Decisions and Change!

Emotions surge through me. Questions fill my mind.

Is this what I want for my baby?
Is this what he wants?
Does he understand what challenges he will face?
Will the other kids be nice to him?
Will he be getting a quality education?
Will the interpreter be qualified? 

For the last two months, my son had been at home with me. Field trips, nature observations, projects, sensory activities, sibling teaching sessions, planning, reading, filming, viewing, etc etc.

Not that it was all fun and games and went just the way I wanted it to. Quite the opposite. But, it became clear to me that what my boy needed was a period of time to heal, to discover himself again, to gain confidence once more; to discover learning again. 

Then one day, he decided that that  time had come to an end. After a particularly hard day, I looked at him and signed, "You're not happy. You miss school, don't you?" 

We then launched into a conversation of what options he had for school: a local deaf program with part mainstreaming and part resource classroom with a teacher of the deaf, home, or the local elementary school where his brother goes. 

Perfect, I thought, it's time to teach him how to make good decisions in his life. If he can learn this now, it will benefit him greatly in his future!

Being a faithful Christian family, I brought in the scriptures. In the Doctrine and Covenants (scriptures from the LDS faith), these verses are found. They guide anyone seeking answer to finding a decision based on answers from the Holy Ghost:

"Study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.
But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong" (D&C 9:8-9)

We sat down, Mom, Dad, son, and brother for support. We listed and discussed all pros and con's to each decision. We asked others who may know more. We talked to deaf adults who went to school in their local schools (mainstreamed) growing up, including Dad. 

He made a decision.

Then he prayed. And our whole family prayed with him. 

He felt he had an answer... Attend the local school with his brother. He was excited. 

And here's the condition we discussed, "Since this is your decision, and your Father in Heaven has said it is a good choice, whatever happens, we face it together. There will be challenges. You may find you hate it. You may love it. No matter what, you stick it out until the end of the year. Then we'll reevaluate and see what to do."

It's been 4 weeks now. Not without challenges, but with motivation to learn, to grow, and to do his best. He has made friends and figured out ways to communicate with them. He has come home sad, frustrated, excited, concerned, happy, calm, and angry. There have been bullies and really great friends. In other words, he's having a normal experience. 

Is this what I want for my baby?
     I want him to be happy, engaged, leaning and growing... All of that is happening. Could there be a better place for him out there? Maybe, but for now...he's doing ok.

Is this what he wants?
    Yes...he explored all the options. He decided this for himself. For him, that was really important.

Does he understand what challenges he will face? He does now, and is facing them bravely! 

Will the other kids be nice to him?
Some will, some won't...isn't that true for most kids? We've dealt with that before (Dealing with Bullying) and I love how this little guy responded to the bullies! Stay tuned for my next post for that!

Will he be getting a quality education?
    With 20% of content lost through interpretation even with the best interpreters, some educational value is sacrificed. However, this local school and teacher are using many of the effective strategies that I talked about earlier, and they are challenging and engaging my boy, pushing him on. For 3rd grade, with added support of reading and writing at home, he'll be alright for now. The best answer for every deaf child? I would say, emphatically, no! Those arguments will make this post too long, I'll add it to my list! 

And what of next year? And the year after? I don't know those answers. I guess we have more decisions yet to make. Thank goodness we know the steps to do so.

"Oh the Thinks You Can Think"

Yup... Dr. Seuss.

Revered by all educators and parents everywhere, Dr. Seuss is a legend. Right?

But... have you ever tried to sign a Dr. Seuss story in ASL? Now that's a different story. I would balk at trying to translate any Dr. Seuss story into ASL. Attempting to translate the rhyme and the nonsense words was pointless to me. The books that tell actual stories: Horton Hears a Who, etc. would get my best ASL story telling skills, but the rhyme never translated. Being hearing myself, I always felt like my kids were missing out on something. Something I had no way to give them....

 

Until I found "Hands Land: ASL Rhymes & Rhythms." This project is underway and is creating great resources for deaf children. I love their translation of Dr. Seuss' "Hop On Pop". It inspired me. When I saw our copy of Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Thinks You Can Think," I knew I had to try my hand at reading it to my kids.

It was an instant success! My 20 month old was copying the signs with me from the 2nd page, learning 2 new signs the first time I read it. When my older children arrived home, I had them sit down so I could sign it to them. They, of course, helped me add and revise the translation. It was so fun!

Hope you enjoy the video! And the next time you pick up a Dr. Seuss book... just Think of all the Thinks you Can Think - and start signing away!

*Insert educational strategies note for teachers and parents. This video was signed, filmed, edited and captioned by my son and I. He is 8. He took the pictures, then uploaded and added them. He did about half of the editing, captions, and more than half of the signing.

This is a FABULOUS project idea for deaf children! Video recording their own stories is such a confidence builder. It allows them to see their storytelling as real. They are able to watch their story and analyze the language: what could have been more clear? Do I like the story I told? I love using iPADs for this strategy, allowing the kids to have an ASL journal or Free composing time using the built in webcams.

Then, when my son sat down at the computer to edit and started to caption it, I was blown away! Inside, I was jumping up and down. In reality, I calmly said, "That's a great idea!" Having students watch their ASL and transcribe it into English is a great way to have them really understand how to link ASL to English. He sat there watching himself sign, trying to figure out how to put it in English words. It was great. We worked together on a lot of it. I ended up finishing it because it was getting too long... and we had some other interesting events happen that I'll post about soon! 

Our Reading Nook

Have you had a hard time getting your children to read? We decided to arrange our corner into an area where our kids could get away and read. We packed library books into bins and put them next to the couch and purchased some fun chairs to add some excitement. It has also become sort of a 'cool down' space when someone is needing it. Reading has become 'cool' again! 


 

Closed reading nook

   

Open reading nook

Here's what our 10 year old had to say about it: 

Reading in the reading nook

"Having a reading nook is fun. Before we made this reading nook, our family was obsessed with electronics. All day, we would play on Minecraft forever! But, luckily, Mom and Dad intervened. We looked on Pinterest for ideas and we found one:  Reading Nook!!!!!!  "                                                                      

 You could even make your own Reading Nook!

For ALL ages!

**Tips: 

• We used hooks that can stick to the ceiling rather than drilling holes.
•  We used matching top sheets that my kids don't really use.
• We attached the sheet to the hooks with simple clasps,
• I secured the sheets to the middle hook with some quick hand stitches, needle and thread.
• We display children's art in the corner.
• It helps for Mom or Dad to go into the Nook and read too!

Happy Reading!