) and letting her order her meals at restaurants. But I do catch myself condensing what is being said when I interpret for her or do most of her communicating for her with adults. She is almost 11 years old and I need to expect her to do what a 11-year-old can do! And help her achieve those goals.

So with that being said, here are some things I am going to try to do this year:

• Journaling - This can be done conversationally or as a diary. Parents can write back and forth with their child. Or have the child write in the journal once a day about something that happened.
• I am using Reading Milestones for her reading practice again this year. Its a lot of worksheets, but she likes that kind of stuff. :)
• Be patient with her while she tries to read the menu at a restaurant and let her order.
• Create a word book for all the new words she learns.
• Short Stuff loves horses, so we are going to use that this year to learn reading and writing. I found a great book called Junior Master Horseman. It is full of ideas for writing, math, and more.

Straight from IP!

I am happy to say that I am posting straight from IP! How exciting for us! We just love being here.

We have come up to spend the week doing a Vacation Bible School. Although my passion is to educate the deaf children, the most important part of that education is Jesus!!! So I am happy to spend the week doing just that.

I came across some new material that I would like to share with you. It's called Picture This! I have not been able to use it with my kids, but it looks like a lot of fun. Check it out. At the end of the year your child will have his/her own Bible notebook with visual reminders for each story in the Bible! Wonderful tool for the visual learner (aka our deaf kids!).

I also have been wanting to share with you about our trip to the ASDC conference at the Oklahoma School for the Deaf. It was awesome!! I met many neat people, including Rachel Coleman from Signing Time and the 2007/2008 Miss Deaf Texas. I listened to many great speakers and hope to highlight those one at a time in the near future. Stay tuned!

Summer Plans

Sorry for the pause in entries, but Summer is almost upon us! Are you ready?? Every summer we are bombarded with things to do, places to see, and people to visit. Where are you going this summer?

As homeschoolers schooling doesn't stop just because it is June. We keep doing our school work, but we also take advantage of the summer reading programs and camps available. Most reading programs are free to participate in, as they should be. Here are a few:

Half Price Books

Pizza Hut Book It

Book Adventure

Barnes & Noble's

Borders Reading Challenge

And don't forget to check your local library. Last year my kids earned free tickets to the circus through our local library! It was exciting!

There are also many camps available during the summer. Check your state deaf school and see what they have going on in the summer. Here in Texas, TSD always has some fun up their sleeve!

We are blessed to be attending ASDC Conference in Oklahoma!! We are so very excited.

And don't forget all the things IP has planned! There is so much to do - don't miss out!

These are all great events to get our kids around positive deaf adults and deaf friends.

Bible Stories

One of the most important duties of a parent is to pass on our spiritual beliefs to our children. I want my children to love God with all their hearts. So how do we pass this on to our deaf children that miss out on so much verbage?

1. They are very good at asorbing information visually, so what are we telling them visually? Do they see us worshipping? Do they see us love and cherish them? Do they see us helping those in need? Do they see us honoring our authorities? My deaf daughter is the best at mimicing me and, sadly, she picks up on all my sinful habits. We need to be sure we do what we say!

2. A Bible notebook has been a fabulous idea at our house. Each of my children keep a Bible journal which we work on each morning after Breakfast. The younger ones draw pictures of whatever Bible story they are reading and copy a sentence from their Bible story books. My deaf daughter has been copying scripture for several years now. She doesn't know all that she is writing, but she is definately getting familiar with Bible reference.

3. We also enjoy acting, signing, and retelling of Bible stories. I get the video camera out and they enjoy acting out their favorite stories. Sometimes I read and sign a story - or sometimes I only sign the story. They all get a kick out of that.

4. We also take advantage of Bible coloring books. No Greater Joy has a new series of very detailed Bible coloring books that my kids have enjoyed. They also have a corresponding comic book Bible.

5. And my favorite is Deaf Missions Bible DVD's. They offer the whole Bible in ASL on DVD!! They have kids videos and a kids Bible study club! All awesome!

Communication around the Holiday Table

The holidays are upon us! What do you envision when you hear the words Thanksgiving?

A big oblong table covered in food?

A turkey and ham?

Visiting with friends and family?

Noise?

Football?

Now imagine the Thanksgiving table, but you can't hear anything. You see lots of people. You see lots of food. And you see lots of mouths moving and laughing. You don't know that there is music in the background. You didn't notice that Grandpa just said the dinner prayer. All of a sudden there is a line around the buffet table so you join in to get some food. All the kids jump up and run to the other room, but you don't know why. You carry your plate to the table and find yourself sitting among the adults. Hmm? Where did the kids go? You finish your food and go look for everyone and find them outside playing. You enjoy playing until they all run inside. Now what is happening? So you run inside too and find all in line for dessert! Yum! But by the time you get up there all the ice cream is gone and you have to settle for just a piece of pie. Everyone is laughing but you don't know what is so funny. You wander into the other room and watch the football game for a few minutes. Everyone is having a good time, but no one is talking to you. You can't follow any of the conversations because there are so many people talking at one time. You settle for playing outside or looking at a book until Mom says it's time to go home.

Holidays may be a fun time, but have we stopped to consider what our little special children are "seeing"? Here are some ideas to be sure our deaf children are included in the festivities:

1. If you can provide a round table, this is best for following a conversation.
2. Signing every conversation would be difficult and would probably bore your little one, but make a point to sign the funny things being said.
3. Pay attention to you child and make sure he/she is having fun and not being left out. Children are wonderful at getting around the language barrier. Let them play, just make sure your child is not being left out.
4. Give your child an opportunity to tell family members about his/her year.
5. And make sure that your child is aware when announcments are made - like when it is dessert time!!

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!