I'm experiencing one of the longest valleys in my endless journey with fluctuating hearing. If I need a CI eventually, then I'm open to this idea. The thing I worry about most is being able to communicate with my beautiful wife and little 2 year old boy. Where do you go to get the basics in communicating with Sign? Is ASL the best bet for a person who has zero experience in signing. How do the people around you learn to sign? I can imagine this to be a monumental task. What is it like to learn sign, especially if you don't know anyone else who knows the language?
Where do I begin?
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Hear Again
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Classes in sign language are offered through churches, community colleges, universities, and d/Deaf/HoH organizations.
When I started learning sign, I began with PSE (Pidgin Signed English) since it was closely related to English. From there, I moved onto SEE (Signed Exact English) and finally, ASL.
One of the things I found helpful was to join Deaf Events and participate in the Deaf and deafblind communities. This allowed me to practice my signing with other ASL users and become more comfortable using sign both receptively and expressively. It has been my experience that members of the Deaf and deafblind communities were very patient with me and did all they could to help me become the best ASL user I could be.
With the exception of my sister (who knows fingerspelling), none of my family members know sign. I practiced with them at home by using the lesson book that was given to me by my sign language instructor. Several family members also thought about attending an ASL course at a local community college, but unfortunately, we never got around to doing that.
The only difficulty I had in learning sign was understanding the grammatical context of ASL. However, over time and with increased exposure/useage, that became easier.
If you're interested in taking a sign language course, I recommend that you contact a local community college, university or church in your area.
Good luck!
When I started learning sign, I began with PSE (Pidgin Signed English) since it was closely related to English. From there, I moved onto SEE (Signed Exact English) and finally, ASL.
One of the things I found helpful was to join Deaf Events and participate in the Deaf and deafblind communities. This allowed me to practice my signing with other ASL users and become more comfortable using sign both receptively and expressively. It has been my experience that members of the Deaf and deafblind communities were very patient with me and did all they could to help me become the best ASL user I could be.
With the exception of my sister (who knows fingerspelling), none of my family members know sign. I practiced with them at home by using the lesson book that was given to me by my sign language instructor. Several family members also thought about attending an ASL course at a local community college, but unfortunately, we never got around to doing that.
The only difficulty I had in learning sign was understanding the grammatical context of ASL. However, over time and with increased exposure/useage, that became easier.
If you're interested in taking a sign language course, I recommend that you contact a local community college, university or church in your area.
Good luck!
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Same here...that was how I started out with my journey of learning ASL..now I use it 95% of the time and very involved with the Deaf community. No, it didnt happen overnight..
HearAgain has good advice there.
Hi What
It's me again, the lawyer who's losing his hearing. You mention your child and your fear of losing contact with him or having your relationship affected. Don't despair. I have two young children and they are very forgiving of my disability and even make fun of it which makes me feel good because that makes me understand that they don't take it seriously enough to "keep it to themselves" at the risk of offending me. They don't think it's a big enough deal to even hurt my feelings which really does make me feel good.
My mom lost her hearing over about 15 years and I remember not thinking it was that big a deal as a kid. I barely even thought about it and still loved her a lot. Kids, even teenagers, can't read your mind or feel the pain and anxiety you are experiencing and amazingly, that is a good thing! They will love you and will just accept your handicap as part of you and their world. You have to remind yourself of that every day and not close yourself off from your wife and child. Push it to the side and don't spend your time agonizing over how much better it would all be if you were just back to being a full hearing person again. Don't waste your precious time with your son tearing apart the joy like that. I work really hard to push my hearing loss to the back of my mind and even though normal social activities can be really laborious where they use to be easy, every moment I capture and enjoy by putting my loss aside is a moment of life I've gained. That sounds cheesy or trite, but it's true.
It's me again, the lawyer who's losing his hearing. You mention your child and your fear of losing contact with him or having your relationship affected. Don't despair. I have two young children and they are very forgiving of my disability and even make fun of it which makes me feel good because that makes me understand that they don't take it seriously enough to "keep it to themselves" at the risk of offending me. They don't think it's a big enough deal to even hurt my feelings which really does make me feel good.
