Quote:
Originally Posted by Greif86
My 10 week old daughter is deaf; She failed 5 tests in-hospital; 5 re-tests 2 weeks later; 10 tests at her first Audi appt, and 10 tests at he second Audi appt. All tests have yielded the same results, referred in both ears. The Audi finally said that it was not due to birth/fluids and it was time to move onwards. She has an appt with the Peid ENT on Friday, and then she will have the ABR and another test..I can't remember that one, only that it had SS in the abriviation. She does not respond to my voice, sound, noises, ...she only responds to vibrations, i.e. she can not handle the vibrating mode on her bouncer seat. The Audi suggested that I begin using ASL with her --as well as teaching my other two children, ages 3yrs and 16months. I have started using the milk sign when I nurse her. Am I supposed to be using more signs with her already? How does she understand this? How can I teach my older two..we have been working on it, and my 3yr old will sign thank you, more, all done, please when prompted but not on his own. My 16 month old does not do the sign, instead she says the word back to me : if I say & sign All Done, she just says Done, won't sign.
Deafness runs in my family, all females are deaf; I am the only partial (completely in my R and 75% in my left), my oldest daughter is the only perfect hearing female in many, many generations. I learned ASL when I was a child, but have not used it in so many years that it is like learning all over again (I can remember some of the basics, but thats about it). Am I supposed to speak when signing (to my older kids, as well as the baby)?
Also, I have wondered: if a baby cries, does that mean it is not mute? Or does that not matter?
Thanks so much for any help/insight you can give to me on this..  |
I would suggest not speaking and signing to the kids so that they learn to keep the 2 languages separate. Your older two have already gotten a foundation in spoken English and are therefore primed to learn ASL as a second language. The reason that your 16 month old is speaking in answer to you is that she connects language with speaking. She understands on some level that you are asking her to communicate, but because of her age, she hasn't yet connected that communication doesn't have to be spoken. If you keep the languages separate, by not speaking when you sign, she will grasp the concept that you are communicating to her in a different way, and begin to respond the same.
Using the sign for "milk" when you nurse your infant is an excellent beginning. I would also use the I love You sign when nursing her, as this is an intimate moment shared between the two of you. You might also start signing "brother" or "sister" when she is looking toward her siblings. Hearing infants are able to pick up these things peripherally just by being exposed to other family members speaking with each other. If you expose her to sign in the same way, she will pick up language in that mode without any delays. Just communicate with her and you other two children in sign consistently when she in around and you will be amazed at how much she will understand, even before she is able to use sign expressively. Anything that you would say to an infant when tending her or interacting with her should be signed for your deaf infant. In that way, she is able to internalize langauge.
I have to say I am impressed that your audi recommended that you start using sign with her. That is very unusual, but it is something more audis should be recommending. The aim is to prevent language delays, and the best way to do that is to expose her to communication through sign. Not
just when you are communicating directly with her, but in her presence so that she understands that this is the way that people get their ideas and their thoughts and wants known to others. Encourage your older children to sign with her as well.
My son, severe to profoundly deaf since birth, cried with sound as well. Most deaf children have nothing wrong with their voice mechanisms. They jsut do not use their voice to communicate because they get no feedback. But crying is involuntary, and the sound comes out without them making the effort. They aren't aware of making a sound when they cry, but neither do they have to consciously make the effort to make the sound. When speaking, one has to consciously make the effort to reproduce a sound that has been heard before.
I hope I have answered some of your questions. Welcome to AllDeaf. BTW, she is a beautiful baby!