Miss-Delectable
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http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051115/NEWS01/511150322
MANTECA -- Rachel Jacobs moved her hands and fingers briskly as she went through a sign language vocabulary list: cousin, brother, sister, husband, family.
Not quite as smoothly, about 15 adults and some children mimicked her motions at Stella Brockman Elementary School on a recent evening. They were at the class to learn how to communicate with deaf or hard-of-hearing people.
Deaf children learn in sign language in school, but teaching sign language to hearing people expands on that education, special-education professionals said. Several San Joaquin County programs aim to teach sign language both to people with and without hearing problems.
"It's a two way street," said Kathy Skeels, program director at the San Joaquin County Office of Education, which offers the free class twice a week as part of its special-education program. Family members, friends and others can help deaf children by learning sign language, she said.
The 36 deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the county program come from 11 school districts and meet at Manteca Unified's Brockman school. Stockton and Lodi Unified have their own special-education programs.
"It has to be a family effort," said Denise Reich, who teaches deaf and hard-of-hearing students at Lawrence Elementary School in Lodi Unified. She also teaches sign language to their parents.
"If a child has a committed family around them who can give them language, then their communication takes off," she said. "It just bridges the home-to-school gap that we often have."
Reich teaches preschool and kindergarten students. When the students get older, she encourages parents to continue learning sign language at San Joaquin Delta College, which also holds classes at Tokay High School in Lodi, she said.
Sharon Poteet was once a parent in Reich's free class. When Poteet's daughter Samantha was about 18 months old, Poteet started taking classes with staff at Lodi Unified. She and her family moved onto Reich's class when Samantha grew older.
It's important for a deaf child's entire family to learn to communicate, Poteet said. "I've seen other families, and the barriers and the frustration that the parents and children feel," she said. "I don't believe that you have the closeness you have with a normal family unless you have the whole family involved."
Samantha is now a 15-year-old sophomore at Tokay High taking honors English. She also plays softball and has a 58 mph fastball, Poteet said.
Samantha uses interpreters in the classroom and communicates with her teachers, friends and teammates through text-messaging, whiteboards and different kinds of sign language, Poteet said.
At Stella Brockman, Jacobs teaches one of the two open sign-language classes offered weekly. Some of the people in the class are educators. Margarita Mercado wants to take what she learns to the students in her Head Start class at the Office of Education's McFall School in Manteca so that they can communicate with the special-ed students at the school.
Lora and Scott Howell of Tracy are in Jacobs' class, too. Garrett, their 5-year-old son, was born deaf, but has been able to speak and hear through the aid of a cochlear implant. The only time the family needs to sign is when Garrett is not using the device, such as when he's swimming or getting ready for bed, Lora Howell said.
But it's enough of a reason for her to take the class, she said. "I don't want to miss out on anything he has to say."
MANTECA -- Rachel Jacobs moved her hands and fingers briskly as she went through a sign language vocabulary list: cousin, brother, sister, husband, family.
Not quite as smoothly, about 15 adults and some children mimicked her motions at Stella Brockman Elementary School on a recent evening. They were at the class to learn how to communicate with deaf or hard-of-hearing people.
Deaf children learn in sign language in school, but teaching sign language to hearing people expands on that education, special-education professionals said. Several San Joaquin County programs aim to teach sign language both to people with and without hearing problems.
"It's a two way street," said Kathy Skeels, program director at the San Joaquin County Office of Education, which offers the free class twice a week as part of its special-education program. Family members, friends and others can help deaf children by learning sign language, she said.
The 36 deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the county program come from 11 school districts and meet at Manteca Unified's Brockman school. Stockton and Lodi Unified have their own special-education programs.
"It has to be a family effort," said Denise Reich, who teaches deaf and hard-of-hearing students at Lawrence Elementary School in Lodi Unified. She also teaches sign language to their parents.
"If a child has a committed family around them who can give them language, then their communication takes off," she said. "It just bridges the home-to-school gap that we often have."
Reich teaches preschool and kindergarten students. When the students get older, she encourages parents to continue learning sign language at San Joaquin Delta College, which also holds classes at Tokay High School in Lodi, she said.
Sharon Poteet was once a parent in Reich's free class. When Poteet's daughter Samantha was about 18 months old, Poteet started taking classes with staff at Lodi Unified. She and her family moved onto Reich's class when Samantha grew older.
It's important for a deaf child's entire family to learn to communicate, Poteet said. "I've seen other families, and the barriers and the frustration that the parents and children feel," she said. "I don't believe that you have the closeness you have with a normal family unless you have the whole family involved."
Samantha is now a 15-year-old sophomore at Tokay High taking honors English. She also plays softball and has a 58 mph fastball, Poteet said.
Samantha uses interpreters in the classroom and communicates with her teachers, friends and teammates through text-messaging, whiteboards and different kinds of sign language, Poteet said.
At Stella Brockman, Jacobs teaches one of the two open sign-language classes offered weekly. Some of the people in the class are educators. Margarita Mercado wants to take what she learns to the students in her Head Start class at the Office of Education's McFall School in Manteca so that they can communicate with the special-ed students at the school.
Lora and Scott Howell of Tracy are in Jacobs' class, too. Garrett, their 5-year-old son, was born deaf, but has been able to speak and hear through the aid of a cochlear implant. The only time the family needs to sign is when Garrett is not using the device, such as when he's swimming or getting ready for bed, Lora Howell said.
But it's enough of a reason for her to take the class, she said. "I don't want to miss out on anything he has to say."