I am a hearing mom of a deaf child, i have a question.

Maggiesmom

Maggiesmom

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Hello to all,
My daughter Maggie was born with Microtia and atresia meaning she has no ear or ear canal opening . My husband and I are actively learning ASL. My husband's father was was deaf but never learned to sign and has passed away...so my husband understands how important it is that we learn as a family because he got to see first hand how hard of a time his dad would have in certain situations communicating. Sorry for the novel but my question is this, we don't know any members in our community who are deaf, we live a very rural part of our state, since it is not acceptable for non deaf people to create sign names, how do we give our daughter one? Do I just sign Maggie every time I want to say her name? Thank you so much for taking time to read this and I added a picture of her just for cuteness! I sincerely appreciate your time.
 

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Welcome :wave:

See if there are any deaf schools in a reasonable driving distance that offer an early intervention program. This will give both the parents and child exposure to other deaf/hh children, parents with deaf/hh children, ASL, and most likely she will receive a sign name.

If that is not an option...

It is not uncommon for people to have more than one sign name. At different stages in life another sign name may be more appropriate or if you change location and someone already has the name sign a new sign name may be given. You could create a name sign for home use with the understanding that if you are planning to enroll her in a deaf program her name sign may change.

To help guide you, take a look at the book "The book of Name Signs". This will give you some guidance in creating a name that is culturally appropriate.

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Name-Signs-American-Language/dp/0915035308
 
Welcome! :h5:

I, too, am a hearing mother of a deaf baby. My baby was born with bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss. Can I just say, your daughter is adorable! My daughter, Gemma, is 9 months old, and I too have wondered how she will get her sign name, but luckily, I do live in the city where our state's deaf and blind school is located, so she will eventually be more involved in the D/deaf community there.

I've been asked how we will give sign names to our extended family members, like aunts and uncles, and family friends. I was thinking we would just make them up, or do initials, since our extended family (living in CA) and friends will never be involved in the D/deaf community enough to get their own sign names. Husband did NOT like that idea, though. He thinks any sign name should be given by the Deaf community. I dont disagree, I'm just not sure how that will happen.

Just my $0.02. Hope to get to know you better :D Here is a pic of Gemma!
 

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Tristen said:
Welcome! :h5:

I, too, am a hearing mother of a deaf baby. My baby was born with bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss. Can I just say, your daughter is adorable! My daughter, Gemma, is 9 months old, and I too have wondered how she will get her sign name, but luckily, I do live in the city where our state's deaf and blind school is located, so she will eventually be more involved in the D/deaf community there.

I've been asked how we will give sign names to our extended family members, like aunts and uncles, and family friends. I was thinking we would just make them up, or do initials, since our extended family (living in CA) and friends will never be involved in the D/deaf community enough to get their own sign names. Husband did NOT like that idea, though. He thinks any sign name should be given by the Deaf community. I dont disagree, I'm just not sure how that will happen.

Just my $0.02. Hope to get to know you better :D Here is a pic of Gemma!
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I would think it's OK to assign names to family members for home use only. As Gemma grows older and interacts with those family members there's a good chance she'll reassign them sign names that make sense to her, based on the family members' individual characteristics, as seen thru her eyes.

For example, for now, you could use AUNT+ P for aunt Patricia, and COUSIN+R for cousin Rachel. Later, aunt Patricia might become AUNT+SMOKING and cousin Rachel might become COUSIN+LAUGHING. (When Gemma is old enough to spell, make sure she learns everyone's full names in addition to their sign names; there is nothing sadder than family members not knowing each others' names.)

Temporary, non-Deaf community sign names are often used when conversing about someone. Often it's just the initials, after the first full spelling of the name.

Just some ideas; nothing set in stone. :)
 
Maggie and Gemma--too much cuteness for one page! :giggle:
 
Reba said:
I would think it's OK to assign names to family members for home use only. As Gemma grows older and interacts with those family members there's a good chance she'll reassign them sign names that make sense to her, based on the family members' individual characteristics, as seen thru her eyes.

