hey there
I would recommend you not to listen to “deafdyke”. I’m deaf myself and I wouldn’t recommend you to contact the state’s deaf schools. From what I heard, they’re not doing so well lately. (depends on which state).
Since your son is hard of hearing, my best suggestion is to send him to a regular school with a mainstream program. If his hearing isn’t sO bad and is able to HEAR things/words, then he should be fine with listening to the teachers BUT… will his hearing get worst as he gets older? If so, then best to start sending him to a school with mainstream programs (where they provide sign language interpreters in a regular class). That way he can interact with hearing children and deaf children and have both access to communication (spoken English and sign language). Best of both worlds. I know I’m off the point here and you only ask for sign names, it’s just that, “deafdyke”’s comment took me off guard and I wanted to just clarify!
As for sign names, it’s up to you, your family, and most importantly, it’s up to the son too. Sometimes parents choose a temporarily sign name b/c they do not know the child’s personality. Then overtime, when they discover the personality, they change the name. some people use the first alphabet .. like if your name’s Colleen, you would use the letter C and do something with it, like shake it in the air… for your name… people still do that but it’s FUN and unique if you don’t use the alphabets.. like for example, if your son LOVEEE candy, you can sign “candy” as his sign name. there’s no rule. Be creative.