AlleyCat

Just thought I'd share an interesting story...

My boyfriend, who is now in the Army Reserves, decided to go back to college.

During his K-12 school years, he was dyslexic. His spelling, while texting and emailing me, was pretty bad at the beginning of our relationship. We've been together a year now, and he has learned an enormous amount of sign language. His fingerspelling speed is astounding. I had started to notice over the past several months that his spelling was getting far more and more accurate. He knows so much sign now and can fingerspell so fast that we can carry out an entire conversation without using any voices.

Now ... he's going back to college. He had to take Math and English placement tests. He recorded the highest reading comprehension score he's ever had. I firmly believe it is from all the signing he's learned, all the fingerspelling he's doing, and all the captioning he's watching. I'm so proud of his high score!

(And, this very boyfriend of mine is one who suffered polytraumatic brain injuries while in combat in Iraq; he has been classified as a 60% wounded vet. Just proof of how sign language can help the mind function in other ways.)

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Deafness

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jillio

Thanks for sharing that wonderful story, AlleyCat. Perhaps adding the kinesthetic component through sign has allowed him to overcome the problems with dyslexia. At any rate, it is indeed wonderful that he has made such progress!

shel90

That's great and it is so true cuz the same thing happened to me.

In 1999 after graduating from ASU, I took the teacher certification test which is called Praxis I. It has 3 sections which are reading, writing, and math. I scored so-so on the reading and writing parts barely passing them. At that time, my ASL was more of SEE.

Then in 2000, I enrolled at Gallaudet University and became fluent in ASL. I took the test again in 2004 because I didnt pass the math section for Maryland's criteria. I got nearly perfect scores on my reading and writing tests. I felt that by becoming bilingual helped me to comprehend the questions and be more creative with my writing.

That's great about your boyfriend! Tell him good job!

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~Shel~

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -George Santayana

Matilda

That's absolutely marvellous, AlleyCat! Your boyfriend is sure proof of the fact that sign-language works, not only for dyslexia but for others with a variety of reading comprehension problems, Autistic, Down Syndrome, etc. I applaud him!

I am realizing more and more from AD about the merits of sign-language that can benefit others. Sign-language can be a life-saver!

shel90

If only u can see how destructive not learning sign language at a young age has been for many deaf kids. It is terrible and a travesty. If these kids had been exposed to ASL from the start, they would have better literacy skills but for the sake of oralism, people would do anything to avoid sign language.

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~Shel~

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -George Santayana

Miss-Delectable

That's awesome. All the reason to promote sign language not for only the deaf, but for kids with autism, speech problems and learning difficulties!

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AlleyCat

Thank you all for your positive responses. I am indeed very proud of him!

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Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

dreama

That sounds really good. Thanks for Sharing Alleycat.

Shel you are right: Oral only just doesn't make sense. Particularly since literacy is definately MORE important then speech. Especially for the deafblind. I could live without being able to speak but if I couldn't read I can't see myself managing at all as most communication methods I use are dependant on literacy. When will they learn I wonder.

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