I have SO many questions...

deafbajagal said:
Adam's Mommy...I wish there was a clear cut answer to your question of how to teach a deaf child to read...

But as you can see, there's a wide gap when it comes to people's opinions...even the "experts."

Only you can know what's best for your child. Follow your gut. :)

Have you heard about the reading strageties the Swedens have used with their deaf children? HIGHLY successful!
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No DBJ what is it??

I did talk to a developmental pediatrician at a conference I went to this week on Neurological problems w/kiddos... since Adam's HL and other issues stem from his neurological issues... anyhow we just talked about LD's and he said the best thing I can do for Adam right now is surround him w/a liturature rich environment... blocks, foam letters, posters w/letters on it... even if he doesn't 'get it' at this age and it's all play to him-- in the future he'll be able to recall it... so that's one step that I feel can't hurt ya know?? I mean no way for him to 'learn too much!!' lol
 
Adamsmomma said:
No DBJ what is it??

I did talk to a developmental pediatrician at a conference I went to this week on Neurological problems w/kiddos... since Adam's HL and other issues stem from his neurological issues... anyhow we just talked about LD's and he said the best thing I can do for Adam right now is surround him w/a liturature rich environment... blocks, foam letters, posters w/letters on it... even if he doesn't 'get it' at this age and it's all play to him-- in the future he'll be able to recall it... so that's one step that I feel can't hurt ya know?? I mean no way for him to 'learn too much!!' lol
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Right..he is at the age when his language is developing so important he learns about his world and the concepts through a linguistic rich environment that is fully accessible to him visually.
 
shel90 said:
Right..he is at the age when his language is developing so important he learns about his world and the concepts through a linguistic rich environment that is fully accessible to him visually.
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Thanks Shel... I THINK I'm starting to get the idea lol-- it's starting to make a little more sense now... ya know??
 
Adamsmomma said:
Thanks Shel... I THINK I'm starting to get the idea lol-- it's starting to make a little more sense now... ya know??
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It took me years of studying and experience in Deaf education before I could understand it myself! And I am a deaf person myself! LOL!


Hope it will become all clear to u. :hug:
 
shel90 said:
It took me years of studying and experience in Deaf education before I could understand it myself! And I am a deaf person myself! LOL!


Hope it will become all clear to u. :hug:
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It's getting a littler clearer... THANK YOU for all your insight and help!!!!

I think I'm going to try to find a teachers store to get the pics to go on the walls (I can't draw a stick figure :dance: or I'd just make them)
 
Adamsmomma said:
It's getting a littler clearer... THANK YOU for all your insight and help!!!!

I think I'm going to try to find a teachers store to get the pics to go on the walls (I can't draw a stick figure :dance: or I'd just make them)
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U can get a tax deductable on any items u buy from the teacher's store cuz usually the items there are pricey. Enjoy! Adam is so adorable.

My friend has a deaf 3 year old and she has been labeling everything in her house. Now, her daughter can read most of the labels. My hearing son is the same age and can barely read the alphabet in print so she is way ahead of my son! LOL! Her daughter is using ASL to pick up on her 2nd language which is English.
 
shel90 said:
U can get a tax deductable on any items u buy from the teacher's store cuz usually the items there are pricey. Enjoy! Adam is so adorable.

My friend has a deaf 3 year old and she has been labeling everything in her house. Now, her daughter can read most of the labels. My hearing son is the same age and can barely read the alphabet in print so she is way ahead of my son! LOL! Her daughter is using ASL to pick up on her 2nd language which is English.
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Oh wow!! a tax deduction... YAY!!! LOL

THANK YOU--your family is beautiful!!!
 
Here are some articles worth getting your hands on...a little old but not outdated.

Andrews, J. & Taylor, N. (1987). From sign to print: A case study of picture book "reading" between mother and child. Sign Language Studies, 56, 261-274.

Maxwell, K...(1981). A deaf child's natural development of literacy. Sign Language Studies, 44, 191-224.

Snow, C. (1983). Literacy and language: Relationships during the preschool years. Harvard Educational Review, 53, 165-189.

And a bunch more, but don't want to overwhelm you.
 
Here's a suggestion. Make a kitchen center for him...use simple props you have around the house to make a stove, fridge, small table, etc. Perhaps out of cardboard boxes or something. Then (here's my favorite part) stock the kitchen with realistic items. If you have an empty egg carton, give it to that kitchen. Empty milk jugs, orange juice carton, cleaned plastic tubs from butter, sour cream, etc. Of course make sure the items are clean and safe for him to use since he's so young...but now you have a language enrichment center...where he can play with things that you use (and he sees). Both structured and unstructured play serve as one of the BEST ways for
language learning.

Classifying and sorting objects according to attributes such as shape, color, or function...also an important skill for students who are at risk for LD. This would be a wonderful task he could do during a speech session as well.
 
Adamsmomma said:
This is off topic but those of you reading this know more about Adam than anyone else on here...

Adam has signed his first sign!!! :dance: and I'm so excited about it!!!

I have been working on simple signs for his daily needs like Eat, more, milk, etc... and this weekend he signed MORE back to me!!! of course it's not perfect but I know what he means-- so I was so happy!!!!

Ok thanks for letting me share my little bit of excitement here :) :) :D
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Alot of deaf culture are not fan of "Signing time" but it a sign language video for toddlers. They will show words and teach basic signing at the same time. http://www.signingtime.com/
 
I adore Signing Times. The creator is Rachel Coleman, who is a mother of a deaf daughter. She has another daughter with special needs. I read her story and found it to be very touching and inspirational.

