To all hearing parents of Deaf kids

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Frisky Feline

Frisky Feline

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I have noticed that lots of hearing parents have been joining here this site lately!

One simple question is: :aw:
First of thing, when you learn that your kid is Deaf. Normally, you guys may have too many things on your mind what to do with Deaf kids.

::: Have you ever thought of learning any form of sign language or ASL or not?


:fruit:
 
My mom took a class when I was first diagnosed. She said that she was terrible at it. However, while she was taking that class, she and my therapist decided I'd do well in a mainstream school, so my mom dropped the class. We took ASL class together once when I was about 14 or so. She's still terrible at it. :lol: She felt so alone in that class since she couldn't understand any of us. I told her "welcome to my world". She just cracked up.
 
Frisky Feline said:
I have noticed that lots of hearing parents have been joining here this site lately!

One simple question is: :aw:
First of thing, when you learn that your kid is Deaf. Normally, you guys may have too many things on your mind what to do with Deaf kids.

::: Have you ever thought of learning any form of sign language or ASL or not?


:fruit:
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Yes. I learned ASL, and still learn more everyday.
 
I've been doing 'baby signs' with Adam since he was first brought home (used them w/all the kids coming thru my home) and now I'm learning more each day and classes are in the works (start in May). As soon as I learned A was deaf I knew we'd be using more than 'baby sign' (eat, drink, stop etc.)
 
Adamsmomma said:
I've been doing 'baby signs' with Adam since he was first brought home (used them w/all the kids coming thru my home) and now I'm learning more each day and classes are in the works (start in May). As soon as I learned A was deaf I knew we'd be using more than 'baby sign' (eat, drink, stop etc.)
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Cool. Sign has always been a part of my deaf son's life, and I also used sign with all of my neices and nephews (I see them on a daily basis) since they were born. They are all hearing, but are proficient signers.
 
jillio said:
Cool. Sign has always been a part of my deaf son's life, and I also used sign with all of my neices and nephews (I see them on a daily basis) since they were born. They are all hearing, but are proficient signers.
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I was trying to teach a baby that lived w/me some signs when Adam came home... knowing it would help him communicate early. He could hear perfectly, listening was a different story LOL

Im trying to find a medium that catches A's attention long enough to teach him more and more signs... he doesn't watch enough TV to get into Signing Times, but momma likes them LOL.

I have no intention of withholding communication from Adam, I mean will it kill me to learn sign language?? NOPE... I don't understand why some parents don't.
 
Adamsmomma said:
I was trying to teach a baby that lived w/me some signs when Adam came home... knowing it would help him communicate early. He could hear perfectly, listening was a different story LOL

Im trying to find a medium that catches A's attention long enough to teach him more and more signs... he doesn't watch enough TV to get into Signing Times, but momma likes them LOL.

I have no intention of withholding communication from Adam, I mean will it kill me to learn sign language?? NOPE... I don't understand why some parents don't.
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As far as holding his attention, he will of course be more interested in some things than others, but you will still have to work within the bounds of his attention span. But, also keep in mind, when it appears he is not really paying attention, he could still be gaining info through peripheral means.

I found one of the best ways to increase my son's vocab was to simply chat with him about whatever we were doing. He loved blocks, and when he was a bit older, Legos. I would sit down with him and talk to him about what he was building, etc. Or we would go for a walk, and talk about the things we saw. Even when he was Adam's age, we could just be in the back yard, and maybe he would spy a bird. He would point and sign "bird". We would then talk about what the bird was doing, what kind of house a bird lived in, etc.

This kind of informal interaction with others is the way a hearing child picks up language, and a deaf child will acquire language in the same way. That is one of the reasons that it is important for a deaf child to have deaf peers, and be around adults who sign, as well. Interacting with different people has an effect on their language development, and if they are around people who can communicate with them directly, it is amazing how quickly they will progress.

I can assure you that learning to sign won't kill you. Frustrate you from time to time, but it isn't fatal, lol. In fact, if your experience is anything like mine, it will enrich your life, and strengthen your relationship with your son.
 