For example, for now, you could use AUNT+ P for aunt Patricia, and COUSIN+R for cousin Rachel. Later, aunt Patricia might become AUNT+SMOKING and cousin Rachel might become COUSIN+LAUGHING. (When Gemma is old enough to spell, make sure she learns everyone's full names in addition to their sign names; there is nothing sadder than family members not knowing each others' names.)

Temporary, non-Deaf community sign names are often used when conversing about someone. Often it's just the initials, after the first full spelling of the name.

Just some ideas; nothing set in stone. :)
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thank you so very much for taking time out of your day to help me! I really appreciate it, you've given me a lot of great ideas.
 
Tristen said:
Welcome! :h5:

I, too, am a hearing mother of a deaf baby. My baby was born with bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss. Can I just say, your daughter is adorable! My daughter, Gemma, is 9 months old, and I too have wondered how she will get her sign name, but luckily, I do live in the city where our state's deaf and blind school is located, so she will eventually be more involved in the D/deaf community there.

I've been asked how we will give sign names to our extended family members, like aunts and uncles, and family friends. I was thinking we would just make them up, or do initials, since our extended family (living in CA) and friends will never be involved in the D/deaf community enough to get their own sign names. Husband did NOT like that idea, though. He thinks any sign name should be given by the Deaf community. I dont disagree, I'm just not sure how that will happen.

Just my $0.02. Hope to get to know you better :D Here is a pic of Gemma!
Click to expand...
Gemma is supper dupper cute!!! Maggies doesn't actually have but one "normal" shaped ear so hearing aids won't work for her, she does have a headband with a baha (bone anchored hearing aid) but she hates it!
 
zephren said:
Welcome :wave:

See if there are any deaf schools in a reasonable driving distance that offer an early intervention program. This will give both the parents and child exposure to other deaf/hh children, parents with deaf/hh children, ASL, and most likely she will receive a sign name.

If that is not an option...

It is not uncommon for people to have more than one sign name. At different stages in life another sign name may be more appropriate or if you change location and someone already has the name sign a new sign name may be given. You could create a name sign for home use with the understanding that if you are planning to enroll her in a deaf program her name sign may change.

To help guide you, take a look at the book "The book of Name Signs". This will give you some guidance in creating a name that is culturally appropriate.

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Name-Signs-American-Language/dp/0915035308
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Thank you so much for all this amazing information , I really appreciate everyones kindness and help. We do have an advisor , a wonderful advisor with the south carolina school for the deaf and blind he calls once a month to check on us and he is always sending us very helpful information. The school is two counties away so driving wouldn't be an option. We are also on the waiting list for speech therapy and she does have a hearing aid on a head band (its a baha because she doesn't have an actual ear to put a traditional aid in) but she hates the thing! its got to be pretty tight in order to work. Ive decided not to force it on her, she doesn't like it for now and maybe she will when shes older but for now we are relying on ASL. I just want her to have some thing to hold on to as an identity you know, and you've helped me with that , thank you so much.
 
zephren said:
Welcome :wave:

See if there are any deaf schools in a reasonable driving distance that offer an early intervention program. This will give both the parents and child exposure to other deaf/hh children, parents with deaf/hh children, ASL, and most likely she will receive a sign name.

If that is not an option...

It is not uncommon for people to have more than one sign name. At different stages in life another sign name may be more appropriate or if you change location and someone already has the name sign a new sign name may be given. You could create a name sign for home use with the understanding that if you are planning to enroll her in a deaf program her name sign may change.

To help guide you, take a look at the book "The book of Name Signs". This will give you some guidance in creating a name that is culturally appropriate.

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Name-Signs-American-Language/dp/0915035308
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sorry for bothering you again but do you think this would be appropriate for a toddler?
 
According to the name sign book i could use a generalized sign for m and then a descriptive feature, ,would M and the sign for beautiful be acceptable?
 
