Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Deaf community celebrates school's 125th year in Santa Fe - Farmington Daily Times
Education was a struggle he faced alone.
Harold and Patty Larkins' son, Kaleb, was the only deaf student at Northeast Elementary. After eking his way through a few years, his parents started driving him to Shiprock where he could be one of several deaf students of different ages in one classroom taught by the lone teacher in the region who knew sign language.
Kaleb is now a 16-year-old in his second year at the New Mexico School for the Deaf in Santa Fe.
"He enjoys (school) more now," Patty said. "He has friends, he never had friends before. He feels like he belongs."
More than 50 people, all closely attached to the Four Corners' deaf community, gathered together to celebrate the 125th year of the New Mexico School for the Deaf. The families ate enchiladas and talked with hands and a few words about how deafness is better with company.
Along with being an institution in New Mexico before New Mexico was a state, the New Mexico School for the Deaf is currently boosting the resources available to deaf children and their families in San Juan County.
The school for the deaf created a satellite program for Farmington preschoolers in August. There are currently eight deaf or hearing impaired children enrolled in the preschool, and Step*Hi, a state-funded program for deaf children and their families, assists 20 Four Corners families.
"It brings all the children who are deaf together to share a common language," Rosemary Gallegos, the assistant superintendent of the New Mexico School for the Deaf, said of the satellite in Farmington. "Deaf children have a tendency to feel isolated. When they can come together and there's a teacher who can sign, and each other who can sign, that is of primary importance to the development of a deaf child."
The increase in support and services for deaf children and their families in the region is a good first step, Gallegos said. But it is still vital parents have their children screened for deafness shortly after birth. Language development must start early, ideally before a child turns six months old, even among deaf children, she said.
The goal of the preschool is to improve young deaf students basic communication skills before they continue their education, either at the deaf school in Santa Fe, or at a regular school with the help of a translator, said Mary Helen Perez, a teacher for deaf students at the preschool.
"We want to create an environment where kids have access to language, both visually and some spoken," she said.
The Larkins were at the celebration on Tuesday because they continue to work on their sign language so they can communicate with Kaleb when he comes home for the weekends. The parents said having teachers who know sign language worked better for their son than a translator who followed him around school.
"I think it would be good for (the district) to get another teacher" who knows sign language, Patty Larkin said. "But there's so much more now than there was."
Education was a struggle he faced alone.
Harold and Patty Larkins' son, Kaleb, was the only deaf student at Northeast Elementary. After eking his way through a few years, his parents started driving him to Shiprock where he could be one of several deaf students of different ages in one classroom taught by the lone teacher in the region who knew sign language.
Kaleb is now a 16-year-old in his second year at the New Mexico School for the Deaf in Santa Fe.
"He enjoys (school) more now," Patty said. "He has friends, he never had friends before. He feels like he belongs."
More than 50 people, all closely attached to the Four Corners' deaf community, gathered together to celebrate the 125th year of the New Mexico School for the Deaf. The families ate enchiladas and talked with hands and a few words about how deafness is better with company.
Along with being an institution in New Mexico before New Mexico was a state, the New Mexico School for the Deaf is currently boosting the resources available to deaf children and their families in San Juan County.
The school for the deaf created a satellite program for Farmington preschoolers in August. There are currently eight deaf or hearing impaired children enrolled in the preschool, and Step*Hi, a state-funded program for deaf children and their families, assists 20 Four Corners families.
"It brings all the children who are deaf together to share a common language," Rosemary Gallegos, the assistant superintendent of the New Mexico School for the Deaf, said of the satellite in Farmington. "Deaf children have a tendency to feel isolated. When they can come together and there's a teacher who can sign, and each other who can sign, that is of primary importance to the development of a deaf child."
The increase in support and services for deaf children and their families in the region is a good first step, Gallegos said. But it is still vital parents have their children screened for deafness shortly after birth. Language development must start early, ideally before a child turns six months old, even among deaf children, she said.
The goal of the preschool is to improve young deaf students basic communication skills before they continue their education, either at the deaf school in Santa Fe, or at a regular school with the help of a translator, said Mary Helen Perez, a teacher for deaf students at the preschool.
"We want to create an environment where kids have access to language, both visually and some spoken," she said.
The Larkins were at the celebration on Tuesday because they continue to work on their sign language so they can communicate with Kaleb when he comes home for the weekends. The parents said having teachers who know sign language worked better for their son than a translator who followed him around school.
"I think it would be good for (the district) to get another teacher" who knows sign language, Patty Larkin said. "But there's so much more now than there was."
