My deaf niece is feeling low - want to help cheer her up?

[SummerP]

Hi everybody. I have a favor to ask. (I hope this is okay.)

My niece is the cutest little girl on the face of the planet. She’s 8 years old, and so smart and cute she really ought to be a cartoon instead of a human being. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up, and if life gives her the slightest opportunity to do it, I know she will.

She has a progressive hearing loss, and it seems like her hearing is going fairly fast. She’s mostly handling this with a pretty amazing amount of grace; she’s a really practical & confident kiddo. But recently she’s been having a really rough time at things like cheerleading practice and church, two things she really loves. She’s frustrated, because she can’t hear what’s being spoken in these environments even with her hearing aids, and she doesn’t know enough ASL yet to keep up with the interpreter at church. She feels alone, and invisible sometime, and just has some hard days with it.

My sister is already working on some things locally to make things better for her - looking for ways for the whole family to improve their ASL, looking for ways for my niece to make friends in the Deaf community, looking into the state school for the Deaf, everything she could think of.

I’m really far away, clear across the country, so there’s not a lot I can do. But I had this idea just now, and I thought maybe some of you wonderful people out there who have perhaps gone through some of what she’s going through, might feel like helping?

Here’s the favor/my idea: I thought maybe I could put together an It Gets Better kind of video playlist for her, with deaf/hoh people sharing their experiences, maybe just kind of sharing a positive message with her to kind of cheer her up, let her know that there are other awesome people in the world who know what she’s going through?

I hope this makes sense, and I hope it’s not a totally terrible idea!

If you would like to help cheer up my SUPER AWESOME AMAZING eight year old niece, Kayleah, about some of the challenges of being a deaf kid in a hearing world, please:

1) Make a video for Kayleah (English or ASL is fine, I’ll make sure any spoken videos get captioned for her.) (Her name-sign, if you want to use it, is this sign for “precise” but with K handshapes on both hands. They touch at the middle finger tips, if that makes sense.)

2) Post it on youtube

3) Reply here with the link.

I’ll put all the videos into a Playlist of Amazingness and send it to her later this week.

Please, also, feel free to share this with anybody you think might be willing to help.

Thank you for reading! And if you make a video, BIG THANK YOU!!!!!!

Sincerely,
Summer

 

[SummerP]

I meant to add, if any community members from elsewhere in the world want to join in, 1) YAY!!! and 2) can you please, if you use a sign language other than ASL, caption the video for her? <3 Thank you.

 

[deafdyke]

She’s frustrated, because she can’t hear what’s being spoken in these environments even with her hearing aids, and she doesn’t know enough ASL yet to keep up with the interpreter at church. She feels alone, and invisible sometime, and just has some hard days with it.

My sister is already working on some things locally to make things better for her - looking for ways for the whole family to improve their ASL, looking for ways for my niece to make friends in the Deaf community, looking into the state school for the Deaf, everything she could think of.

Does she know other dhh kids? And good on your sister for looking into all of that. That's AWESOME!!!! That's really the way to go....

 

[SummerP]

Does she know other dhh kids? And good on your sister for looking into all of that. That's AWESOME!!!! That's really the way to go....

No, I think the only other dhh person she knows is an older gentleman at her church. I've been trying to encourage my sister to get the family involved in their local deaf community, but it's kind of tough due to some details of their life right now.

I did ask her if I could post on here and see if there are any dhh kids who might like a Skype buddy or something, or who might miraculously be in their area even, so hopefully I can make a post about that in the next day or two, see if anybody knows someone who might want a new friend to chat in ASL with.

 

[deafdyke]

No, I think the only other dhh person she knows is an older gentleman at her church. I've been trying to encourage my sister to get the family involved in their local deaf community, but it's kind of tough due to some details of their life right now.

I did ask her if I could post on here and see if there are any dhh kids who might like a Skype buddy or something, or who might miraculously be in their area even, so hopefully I can make a post about that in the next day or two, see if anybody knows someone who might want a new friend to chat in ASL with.

She could attend Deaf camp.......that's a good start...there are also groups on facebook etc.