At first, Rachel used a lot if English-based signing but as the series go on, she started to use more conceptual accurate signing with some ASL in it.

Do note that the show is intended for hearing children.
Sometimes they may speak or sing without showing signing at the same time.
On the other hand, they show a lot of deaf children on there with hearing aids, etc. which is nice for deaf viewers to see other deaf kids like them.

My kids love watching the show.
 
I watch Signing Time on YouTube myself... so far Adam doesn't pay a lot of attention to TV... but I'm going to start playing them on the Flatscreen (my PC is hooked up to it since my monitor and laptop went out at the same time LOL) So maybe he'll pick up on them! LOL My favorite is "The Diaper Dance" that song sticks in my head!!

As for the kitchen set up DBG, that sounds like a great idea... he loves to play in the kitchen area at school-- opening and closing doors, etc... I was already looking at finding him a little set for home!! This just encouraged that more... :hmm: now where to put one when I do find it LOL

Thanks for all the info and suggestions-- I'm using them!!!
 
I'm gonna go back to your original question about reading, Adamsmom.

When my son was about a year old, I purchased flash card that had pictures of everyday things on them, and then below the picture was the print word. I then photo copied the illustration of the sign, cut it out, and pasted it on the card. I had these flash cards stuck to everything in the house, lol! Chair, table, bed, toothpaste...everything! My intention was to reinforce his use of sign by showing him through the cards that the sign represented the thing he wanted to talk about. The added bonus was that he not only got that concept, he realized that the print word was nothing more than a different symbol that represented the same thing. He got, very early on, that sign, print word, and picture all were symbols to represent something we want to talk about.

By the age of three, he had developed his pre-reading skills to the point that he was sight reading many, many words.

I also purchased story books from Gally that had both printed words and signs included.

I personally believe that it is much easier for a child to connect two visual symbols, such as the print word and the sign, than it is for them to connect two unrelated symbols such as a spoken word and a print word. Sign and print are both visual. The connection is already made to a large degree because they are processed the same. A auditory sound and a visual symbol are two different forms of stimuli. It takes more of a leap to connect the two, and especially for a deaf child.
 
jillio said:
I'm gonna go back to your original question about reading, Adamsmom.

When my son was about a year old, I purchased flash card that had pictures of everyday things on them, and then below the picture was the print word. I then photo copied the illustration of the sign, cut it out, and pasted it on the card. I had these flash cards stuck to everything in the house, lol! Chair, table, bed, toothpaste...everything! My intention was to reinforce his use of sign by showing him through the cards that the sign represented the thing he wanted to talk about. The added bonus was that he not only got that concept, he realized that the print word was nothing more than a different symbol that represented the same thing. He got, very early on, that sign, print word, and picture all were symbols to represent something we want to talk about.

By the age of three, he had developed his pre-reading skills to the point that he was sight reading many, many words.

I also purchased story books from Gally that had both printed words and signs included.

I personally believe that it is much easier for a child to connect two visual symbols, such as the print word and the sign, than it is for them to connect two unrelated symbols such as a spoken word and a print word. Sign and print are both visual. The connection is already made to a large degree because they are processed the same. A auditory sound and a visual symbol are two different forms of stimuli. It takes more of a leap to connect the two, and especially for a deaf child.
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I heard a rumor you'd probably have some good ideas LOL... I'm going to look for some flashcards and some signing/story books for him-- and a developmental pediatrican suggested even letters on the walls... w/pictures. I sort of envision like what we had on the wall in kindergarten/1st grade. And hopefully I'll hear about the signing teacher thru early intervention soon!!! So I can get him started signing!!

Thanks for more ideas!!!
 
Adamsmomma said:
I heard a rumor you'd probably have some good ideas LOL... I'm going to look for some flashcards and some signing/story books for him-- and a developmental pediatrican suggested even letters on the walls... w/pictures. I sort of envision like what we had on the wall in kindergarten/1st grade. And hopefully I'll hear about the signing teacher thru early intervention soon!!! So I can get him started signing!!

Thanks for more ideas!!!
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You are more than welcome. I can't wait to hear about his milestones!

As a parent and as a professional, I strongly believe (and the research bears me out) if you create the proper atmosphere, learning takes place easily and without effort. It should not be such a directed and structured activity...particularly not as a toddler. Children at this age learn best through simple exposure. Deaf children are no different from hearing children in this respect. Give them what they need, in a way that they can perceive, process, and understand it naturally, and they will flourish.

I will just mention this. I saw earlier posts talking about the cognition and the brain involved in reading and language acquisition. The auditory cortex in deaf individuals adapts to process visual information. It is not limited to processing phonological information, or aural information. I have studied the cognitive processing of the deaf extensively, as compared to hearing individuals. I can promise you that anything I tell you on that topic is based on empirical evidence, and is supported by years of research.
 
As a parent and as a professional, I strongly believe (and the research bears me out) if you create the proper atmosphere, learning takes place easily and without effort. It should not be such a directed and structured activity...particularly not as a toddler. Children at this age learn best through simple exposure. Deaf children are no different from hearing children in this respect. Give them what they need, in a way that they can perceive, process, and understand it naturally, and they will flourish.
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Well Said :)
 
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