Endeavor

SPRING/SUMMER 2012

The

ENDEAVOR A Publication for Families and Professionals Committed to Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Language and Communication

A Deaf Child’s Right

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: The Argument for a Constitutional Right to Communication and Language

Soup or Salad? Yes! The Right of the Deaf Child to Grow Up Bilingual

p. 13 p. 22 p. 44

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THE ENDEAVOR

American Society for Deaf Children #2047 800 Florida Avenue, NE Washington, D.C. 20002-3695 Fax: (410) 795-0965 Toll-Free Help Line: (800) 942-ASDC (2732) asdc@deafchildren.org www.deafchildren.org THE ENDEAVOR STAFF Editor Tami Hossler asdctami@aol.com Managing Editors Anita Farb Avonne Brooker-Rutowski Publication Services T.S. Writing Services, LLC www.tswriting.com ASDC STAFF Director of Advocacy Cheri Dowling asdc@deafchildren.org © 2012 ASDC. The Endeavor is ASDC’s news magazine published three times a year. Published articles and advertisements are the personal expressions of their authors and do not necessarily represent the views of ASDC. The Endeavor is distributed free of charge to ASDC members.

ADVERTISING For advertising information, contact asdctami@aol.com.

ASDC is a 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation.

A Look Inside EVERY ISSUE ASDC Board

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A Note From the Editor

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President’s Column

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Membership Form

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FEATURES Strategies for Working with Children with Autism

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Communication and Language: What’s the Difference?

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The Argument for a Constitutional Right to Communication and Language

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Deaf and Hard of Hearing Child’s Bill of Rights

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Soup or Salad? Yes!

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Hey, Kids! Summer Learning Can Be Fun!

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Components of an ASL/English Bilingual Early Childhood Program

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Featured School: Illinois School for the Deaf

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Taking Two Leaps of Faith

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Assimilation Arguments Cheat Us All

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Reflections on Language, Communication and Education

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The Right of the Deaf Child to Grow Up Bilingual

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Going Green!

Would you like to help save trees and costs by receiving an online version of The Endeavor instead of a hard copy?

If so, send an e-mail to asdc@deafchildren.org.

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ASDC BOARD Executive Council Board of Directors President Jodee Crace, M.A. Indianapolis, IN jcrace@isd.k12.in.us

Treasurer Timothy Frelich, M.A. Jessup, MD timothy.frelich@gallaudet.edu

Vice President Avonne Rutowski, M.A. Austin, TX avonne.rutowski@tsd.state.tx.us

Executive Secretary Kristen DiPerri, Ed.D. Falls, PA halimun@aol.com

Members at Large Past President Beth Benedict, Ph.D. Germantown, MD beth.benedict@gallaudet. edu Peter Bailey, M.A. Framington, MA peter_bailey@tlcdeaf.org Jeff Bravin, M.A. West Hartford, CT jeff.bravin@asd-1817.org Tom D’Angelo Frederick, MD tdangelo@zvrs.com Carrie Davenport, Ed.S. Columbus, OH davenport@osd.oh.gov

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John Egbert Ham Lake, MN bassegbert@mac.com

Tami Hossler, M.A. Miromar Lakes, FL asdctami@aol.com

Lisalee Egbert, Ph.D. Sacramento, CA legbert@saclink. csus.edu

Erin Kane, M.A. Rochester, NY erin.kane@rit.edu

Stefanie Ellis-Gonzales, M.A. Pleasanton, CA sdellis3@aol.com Robert Hill, M.A., M.Ed., Ed.S. Tucson, AZ robert.hill@asdb.az.gov

Tony Ronco, P.Eng. La Mesa, CA t_ronco@hotmail.com Council on Education of the Deaf Representatives Beth Benedict Jodee Crace

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A Note From the Editor Don’t you just love this Both are central to life time of year? The flowitself. This is why so many ers are blooming and so of us are continuously are our kiddos! Last year I educating those outside became a grandma. Yes, I the arena of Deaf educaknow you all are thinking I tion on children’s right to must be too young to be a accessible language. grandma…well, maybe not.