My mom lost her hearing over about 15 years and I remember not thinking it was that big a deal as a kid. I barely even thought about it and still loved her a lot. Kids, even teenagers, can't read your mind or feel the pain and anxiety you are experiencing and amazingly, that is a good thing! They will love you and will just accept your handicap as part of you and their world. You have to remind yourself of that every day and not close yourself off from your wife and child. Push it to the side and don't spend your time agonizing over how much better it would all be if you were just back to being a full hearing person again. Don't waste your precious time with your son tearing apart the joy like that. I work really hard to push my hearing loss to the back of my mind and even though normal social activities can be really laborious where they use to be easy, every moment I capture and enjoy by putting my loss aside is a moment of life I've gained. That sounds cheesy or trite, but it's true.
Hear Again
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Here are several websites which offer ASL tutorials online:
ASLPro:
ASLPro.com Home
Lifeprint:
• ASL • American Sign Language
Handspeak:
Handspeak: American Sign Language Online Dictionary, Baby Sign Language, International Sign, more
ASL Browser:
ASL Browser
ASLPro:
ASLPro.com Home
Lifeprint:
• ASL • American Sign Language
Handspeak:
Handspeak: American Sign Language Online Dictionary, Baby Sign Language, International Sign, more
ASL Browser:
ASL Browser
Hello What? - Indeed. Your family and you are on a journey. May your journey provide guidance that supports that which is authentic for you and your family.
ASL is a language of its' own, and certainly one worth exploring.
There also is system for use with the spoken language of English (for example); the system is called Cued Speech.
Here is a link: National Cued Speech Association
imdeafsowhat
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All you have to do is speak and sign, they will learn in time gradually. If you all are truly in love, I'm sure you all will find a way to communicate. Like one said, "Don't despair."
SimplyMints
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I would like to share with you a bit of my own experience. Maybe it will help a little.
My one greatest regret is learning to lipread. Now I do it all the time, and I can't shut it off. It's a significant drain on my energy, and when there are a lot of mouths moving, it gives me a roaring headache within minutes. The one good thing about it is that it gave my family time to catch up learning to sign.
When I lost my hearing, I learned to sign and become comfortable enough to declare myself fluent incredibly rapidly. I learned SEE, previously mentioned "Signing Exact English." I chose this because I knew it would be faster for my family because it does not require them to learn a new language. The most accurate book I've found on SEE is (ironically) Signing Exact English by Gerilee Gustason / Esther Zawolkow. If you search "Signing Exact English" on Amazon.com, you'll find it right away along with a couple others, but this one gets my vote.
Learn to fingerspell first. I had an advantage on this one. When I was in high school, I took an ASL course. Over years of neglect, I forgot a lot of what I learned, but one thing I kept up on was fingerspelling, which proved to be a very handy tool.
Also, my personal suggestion, if you ever intend to go on and learn ASL in the future (which will make you more comfortable in the Deaf community)..
JUST in case you're one of the 1 in 6 billion people who have a problem adapting to the "me" concept in ASL, let me suggest that when you learn to sign "I" in SEE, learn the "me" sign instead for both "me" and "I" .. that's the word, not the letter. This will allow your brain to distinguish between the letter and the sign better. I have a problem with that, but NOBODY understands it, but I just thought I'd mention that JUST in case you were against all odds like me in that respect.
Once you've mastered fingerspelling, get a list of the most commonly used words in the English language, and try to order them in the order they are learned by native English speakers if you can, and make short lists of them in that order (10-15 words per list), then learn one list per day. Sounds daunting, but just practice TODAY's list over and over for half an hour, then go through all the signs you've learned, and then you're done for the day. When you're by yourself, practice signing out your thoughts. Fingerspell the words you don't know how to sign rather than skipping them. Practice with your family. Your kids will take to signing like it's nothing. Encourage them to take ASL classes in school when they're old enough. It won't hurt them a bit. And you'll probably be learning ASL by then anyway, so you can help them with their homework.
Now you're set for life. Be patient with your family, your wife, especially. They'll probably be a little slower than you are at learning to sign. This is just because signing has just become your primary language, and your brain won't be fooled by you telling it otherwise. It will absorb that language like it's starving for it. Don't worry, your family will catch on.
Oh, somebody put a list of websites for ASL resources .. my personal favourite is the one listed as lifeprint.
My one greatest regret is learning to lipread. Now I do it all the time, and I can't shut it off. It's a significant drain on my energy, and when there are a lot of mouths moving, it gives me a roaring headache within minutes. The one good thing about it is that it gave my family time to catch up learning to sign.