 

[KarissaMann05]

Deaf camps, Deaf scouts, or Deaf Coffee. That is all I know.

 

[deafdyke]

Oh forgot....are there any regional dhh programs? She might not need the intensity of a Deaf School, but she could have regular exposure to other dhh kids.

 

[shel90]

I will have to figure out how to make a video. I hope your niece finds friends who have the same experiences. I had a few deaf friends growing up due to being oral-only and mainstreamed. Now, I have several Deaf friendds and life has gotten better since then.

 

[CSign]

No, I think the only other dhh person she knows is an older gentleman at her church. I've been trying to encourage my sister to get the family involved in their local deaf community, but it's kind of tough due to some details of their life right now.

I did ask her if I could post on here and see if there are any dhh kids who might like a Skype buddy or something, or who might miraculously be in their area even, so hopefully I can make a post about that in the next day or two, see if anybody knows someone who might want a new friend to chat in ASL with.

I think it would be much more beneficial to her to meet a person in real life rather than on the Internet.

Her mom should ask the Itinerant TOD if he/she can introduce your niece to some local (or at least somewhat local) children. It sounds like she needs to make some friends.

 

[zerodog]

No, I think the only other dhh person she knows is an older gentleman at her church. I've been trying to encourage my sister to get the family involved in their local deaf community, but it's kind of tough due to some details of their life right now.

I did ask her if I could post on here and see if there are any dhh kids who might like a Skype buddy or something, or who might miraculously be in their area even, so hopefully I can make a post about that in the next day or two, see if anybody knows someone who might want a new friend to chat in ASL with.

It may be interesting to you if your family need feel somewhat support her... I can tell you about Leonardo Da Vinci claim says that Deaf people are important around the society. Even one guy who himself deaf and show Leonardo the first paint of Mona Lisa with appear shows of face dept express. Even he use sign language to communicate that person who is training him.

Just want you know 95% children who is deaf and become adult no longer to see their family again. One main the reason, no communicate with sign language. Only 5% does use the sign language. no family deserve that kind of damage part...

About the school community around, i encourage you! and your family! and asked what teacher believes about Deaf community. If she has ability with speech, no problem... but if she has no ability to speech with talk well but able to learn then go there... know what I am saying whats important but it depend on what teacher and where she or he came from other state that do still teach dark age.

We the deaf community always embrace from the negative side and dark age to positive and doing good cause to entire community.

 

[SummerP]

I agree about it being important for her to make some real life friends who get it - alas, their car just broke down! At any rate, my sister's working on it, trying to figure things out. I'll mention what you said, CSign, about the Itinerant TOD - would she have one if she's homeschooled? I don't know much about the school system in Indiana, even less about the deaf education system, and even less about homeschooling! (Gosh, I'm a lot of help. :P )

Many, many thanks everybody who's responded to this post. <3 I really appreciate it. I'm sorry I'm so slow to reply - I have some "brain stuff" going on right now, and my brain isn't working all that well, and school is kind of eating me alive on top of that right now. So I'm not processing anything very well at all, so even though I've skimmed this post a couple of times, it's taken me a little while to get to where I thought I understood it. (Like I said, my brain is not working very well right now. Reading is often the first thing to go for me.)

 

[deafdyke]

would she have one if she's homeschooled? I don't know much about the school system in Indiana, even less about the deaf education system, and even less about homeschooling!

Oh is your sister thinking of homeschooling? One thing about homeschooling dhh (or other low incidence disability) is that a parent cannot and should not do it alone. They need supplementation. They generally aren't trained to teach dhh (or other low incidence) kids. I'm not sure if Indy has regional dhh programs...Although if your sister is religious there are a couple of options....City Baptist Deaf School
and Bill Rice Ranch - Deaf Camp
There's a lot of other stuff and resources out there.....heck, maybe your sister could send your niece (if she's old enough) to St. Rita's in Ohio...there's a lot of resources out there. Heck Indiana School for the Deaf is quite good. I know a family with dhh kids who are going to homeschool but will also strongly supplement with involvement with the deaf school.....Indiana School for the Deaf - Indianapolis, IN