I hope that you are able Tami Hossler As a grandparent, we can to use what you find in take the time to notice all this issue to further our the little things that our grandchildren efforts to ensure all children who are do. It is amazing to see babies commu- Deaf or Hard of Hearing blossom in nicate so naturally through non-verbal language development. communication. It is even more amazAs always, keep sending me your ing to see this grow into full-fledged articles or ideas on topics you would language as they become toddlers. like to see covered in The Endeavor.

This issue is packed full of articles The fall issue will focus on family on the topics of language and commu- diversity, and the deadline is Sept. 1. nication, which all children—includ- E-mail your articles or story ideas to ing Deaf children—have a right to. me at asdctami@aol.com.

ASDC Board News A BIG ASDC thank you goes to Joe Finnegan for his long service on the ASDC board. Over the years, Joe has been an invaluable team player.

Most recently, Joe served as board vice president. He is the executive director of Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf (CEASD).

Avonne Rutowski has been appointed the new vice president. With over 20 years of experience in Deaf education, she has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in Deaf education. She is an outreach specialist at the Texas School for the Deaf.

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President’s Column

We Can Have It All (Why Not?)

“Learning what to choose, option. Technology driven. and how to choose, may be Parent’s right to choices. the most important educaHuman rights. Whole child. tion you will ever receive.”

Full access. Visual and audiWhat does this mean tory modes. Full integration to you, especially how to (or mainstreamed in socichoose? ety). First language. Child Jodee Crace Each day, we receive First… a variety of messages I immediately think of that tell us or guide us in my experiences as a Deaf making decisions. Some of us think person growing up with a variety of through the messages carefully before ways to communicate and then acquirmaking a decision (or a choice). Some ing languages. I then became a parent of us go by what the experts suggest. and provided language(s) to my sons.

And some of us don’t decide or choose Simultaneously, as a Deaf profesat all and let nature take its course. sional, I provide services to families of In this issue, language and commu- Deaf and Hard of Hearing infants and nication is the theme. For a long time, young children on how to incorporate this theme has been one of the most language(s) in their natural environpopular topics of discussion amongst ment and daily routines. professionals in a variety of fields In this issue, you have the opportuinvolving (or impacting) the lives of nity to learn more about language and Deaf and Hard of Hearing children. communication. Some of the inforCurrently, the most common focus has mation may be familiar, some may be been on accessible language(s), espe- new, some may be easy to follow, and cially which language—American Sign some may require a bit of pondering Language or English. But why must it and reflection. be a “which”? Why not do it all? For May this issue empower you to be many, it makes sense. For some, a fully informed and comfortable with belief or philosophy is holding them the idea that your child can have it all. back.

Some of the most common phrases ASDC has we see when we try to make informed a new choices are: videophone number!

Child lead. Best match. Full range (202) 644-9204 of opportunities and experiences. One 4

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Strategies for Working with Children with Autism

predictable routines (APA, 2000; Bryan & Gast, 2000). Visual schedules support the development of communication, behavior, and independence.

They present cues that enable children to predict what happens next and reduce anxiety by providing a visual of the day or task to be completed. In doing so, visual schedules also promote peaceful transitions.

By Raschelle Theoharis, Ph.D., and Christina Yuknis, Ph.D.

This is the second article of a series discussing strategies for working with children who are deaf and have autism.

The first article (in the Winter 2012 issue) provided an overview of strategies to support communication at home and in the community. This article will provide an in-depth description and examples of visual schedules.

Research has shown that visual schedules are an effective tool for working with deaf children with autism (Bryan & Gast, 2000).

Deaf children with autism struggle in three areas: communication, behavior, and socialization (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000). More specifically, the characteristics include reliance on adults, difficulty in transitioning from one activity to another and having a need for structure and

Overview of Visual Schedules Visual schedules illustrate a sequence of a day’s events and steps to complete a task. They create a structure that helps children independently transition between activities (showing the current activity, the next activity, and any changes that arise) using real objects, photographs, drawings, or words. Visual schedules may be static or interactive, such as pre-printed schedules that the children follow everyday or interactive in that the child is required to move completed activities to a location.