When I lost my hearing, I learned to sign and become comfortable enough to declare myself fluent incredibly rapidly. I learned SEE, previously mentioned "Signing Exact English." I chose this because I knew it would be faster for my family because it does not require them to learn a new language. The most accurate book I've found on SEE is (ironically) Signing Exact English by Gerilee Gustason / Esther Zawolkow. If you search "Signing Exact English" on Amazon.com, you'll find it right away along with a couple others, but this one gets my vote.
Learn to fingerspell first. I had an advantage on this one. When I was in high school, I took an ASL course. Over years of neglect, I forgot a lot of what I learned, but one thing I kept up on was fingerspelling, which proved to be a very handy tool.
Also, my personal suggestion, if you ever intend to go on and learn ASL in the future (which will make you more comfortable in the Deaf community)..
JUST in case you're one of the 1 in 6 billion people who have a problem adapting to the "me" concept in ASL, let me suggest that when you learn to sign "I" in SEE, learn the "me" sign instead for both "me" and "I" .. that's the word, not the letter. This will allow your brain to distinguish between the letter and the sign better. I have a problem with that, but NOBODY understands it, but I just thought I'd mention that JUST in case you were against all odds like me in that respect.
Once you've mastered fingerspelling, get a list of the most commonly used words in the English language, and try to order them in the order they are learned by native English speakers if you can, and make short lists of them in that order (10-15 words per list), then learn one list per day. Sounds daunting, but just practice TODAY's list over and over for half an hour, then go through all the signs you've learned, and then you're done for the day. When you're by yourself, practice signing out your thoughts. Fingerspell the words you don't know how to sign rather than skipping them. Practice with your family. Your kids will take to signing like it's nothing. Encourage them to take ASL classes in school when they're old enough. It won't hurt them a bit. And you'll probably be learning ASL by then anyway, so you can help them with their homework.
Now you're set for life. Be patient with your family, your wife, especially. They'll probably be a little slower than you are at learning to sign. This is just because signing has just become your primary language, and your brain won't be fooled by you telling it otherwise. It will absorb that language like it's starving for it. Don't worry, your family will catch on.
Oh, somebody put a list of websites for ASL resources .. my personal favourite is the one listed as lifeprint.
SimplyMints
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Oops, should have explained why I chose to make my own vocabulary list instead of using a common online course. I also forgot to explain why I like lifeprint best. I think I can do both at the same time.
I like lifeprint because he did something similar to what I did. He teaches ASL, so he didn't gather a vocabulary list, but he gathered a list of the most common concepts and ordered them in the order of most used in common conversations and common linguistic interaction.
Most ASL courses are designed off of a template ratified by the mother institution's foreign language department. These really are designed for foreign languages. It's nice you can get foreign language credit for learning ASL, but you have no plans to take a vacation to Signland. Your primary goals are to retain your abilities to communicate with your family, as I recall you saying. You're not gonna be asking them how to hail a cab or negotiate a hotel contract, or ask the Signland International Airport customs officer where the nearest airport mens' bathroom is or when the next flight to the United States (or your home country) is leaving, or where to pick up your luggage, or complain to airport personnel that your luggage has been lost. I really hate that about foreign language courses. The sooner you're able to have an easy, comfortable conversation about normal things, the quicker you're gonna be able to learn more.
I like lifeprint because he did something similar to what I did. He teaches ASL, so he didn't gather a vocabulary list, but he gathered a list of the most common concepts and ordered them in the order of most used in common conversations and common linguistic interaction.
Most ASL courses are designed off of a template ratified by the mother institution's foreign language department. These really are designed for foreign languages. It's nice you can get foreign language credit for learning ASL, but you have no plans to take a vacation to Signland. Your primary goals are to retain your abilities to communicate with your family, as I recall you saying. You're not gonna be asking them how to hail a cab or negotiate a hotel contract, or ask the Signland International Airport customs officer where the nearest airport mens' bathroom is or when the next flight to the United States (or your home country) is leaving, or where to pick up your luggage, or complain to airport personnel that your luggage has been lost. I really hate that about foreign language courses. The sooner you're able to have an easy, comfortable conversation about normal things, the quicker you're gonna be able to learn more.