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herenb.com - How we can learn from the deaf community - Breaking News, New Brunswick, Canada
When viewers watch the new season's Amazing Race, they will meet Margaret and Luke Adams from Colorado. What makes this mother-son team unique isn't that Luke is a college graduate, but that he's been deaf since birth and uses American Sign Language to communicate. He says he hopes to be a role model for deaf people everywhere, proving that the deaf can do just about anything.
Laurie Vincent, executive director for the South-East Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Inc. (SEDHHS) at 1690 Main St. in Moncton, seconds this opinion. Since 2007 she's been the guiding hand of this Non-Profit United Way Partner Agency which provides services, programs and advocacy for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing individuals and their families, and reports to a Board of Directors, using a governance model.
Laurie's enthusiasm is obvious as she talks with positive energy about her work, including the "Baby Sign Language Class", taught by a certified sign language instructor, to hearing mothers of hearing infants. But what's the point of teaching sign language to hearing babies one might wonder.
"This program assists mothers to communicate with their babies at a very young age using simple sign language," Laurie says. "It reduces frustration, builds trust and promotes positive emotional development. Moreover, it's becoming very popular: there are books on the topic and even packages of Huggies come with basic instructions. However we're the only agency in the area which offers this course to mothers and babies."
The instructor, Tobie Martin, is currently on maternity leave, caring for three-month-old Vianna, a cuddly and contented baby and her two-and-a-half-year old brother Peter, who both signs and speaks in complete sentences. While both of the children are fully hearing, Tobie has been deaf since birth. Without her cochlear implant she has 10 per cent hearing; with it she has 90 per cent.
A certified sign language instructor, Tobie started teaching "Baby Sign" to Peter at birth. She says, "He recognized the 'milk' sign at four months, two weeks later he could use it, and then gradually learned other basic signs. By one year he had a sign vocabulary of 12 words. Laura Peters, then executive director of SEDHHS, was so impressed that she asked me to teach the program to new mothers."
It's no wonder that she was impressed, as most children of one year have a much smaller spoken vocabulary and at four-five months have none, and so have to resort to screaming to get what they want "" perhaps something as simple as teddy bear that had been put away. With baby sign, the infant can make the sign for "teddy" and Mom will understand "" no need for a tantrum.
So how does Tobie begin instruction?
"It's really important to be at eye level with the baby," she says, "and for the mother to be in a position that allows the baby to see her facial expression. The first sign word I teach is 'milk'. I show the mothers how to make the sign and then they feed their babies. Next is the sign for 'hungry', at which time the baby will be fed cereal. With repetition several times a day, baby will associate the sign with having a basic need met, will eventually imitate the sign and then use it on his own if he's thirsty or hungry. And then we move on to the next word, showing an object first, followed by the sign."
If Peter hadn't been using spoken words at 12 months and now speaking in complete sentences, parents might be concerned that signing would slow a child's speech development. Obviously it doesn't.
In fact, Tobie says, "Among the benefits of baby sign language are earlier and better oral speech communication skills; improved reading skills, since the child learns to associate the word with a sign; and a boost to IQ development."
With so many benefits, some young mothers may be asking "How soon can we start?" Tobie plans to offer the program this spring, limited to five mothers and babies per group.
"That's the maximum number for optimal learning," says Tobie. She's passionate about teaching and wants time to provide one-on-one instruction.
Internet websites indicate that American Sign Language also has applications for daycares and for children with special needs, including Down's Syndrome and Autism. How liberating for non-verbal children to end the frustration of being unable to communicate and how helpful to the parents and other care providers.
So Luke Adams from Amazing Race is correct that the deaf can do just about anything. More than that, they enrich the lives of the hearing community by teaching important communication skills.
When viewers watch the new season's Amazing Race, they will meet Margaret and Luke Adams from Colorado. What makes this mother-son team unique isn't that Luke is a college graduate, but that he's been deaf since birth and uses American Sign Language to communicate. He says he hopes to be a role model for deaf people everywhere, proving that the deaf can do just about anything.
Laurie Vincent, executive director for the South-East Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Inc. (SEDHHS) at 1690 Main St. in Moncton, seconds this opinion. Since 2007 she's been the guiding hand of this Non-Profit United Way Partner Agency which provides services, programs and advocacy for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing individuals and their families, and reports to a Board of Directors, using a governance model.
Laurie's enthusiasm is obvious as she talks with positive energy about her work, including the "Baby Sign Language Class", taught by a certified sign language instructor, to hearing mothers of hearing infants. But what's the point of teaching sign language to hearing babies one might wonder.
"This program assists mothers to communicate with their babies at a very young age using simple sign language," Laurie says. "It reduces frustration, builds trust and promotes positive emotional development. Moreover, it's becoming very popular: there are books on the topic and even packages of Huggies come with basic instructions. However we're the only agency in the area which offers this course to mothers and babies."
The instructor, Tobie Martin, is currently on maternity leave, caring for three-month-old Vianna, a cuddly and contented baby and her two-and-a-half-year old brother Peter, who both signs and speaks in complete sentences. While both of the children are fully hearing, Tobie has been deaf since birth. Without her cochlear implant she has 10 per cent hearing; with it she has 90 per cent.
A certified sign language instructor, Tobie started teaching "Baby Sign" to Peter at birth. She says, "He recognized the 'milk' sign at four months, two weeks later he could use it, and then gradually learned other basic signs. By one year he had a sign vocabulary of 12 words. Laura Peters, then executive director of SEDHHS, was so impressed that she asked me to teach the program to new mothers."
It's no wonder that she was impressed, as most children of one year have a much smaller spoken vocabulary and at four-five months have none, and so have to resort to screaming to get what they want "" perhaps something as simple as teddy bear that had been put away. With baby sign, the infant can make the sign for "teddy" and Mom will understand "" no need for a tantrum.
So how does Tobie begin instruction?
"It's really important to be at eye level with the baby," she says, "and for the mother to be in a position that allows the baby to see her facial expression. The first sign word I teach is 'milk'. I show the mothers how to make the sign and then they feed their babies. Next is the sign for 'hungry', at which time the baby will be fed cereal. With repetition several times a day, baby will associate the sign with having a basic need met, will eventually imitate the sign and then use it on his own if he's thirsty or hungry. And then we move on to the next word, showing an object first, followed by the sign."
If Peter hadn't been using spoken words at 12 months and now speaking in complete sentences, parents might be concerned that signing would slow a child's speech development. Obviously it doesn't.
In fact, Tobie says, "Among the benefits of baby sign language are earlier and better oral speech communication skills; improved reading skills, since the child learns to associate the word with a sign; and a boost to IQ development."
With so many benefits, some young mothers may be asking "How soon can we start?" Tobie plans to offer the program this spring, limited to five mothers and babies per group.
"That's the maximum number for optimal learning," says Tobie. She's passionate about teaching and wants time to provide one-on-one instruction.
Internet websites indicate that American Sign Language also has applications for daycares and for children with special needs, including Down's Syndrome and Autism. How liberating for non-verbal children to end the frustration of being unable to communicate and how helpful to the parents and other care providers.
So Luke Adams from Amazing Race is correct that the deaf can do just about anything. More than that, they enrich the lives of the hearing community by teaching important communication skills.