And we are back!

I kind of abandoned this blog when we put Short Stuff into the state deaf school here. But now that we are into the 2011-2012 school year we are back into homeschooling and I felt a renewed desire to work on this blog again. So for starters I would like to fill in where we left off.

So we put her in deaf school and she was there for her 5th and 6th grade years. Although there were many good things about the situation there were equally as many bad things. I'm not going to get into all that but just needed to say that we decided to bring her home again. I missed being a part of "her world". So we are now living and breathing "Shelby-ville" everyday.

But doing that, I have discovered how poorly I sign after two years of not much practice. And I have discovered how little she really understands. She is a great actor! I watch her communicate with her friends on her VP (video phone) and when asked what they were talking about (I know because I was watching) she can't really give me an answer. She acts like she understands and keeps the conversation moving, but really misses a lot!

So thus began my determination to make sure she really understands what is going on. And of course she gets angry all the time at my questions. I now follow her to youth group at church and interpret for her. She is accepting it now and actually thankful I am there. And of course I am realizing I really need to brush up on my sign language, because she is suffering at my hand . . . literally. :)

Now in the back of my mind, I have been waiting patiently for the day that she would be able to pick up a book and read and learn. And after years of pushing reading and her diligent practice, she has a larger vocabulary, but still no comprehension. So reading is still not a way she is able to learn thru. I have never treated my daughter like she was handicapped. If she wanted to do something, we found a way for her to do it. She wanted to walk and run, so we watched as she did just that at a normal age. She wanted to draw and write, so we gave her pencils and she was able to hold a pencil correctly and write her name at the age of 2. She loved animals, so we introduced her to horses and bought her a special saddle to fit her little legs. She was riding at the age of 4 and moved on to participate in church rodeos, 4-H horse shows, and Isaiah's Place Equestrian Drill team. She loves music and has an amazing natural beat. She plays the piano beautifully and is now learning the violin. She loves books and we make plenty available to her. She loves to write and has copied large portions of the Bible for many years. She loves to be in the kitchen and can cook a wonderful meal for our family from scratch, from memory. She is diligently trying to learn to read cookbooks. Her love of animals brought her to show a pygmy goat this year at county fair and she has learned how to milk the big goats this year too. She is an amazing kid!

All that to say, that I've always expected her to do great things. And in that list of great things is read! We just celebrated her 13th brithday and she still just can't get above a 2nd grade level. Now like most deaf, there are underlying health issues. And this varies wide across the spectrum of health issues. Short Stuff is missing her myelin sheath (or her white matter) and the docs are quite sure how that will affect her learning. But we are discovering that it really slows down her ability to process information. Action learning she is great at, bookwork - not so much. So how has this child learned to read thus far? Basically she repeats a work over and over again until it passes into her gray matter and sticks. She is the most diligent worker I have ever met! So vocabulary she is getting, how a sentence goes together is a whole other matter!

Ok, moving on to where all this has brought me. I was listening to a CD yesterday about being a daughter of dignity. And the whole time that I am listening to it, I'm thinking, "Wow, I wish Short Stuff could listen to this!" So that gets me to thinking. We have some really good Bible stories in ASL, we even have the Bible in ASL, and there are sermons online in ASL. But where is the stuff in the middle? For teenagers?

Now my signing really stinks. But I am really wanting to get some of these great CD's translated for Short Stuff. And I figured while I am at it, why not make them available to other teens? I'm not sure how I am going to go about doing this. I know I need to get permission from the people who presented the CD's first. I also will need help with videorecording, interpreting, glossing, spreading the word, etc. So if this is something that interests you or if you know more than I do, please let me know.

Revisiting Reading

I kind of abandoned this blog when my daughter started attending the public deaf school. And I feel guilty. Just because she attends deaf school doesn't mean that our journey of educating our child ends.

So over Christmas break I have been working with Shelby with reading. She still struggles a great deal with reading. Although she has improved since starting her public school career, it hasn't been a huge improvement. One big improvement has been her confidence. Which is nice to see. So in desperation, I cried out for help . . . and received many great ideas.

My favorite idea was a storytelling idea. So starting today, Shelby is going to type out the birth story of my 5th child. In her own words and in her own order. Then I will help her sign the concepts and then turn the written work into English. This process will take a few days for each project, but it should be a fun journey!

We also started doing a word-of-the-day. Each day I put a new word up on the fridge. The kids use the word throughout the day and it helps familiarize them with the correct spelling.

For Christmas one of my kids got Banana-grams game. We got out a child's dictionary and let them lose with the game. It was great fun and they all learned new words. Shelby knows how to use the dictionary so this was also good dictionary practice. And of course, the same could be done with Scrabble.

Another wonderful idea, is using the VRS for communication with others fluent in ASL. To master English, she will have to be fluent in her own language first. This tool will allow her access to many native speakers. And as we are looking to homeschool her again, this will be a valuable resource.

And as a simple activity, I have her read me at least one book each day.

I would love to hear success stories and ideas!

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.

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!

To be or not to be . . .

Five years ago we made the decision to give our daughter the Cochlear Implant. She was old enough to be a part of the decision making, but ultimately it was our decision. This article is not meant to be a debate. I'm not trying to fluff feathers, just relating our experience.

We saw the CI to be a tool. It was meant to give her access to the hearing world, but not to become hearing. Many believe that when she received the CI that she could miraculously hear. So all of a sudden we were faced with people constantly asking if she could hear now and would start talking like the rest of us "hearing' people.

My daughter is deaf! She will always be deaf. That is who she is and she likes being deaf. Only one time in her life has she asked for the doctors to fix her ears, but she has prayed repeatedly for a deaf brother and that her parents would become deaf!

My daughter signs and likes signing, but she also loves to talk! As she matures we ask her opinion on her deafness and education. We want to know what she is thinking and who she is. We were discussing communication options and I simply asked if she liked signing or talking more. She quickly responded with, "I like signing, but some people don't know sign." She listed several people that she is with regularly, mostly family, and then continued: "I want both. Sign and voice. I want to talk with my friends and family." I was very proud of my little girl. She understood that she lives in a hearing world. I have nothing wrong with a person who only signs. They get along just fine in this world through gestures, writing, and interpreters. But MY daughter wants to do both, so we are trying to give her that.

The CI is a wonderful technology, but it is not a quick "fix". When it works, it gives her good sound. She has been able to develop some good speech. She has been without the CI for about 2 months now due to equipment failure. At risk for sounding like a bad mom, I like her without it. She seems calmer without it and it requires all of us to sign to her. Will we get the CI fixed? Yes, of course we will. But it's just nice to know that with or without it, my daughter can still communicate.

To be . . . deaf is a part of who she is.
To not be . . . deaf, we would miss out on a whole other world.

The Joys of Text Messaging

This past year I upgraded my cell phone and was left with my old phone. Not in good enough condition to sell, but not trash either. My husband and I decided to give it to Shelby, our deaf daughter. She is 8, almost 9, and we have been working on reading. We felt that the cell phone had two promising advantages. First, she would be able to communicate with family members that live far away. She has a CI, but using the phone is still difficult for her and the recieving person. Now she can text message cell phones and email addresses. Second, this gave her exposure to words and motivation to read. It has been great!

I wanted to pass along this idea to others with struggling readers. We try not to use IM lingo when texting Shelby and help her formulate sentences. It is a great learning tool. It costs us about $20/month. It adds up, but well worth it!

Update: Shelby is still using her cell phone. Distant family enjoys being able to communicate with her via text messaging. It takes a while to understand her sentences sometimes, but her vocablary has grown so much. She is getting the hang of it and that was our goal!