Classroom Application Visual schedules have been used in classrooms for over 30 years. Educators use visual schedules in a variety of ways to meet the needs of individual students and classroom routines.

One example is a classroom schedule that has pictures to show the different events happening that day, such as special activities and support services.

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Another way teachers use visual schedules with students is to develop a task analysis for individual students to help them complete a specific activity.

Home and Community It is important for families to know which types of visual schedules the teacher uses with their children in school in order to know which type of schedule is beneficial to use at home and best meet their children’s individual needs. Parents can work with the teacher to develop visual schedules to be used at home and make decisions about how to implement them. This is important to ensure consistency between the child’s environments.

Below are examples of visual schedules that can be modified for use at home.

Checklists and organizers work best with children who forget or confuse steps in a process, who are easily distracted, and who are overly depen-

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dent on adult support. Checklists and organizers provide a visual guide showing individual steps to complete a task.

They can be developed for simple onestep tasks (e.g., putting dishes in the sink after eating or recycling a can) to more complex multi-step tasks (e.g., getting dressed or brushing teeth).

Checklists and organizers can be interactive by using VelcroTM strips allowing the child to move each step after it has been completed. They can also be static by posting the steps on a wall near where the task is performed.

Information sharers are suitable for children who have difficulty recalling the events of their day, remembering where people are, organizing their thoughts, and understanding questions (Savner & Myles, 2000). Information sharers tell about things that happen over a specific period of time (e.g., an evening, one day or a month) and can help children and parents to start conversations. Information sharers take a variety of forms. They can show activities that happen during the day. For children who are nonverbal or have difficulty relating the day’s events, real objects can be incorporated into the information sharer. For children with more language, sentence starters can be used to prompt recall of the events.

Choice schedules, or first/then visuals, work best with children who have difficulty understanding cause and effect or who need information presented in smaller segments. The structure for first/then visuals shows that when children finish an activity, they can

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move on to the next task. These visual schedules are often simpler than the other schedules described, as they only contain two or three items. Choice schedules have the first item and then choices for the subsequent action. For example, first the child must take out the trash, and then choose to play a video game, read a book, or go to the park. This allows students to develop understanding of cause and effect and consequences of decisions, and learn to make choices.

It is also the first step for developing selfdetermination and self-advocacy skills. When making a choice schedule, it is important all of the options provided are appropriate and attainable at the time the first activity is finished.

Materials With knowledge of the different types of visual schedules and how they can be used, some materials commonly used in making them are listed here.

All of the materials described can be used with any of types of visual schedules. As with choosing the appropriate type of visual schedule, careful consideration must be given when selecting the type of materials to use with children.

Real objects provide a concrete representation of a task or activity. They can be as simple as a calculator to represent math homework or a toothbrush to show it is time to brush teeth.

Photographs have the benefit of providing a visual of the specific task or place the activity will occur. When a real object cannot be used or when a child no longer needs the concrete object, photographs can be the next logical step. One of the benefits of photographs is the children could see themselves or people they know participating in the activities.

Drawings and pictures are less concrete than photographs and requires the child to use different skills. Children need to be able to understand the message a drawing or picture is trying to communicate. “Stick figures are often easily understood by an individual with autism or Asperger Syndrome�

(Savner & Myles, 2000, p. 24).

Words can be used to supplement pictures and objects. Using written words in visual schedules supports the development of literacy skills. Text has the added benefit of being understood by people in the community where as pictures alone might be difficult for others to translate. When developing a visual schedule, it is important to think 7

about reading level, age, and developmental level. Using words helps children to fit in with their same-age peers.

Conclusion Visual schedules can be created in several different ways to meet the individual needs of the child. They support communication, behavior, and socialization, three areas in which deaf children with autism struggle. The next article in the series will discuss using social stories to continue supporting their development.

References American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical

manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Byan, L., & Gast, D. (2000). Teaching on-task and on-schedule behaviors to

high-functioning children with autism via picture activity schedules.

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30(6), 553-567.

Savner, J. & Myles, B. (2000). Making Visual Supports Work in the Home and

Community: Strategies for Individuals with Autism and Asperger Syndrome.

Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Company.

New Books and DVDs for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children!

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Communication and Language: What’s the Difference?

By Matthew S. Moore and David Long Communication can be briefly defined as the sharing of ideas, feelings, and information with others in ways that are understood on both sides. Language is a complex system of symbolic rules for encoding and decoding meaning. It is the abstract mechanism that increases the potential of communication, and is the basis for cognition. Language allows humans to learn and share information in various ways—through the spoken word, through print media, through visual and kinetic systems like dance notation, musical scores, kanji, and American Sign Language (ASL).

Being able to think and communicate thoughts cogently depends on the ability to process and use language.

Both are innate human needs. Just as we need food and water to survive, we cannot do without communication, or without language. Both are absolutely essential to our well-being.

Most of us are all born with the capacity for learning language.

Language is acquired, ideally, through social interaction. Each language is a conduit of culture and means of forming group identity and gaining a sense of belonging.

The importance of language acquisition cannot be emphasized enough. As Anthony Moore says on his blog (atylmo.wordpress.com), “Besides the paramount ability to communicate, given the chance, it can open up completely new worlds. To learn another language does not mean to leave one’s base culture; rather, it enables a process of “reality expansion” to see things from another perspective.”

The haunting 1979 television movie, And Your Name is Jonah, focused on the plight of a deaf boy misdiagnosed as mentally retarded and committed to an institution, then relabeled as deaf and intellectually normal.

He is returned to his family without any real language. The movie details, painfully, his efforts to communicate and to make sense of his bewildering environment, the frustrations encountered by his equally bewildered family and the devastating effects of his languagelessness.

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Enrolled in an oral-aural program and fitted with bulky hearing aids, Jonah gets no benefit from his aids or school. His parents try again and again to communicate, to teach him, but he remains uncomprehending, subject to rages and tantrums. His sister Jenny becomes increasingly frantic.

In a harrowing scene, Jenny takes Jonah and brother Anthony to Queensbridge Park, and sits on a bench while the boys play soccer. Chasing the errant ball down the steps, Jonah sees a hot dog vendor’s cart on the embankment overlooking the East River. He has no money but craves a hot dog. A child with language would say, “Mom, can I have a hot dog?” or “Hey, I want a hot dog!” But Jonah has no language.

He attempts to communicate with Jenny, pointing and saying “Uff-uff,” and trying to mime “a hot dog to eat.”

She doesn’t understand. He finally pulls her towards the embankment— but the cart has moved on, no longer to be seen. Furious and frustrated, he punches her.

Only when Jenny makes her first connection to the Deaf community

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does she realize that there is a way out—that deaf people have a language, a community, and that she and Jonah can take advantage of it. Thanks to the Deaf people Jenny meets at a local Deaf club, Jonah finally makes a connection between things and language. And hot dog is the first ASL word he learns.

And Your Name is Jonah was released before cochlear implants became the latest trend in “treating deafness,” but is still timely in its depiction of the anguish of a language-starved deaf child. Actually, the situation is worse nowadays, since parents are given false assurances by clinicians that with implants, their deaf children will be able to communicate and process language just like hearing children do, and, furthermore, they are encouraged to shun ASL—a situation that has given rise to a new population of language-deprived, academicallydelayed deaf children.

Communication can be verbal or nonverbal. Verbal communication encompasses formal language (words); nonverbal communication extends beyond words. There are innumerable ways in which we communicate nonverbally— through stance, posture, and motion (body language), gestures, facial expression, eye contact, and use of space and distance, for example.

Hearing people use vocal intonation to convey nuances of feelings, and Deaf people convey

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nuances through sign language.

Even with hearing people who communicate exclusively through spoken language, it has been said that about 55% of communication is nonverbal. The words themselves may be relatively simple and dry, like letters on a printed page—but what is done to convey them nonverbally gives them color, depth, tone, weight, and meaning.

Take the statement, “Come over here.”

This can be uttered with a whole range of facial expressions. Along with vocal intonation, the face, too, can communicate happiness, sadness, confusion, anger, warning, urgency, enthusiasm and so forth.

