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.