Maggiesmom said:
Thank you so much for all this amazing information , I really appreciate everyones kindness and help. We do have an advisor , a wonderful advisor with the south carolina school for the deaf and blind he calls once a month to check on us and he is always sending us very helpful information. The school is two counties away so driving wouldn't be an option. We are also on the waiting list for speech therapy and she does have a hearing aid on a head band (its a baha because she doesn't have an actual ear to put a traditional aid in) but she hates the thing! its got to be pretty tight in order to work. Ive decided not to force it on her, she doesn't like it for now and maybe she will when shes older but for now we are relying on ASL. I just want her to have some thing to hold on to as an identity you know, and you've helped me with that , thank you so much.
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Oh that's AWESOME!!!! I'm impressed! A/M kids don't generally need intense speech therapies. Meaning that's not an area that parents need to be super concerned with Yes, take advantage of it when it becomes available, but again most A/M kids can develop speech skills without say the "narrative language" approach or going to an oral preschool or doing the John Tracy course. So don't panic in that area.... Just interact with her the way you would any other kid. Definitly have her followed in that area..... But it is AWESOME you are giving her the puzzle piece of ASL!!!! Many HOH kids do not get that piece of the puzzle.....and you're so right.... Giving her ASL will give her a safety net, and the abilty to function both with and without her BAHA! Also ASL and Deaf culture is a LOT more fun then a Hearing Health 101 approach. (which is what most HOH kids get) Too bad the Deaf School is so far away. Is there anything for dhh kids in your county? It's awesome you're hooked up with the school! Maybe in the future you guys could relocate....it's not unheard of for parents of dhh kids to relocate for good deaf schools! Also join the American Society for Deaf Children: http://deafchildren.org/
 
Thank you for your support, Maggies normal shaped ear has moderate to severe hearing loss and then no hearing on her microtia side , so that's why we are trying so hard to give her every chance she can at language skills, at 19 months old she still isn't speaking and while i know that all kids speak at different times she hasn't said any actual words yet...but she had signend many words that she truly knows the meaning off like bath, milk when she wants to nurse, more, and eat and dad. And you might be a mind reader we have been looking into moving closer to Spartanburg when the school is located at!
 
Just for clarity, when it talks about combined name signs (first letter and a descriptive sign) it means the first letter is the handshape to hold while doing the description sign. In your idea, beautiful with an M handshape rather than the usual motion as one sign and not M + BEAUTIFUL as two signs. You may have meant this but I just wanted to be sure we were thinking the same thing.

To answer your questions, yes, this is consistent with modern name signs. See Dr. Vicars article are modern versus classic name signs.

http://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/namesigns.htm
 
deafdyke said:
Oh that's AWESOME!!!! I'm impressed! A/M kids don't generally need intense speech therapies. Meaning that's not an area that parents need to be super concerned with Yes, take advantage of it when it becomes available, but again most A/M kids can develop speech skills without say the "narrative language" approach or going to an oral preschool or doing the John Tracy course. So don't panic in that area.... Just interact with her the way you would any other kid. Definitly have her followed in that area..... But it is AWESOME you are giving her the puzzle piece of ASL!!!! Many HOH kids do not get that piece of the puzzle.....and you're so right.... Giving her ASL will give her a safety net, and the abilty to function both with and without her BAHA! Also ASL and Deaf culture is a LOT more fun then a Hearing Health 101 approach. (which is what most HOH kids get) Too bad the Deaf School is so far away. Is there anything for dhh kids in your county? It's awesome you're hooked up with the school! Maybe in the future you guys could relocate....it's not unheard of for parents of dhh kids to relocate for good deaf schools! Also join the American Society for Deaf Children: http://deafchildren.org/
Click to expand...

(so I posted that twice because I am not exactly sure if it shows up as your reply...I am not great with the whole chat room yet)Thank you for your support, Maggie's normal shaped ear has moderate to severe hearing loss and then no hearing on her microtia side , so that's why we are trying so hard to give her every chance she can at language skills, at 19 months old she still isn't speaking and while i know that all kids speak at different times she hasn't said any actual words yet...but she had signed many words that she truly knows the meaning off like bath, milk when she wants to nurse, more, and eat and dad. And you might be a mind reader we have been looking into moving closer to Spartanburg when the school is located at!
 
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