There are so many ways we augment verbal messages with nonverbal ones, or convey messages without using words. Simply crossing your arms can convey inflexibility. Sitting quietly facing a person, without fidgeting, eyes intent, conveys interest. The way we stand or the distance we maintain in relationship to others, socially, can convey a feeling of warmth or cool rejection.

When we see others using these “markers” of body language, we can often read their feelings and intentions, an understanding that benefits us. By learning to “read people,” recognizing the overt and subtle nonverbal accompaniment to verbal messages (and noticing when there’s a contradic-

tion between the verbal and nonverbal messages), we can distinguish the message that’s being communicated in words, and decode the message between the words.

English is a spoken language; ASL is a visual language. Both utilize nonverbal communication. Sign language makes grammatical and expressive use of facial expression—the hands, face, and body are used as a voice, with all the subtleties of intonation.

In ASL, the social, intellectual, and emotive messages conveyed by spoken language are done visually instead of vocally.

A person who is tired or bored will usually give off telltale nonverbal cues—by speaking or signing slowly and laboriously, with telltale facial expression and posture. The message is communicated not so much through the words or signs that we use, as by how we do it.

We learn language as we grow up, to be sure, but learning new ones, as Anthony Moore, points out, opens new worlds to us. And learning to interpret the messages between the words can give us valuables clues and insight into those we’re interacting with. We’re all students. We’re all learning.

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Conference Schedule Wednesday Registration and Opening “Sample Our City” Family Fun Night! Families will sample menu items from Frederick area restaurants, learn about Frederick cultural venues, shop at local merchant booths, and enjoy activities such as face painting, a petting zoo, games, and more.

unique experiences of deaf youth and siblings will be addressed through art, drama, and team building activities; sibling workshops; and games, field trips, and more.

Evening Activities: Family oriented activities each evening offer family and social time. On one evening, participants will explore Frederick’s sights, shops, Thursday through Saturday – galleries, and parks; enjoy Parent Workshops: Three dinner on their own; and full days of concurrent experience living history workshops on issues, choices, through Ghost Tours. consequences, and the many available resources that can Exhibit Hall: Sponsors, profoundly impact the businesses related to any of the development of deaf or hard of conference key areas, hearing children. Professionals educational institutions and will present in each of the five organizations, and local key areas covering such agencies and vendors will diverse topics as family display information and dynamics, cochlear implant products in the Exhibit Hall. effective use, language Museum: MSD’s Bjorlee development, secondary Museum is packed with conditions, education choices, historic information and Fall 2012 Spring 2013 community support options artifacts relating to the school, Monday, 8 Friday, March 29 and access, and October many more.

Frederick, theonHessian ACT Testing on Sunday, October 7 ACT Testing Saturday, BarMarch 30 Children’s Program: A racks, multiple wars, and Friday, November 9 Friday, April 19 comprehensive three-day more.

No ACT Testing ACT Testing on Saturday, April 20 program of planned, Sunday morning – Final supervised activities for breakfast and Conference children and teens ages Avenue, 0 to 21NE . Washington, DC 20002 800 Florida Wrap-Up; airport (voice) . 202-250-2474 (vp) . www.gallaudet.edu in four age800-995-0550 groups. The transportation provided. informational needs and

Undergraduate

Open House

Hang out with us for the day!

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Commentary:

The Argument for a Constitutional Right to Communication and Language

Author’s Preface As of 2012, it has become increasingly clear that the long brewing crisis for Deaf education has reached a crossroads. With the closing of many state schools, 37 years of the IDEA and other significant factors, we may very well be making decisions that will determine whether, in 5 or 10 years, there is anything resembling the Deaf education we have known all this time.

Therefore this article—a much-shortened version of the original—is intended to briefly analyze the matter in legal and constitutional terms, outside of the IDEA, and to hopefully spur the community to take the hard but necessary steps for our children. Is it time for a Brown vs. Board of Education for the Deaf community in order to protect and recognize the unique communication and language needs of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students?

By Lawrence Siegel Language is so tightly woven into human experience that it is scarcely possible to imagine life without it.

—Steven Pinker The Language Instinct What we have here is a failure to communicate.

