Famiza Yates' Introduction

Famiza12

Famiza12

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Hello all,

My name is Famiza Yates and I joined alldeaf because I have a niece, Morgan, who was born profoundly deaf. She got cochlear implants when she was a baby and an extensive amount of speech therapy over her first several years. She is 8 years old now, attends a mainstream elementary school, and is very intelligent. She speaks very well and if her implants are not visible you cannot tell that she is deaf. Although she speaks English very well, sign language is her first language and she continues to sign today. Her mom, my sister-in-law Erin, started a MeetUp group in Chico, CA to practice signing. The group just just started and we will be having our third MeetUp on July 15th, 2010. The website to our group is North Valley ASL MeetUp (Chico, CA) - Meetup.com
and we meet twice a month. The group is growing fast and seems to be a success so far. Erin is an awesome advocate of the deaf and hard of hearing and very involved in the deaf community. She is Treasurer of the California Chapter of Hands and Voices. I am very interested in learning sign language because we as family members live close to each other and she is very proactive in maintaining signing with her children. Along with Morgan she also has a son, Dillon, who is not deaf but knows how to sign. I love to communicate with them in sign, however, I am just a beginner in learning ASL and have already learned a lot from the two MeetUp groups I've already attended. I practice ASL everyday and it is becoming easier, however, I have a long ways to go. For these reasons, it is a pleasure to become a member of alldeaf.com.

Famiza Yates
Email: famiza.yates@gmail.com
 
Very interesting introduction. I am impressed that a CI child would be able to use ASL. In the CI world, it was a taboo not to sign at all. What a crock!!!! We had been having a hard time telling hearing parents and hearing authorities that it is better to use ASL (often use) or sign language like TC or SEE (both of them are not good). It is important to know what kind of toolbox that a deaf child can communicate better with Deaf people and hearing people as long as she is happy. I am very happy that you wrote that. About time. :applause:
 
Thank you for your post, you make me feel very welcoming to AllDeaf. Thank you for that. Throughout the experience with my niece, I am very supportive of both speaking and signing. Although, I am not deaf, I think it is important for the deaf and hard of hearing to have the chance to be able to speak along with signing. I know it's a controversial issue, so this is just my stand. If you don't mind, I would love to hear a little about yourself.
 
Thank you

Thank you to everyone who is responding to me. I would love to make some friends!!
 
Welcome to AD, Famiza! I lived in Chico for 8 years (graduated from Chico State and never left, haha!) prior to moving to Indiana two years ago. My brother still lives there, and I was recently visiting for 6 weeks. I wish I had known about this group earlier! I will tell my brother about the group. He is severely hoh and has taken sign classes in the past but is very rusty now. He wants to relearn but because of his work and personal schedule has a hard time taking classes.

Enjoy your time here! :wave:
 
Hi, nice to meet you. I am sorry our group didn't started a long time ago. Just have your brother go to our website and sign up. I am a total beginner, so I get into a group with other beginners and we practice at our level. Typically, people break up into mini groups according to their sign level, however, advanced level persons also join beginners to teach them some new stuff. It is a very comfortable group and I think your brother will enjoy it. The next meeting is July 15th. He can just register on the website and RSVP or he can just show up. All the info is on the website. I hope his schedule permits him to come. Ask him to search for me when if he gets to come, it would be a pleasure to meet him. Thanks for writing.
 
Hey! I'm in SF which is far, but still northern cali!! :)

I am hoping that my own son will be comfortable with communicating with all people hearing and deaf, like your niece and my own profoundly deaf niece!
 
Hi,
I hope all the best for your son and niece. Do either of them use some kind of hearing aid or sign only? I wish you were closer so you could make it to the group.
Thanks for sharing!
 
My niece has one implant and goes to The Learning Center for the Deaf in Massacheusettes. She is about to get her second implant at 9 years old now.

My son is wearing hearing aids now, and he/we are going through the cochlear implant process. They said he might have limited benefit though, so we have really started signing with him. He is picking it up fast, and I wish I would have started sooner. He will be 2 years old in September.
 
Hi Eseff,

Here's a little bit of information about my niece's, Morgan's, implant process. First of all, we believe that sign language is her first language so we try very hard to maintain signing , which is very important to us, in our lives. Thus, the reason for the ASL practice MeetUps. She receive her first implant when she was a baby followed by the next. What we discovered after she received her first implant was that the most important thing combined with her implant was the need for an extensive amount of speech therapy with a Speech Therapist. Throughout the her speech her therapy process, we found/ran into parents who got cochlear implants for their profoundly deaf child, however, it was not very successful because they did not follow up with the required speech therapy. Morgan talks like a normal person. She is 8 years old now and when her hair is down and her implants are not visible, you would not be able to tell that she is deaf at all, that is how good her speech is. If it wasn't for the follow up on the speech therapy after the implants, and I mean an extensive amount of speech therapy, she would not be able to speak as well as she does today. She received her implants at US Davis in Sacramento and speech therapy in Chico, CA because Erin, her mom, lived in Oroville at the time. Not only is she a popular student at school, she attends a mainstream elementary, is very intelligent and has lots of friends.

She was younger than your son when she received her very first implant. Things have not been smooth though, over the years she has had multiple surgeries on her implants because she gets some kins of little tumors that grow and disturbs her hearing even with the implants. That's not to say that the same will happen to you son, because every child's body id different. It's really good to know that your starting early with your son's implants. Although he will have the implants, I am confident that he will grow up to be as any normal hearing child. Best of wishes to your son and you entire family. I hope you all the best. I hope you stay in touch!

I also hope that some of this information may of be help to you.
Again, thanks for sharing!
 
Hey, there's someone here from Oroville too. Maybe you can see him around later. And run into authentic sometime!
 
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