First of all, thats real nice of hearing parents to take ASL classes so they can be part of deaf kids lives and experiences, no matter what if Deaf kids can speak but ASL is a big impact in those kids' lives.

i have met so many deaf kids who can speak beautifully. yet they prefer ASL in their adulthood now. They do speak in their own times for purposes. Amazingly, Some of their parents took ASL classes so late in much later when they realize that Deaf Adult kids chose ASL for on a daily basis. Some of the hearing parents admitted to me that they did think that ASL didn't help their speeches. But they know now that ASL is part of their convenient lives to communicate and getting informations in anything without saying "what" in the way.
 
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My wife and I started learning rudimentary sign language for my first son who is hearing but had delayed speech. My second son was born deaf, and continuing to learn sign language seemed like the most obvious and natural thing in the world to us even though all the "experts" insisted that implants or hearing aids were the way to go. Right now I'm going to school to learn ASL and become an interpreter.
 
Mountain Man said:
My wife and I started learning rudimentary sign language for my first son who is hearing but had delayed speech. My second son was born deaf, and continuing to learn sign language seemed like the most obvious and natural thing in the world to us even though all the "experts" insisted that implants or hearing aids were the way to go. Right now I'm going to school to learn ASL and become an interpreter.
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Good for you! We sure can use interpreters - the more there are out there, the better for the deaf people.
 
Adamsmomma said:
I don't understand why some parents don't.
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yea well, many reasons:

*some hearing parents rather Deaf kids to learn how to speak without learning ASL and ASL is bad.
*some hearing parents are illierated ASL.
*some hearing parents are in denial of having Deaf Kids and pretend to speak like Deaf kids are hearing.
*some hearing parents hold grudges against Deaf kids from their past experiences for some reasons.


Yes, I know so many GOOD hearing parents have a hard time learning ASL and they tried so hard to learn ASL but, could not absord ASL. :( They still are GOOD parents.
 
I usually tell my family to get on the internet. That's usually work. It is helpful for those who struggle with ASL, including parents. When my mom was alive, she was willing to use the computer. We would instant message to each other back and forth, but our real life communication was terrible.
 
Good job parents, I am so happy to read. My folks are still in denial that I grew up not hearing and wasn't diagnosed until I was 19 as severely HOH. I don't blame them, have forgiven them ,we all just do our best right, but how the heck could they have missed that?!
 
Moon-child said:
Good job parents, I am so happy to read. My folks are still in denial that I grew up not hearing and wasn't diagnosed until I was 19 as severely HOH. I don't blame them, have forgiven them ,we all just do our best right, but how the heck could they have missed that?!
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I'm sorry they miss it
 
Frisky Feline said:
I have noticed that lots of hearing parents have been joining here this site lately!

One simple question is: :aw:
First of thing, when you learn that your kid is Deaf. Normally, you guys may have too many things on your mind what to do with Deaf kids.

::: Have you ever thought of learning any form of sign language or ASL or not?


:fruit:
Click to expand...

My son and I have learned 300+ signs and I signed up for ASL classes that was suppose to have started April 6th but was cancelled cause not enough people signed up for it. I have been told by lots of people not to teach my son signs b/c he will figure that it's easier to use signs then to learn to talk since he only has moderate hearing loss therefore won't learn how to verbilize but he's doing signs and verbal all the time. I just wish we can learn the right way to sign the words together.
 
Moon-child said:
Good job parents, I am so happy to read. My folks are still in denial that I grew up not hearing and wasn't diagnosed until I was 19 as severely HOH. I don't blame them, have forgiven them ,we all just do our best right, but how the heck could they have missed that?!
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Sometimes people are very good at not seeing something that frightens them. Maybe they ignored all the signs because the thought of you not being hearing scared them.
 
Perhaps I can show another side of the sign, no sign argument. I asked my mom why I never learned ASL as a child, she said "Because we never taught you ASL, we tried teaching you SEE however for over a year I tried to get you to use more sign but you just wouldn't pay attention. Then your teachers said that it would be best for your academics if we stopped signing all together".

In my case, there were two issues: I wouldn't sit still long enough and once again hearing teachers didn't want sign. But after finding this out, I finally realised why SEE seemed so familiar to me. I'll use my hands while I speak, I was talking to one of my supervisors and my deaf friend was like 'You know SEE? I was like huh? Guess I did learn some after all :lol:
 
Could be jillio, It does boggle my mind but I try not to concern myself with it too terribly much, sometimes I find the best answer to "why" is just simply "because". Live and learn right! :)
 
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