—Strother Martin Cool Hand Luke The need for, and right to communication and language is fundamental to the human condition. Without communication, an individual cannot become an effective and productive adult or an informed citizen in our democracy.

The importance of communication and language for Deaf and hard of hear-

ing children is so basic as to be beyond debate, and yet educational law, policy and programs fail to provide communication/language access and development. It is time, therefore, for the community to look to the U.S. Constitution for a clear and strong right to communication and language for our children. No longer should children have to go through a yearly Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting (which still does not guarantee communication and language) to communicate with peers and teachers and access the centrally important exchange of information that takes place in American classrooms. Reliance on fine-tuning the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has not worked and so we must look beyond that law to our Constitution.

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To communicate completely and freely is to be included in the decisionmaking process of our democracy, to be a member of the commonwealth. There is not a hearing child in this nation who must think, even for a second, that each day and year she goes to school, she must secure anew her right and need to communicate.1 Deaf/HH are entitled to the same happy ignorance.

Denial of communication is ultimately, for our democracy, a forfeiture of the vision, talent, and involvement of deaf and hard of hearing children and their growth into productive adults.

The First Amendment to the Constitution Freedom of Speech The First Amendment protects freedom of speech and the right of association. Both of these rights should be afforded Deaf/Hard of Hearing students, but are denied through the existing educational system.

Article I of the United States Constitution provides that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise 14

thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech. But the right is in fact a greater on than mere “speech” as recognized by our courts to mean a right to exchange and express thought, as Alexander Meiklejohn wrote: ‘‘The primary purpose of the First Amendment is that all the citizens shall, so far as possible, understand the issues which bear upon our common life. That is why no idea, no opinion, no doubt, no belief, no counter belief, no relevant information may be kept from them.’’

Note that the First Amendment is not narrowly about the right to “say” something but a much grander right of information exchange. That right is nowhere more important than in our schools, our “marketplace of ideas.” Our courts have protected the right of varieties of peoples and communities in the United States, from Communists to Nazis— shouldn’t our children at least have similar rights?

Our courts have ruled that the First Amendment even protects the right to advertise, to enhance the free flow of commercial information. Certainly if there is a right to access diet soda advertisements, shouldn’t there be a right for our children to access information and communication in school?

Right of Association The First Amendment protects the right to form and preserve “highly personal relationships” and any law or program that infringes on that right violates the First Amendment. The

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IDEA, which prevents many Deaf/HH students from attending state schools (because of its least restrictive environment, LRE, clause), does not provide programs in which those students are with their communication/language peers, and does not provide the support services to enhance peer relationships, violates this right of association.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides that no state “shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States . . . [or] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, [or] deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection under the laws” (emphasis added).

The equal protection clause means that our laws and policies cannot treat people unequally; a right you give to one person must be given to another unless there are good reasons for the distinction (and discrimination).

Any law or policy that impacts an individual’s fundamental rights to free speech and association or discriminates based on race, color, or national origin may violate the Constitution. Race, color or national origin is determined by what is called ‘‘immutable’’ characteristics. Hearing loss is an immutable characteristic and therefore any educational program that does not treat Deaf/

HH students equally may violate the 14th Amendment.

A number of courts have elaborated: in Olagues v. Russoniello, bilingual ballots were denied to Chinese and Spanish-speaking immigrants, which violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

In Sandoval v. Hagan the United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Alabama’s policy of an Englishonly driver’s test was unconstitutional and discriminatory based on language/ national origin. The policy prevented 13,000 Alabamians who could not speak or read English from obtaining driver’s licenses and had an impact on their quality of life. These same principles apply to educational programs under the IDEA, which deny Deaf/HH students qualified interpreters or access to language-rich schools/classrooms and raise important questions regarding whether our students are being denied “equal protection” of the law.

Education is compulsory in this country and so if the law is going to require Deaf/HH students to go to school, it must ensure that they are

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treated “equally” and provided the same opportunities as all other children. What hearing child is denied the programs and services necessary to communicate with peers and teachers.

What hearing child is denied reading or math programs in order to develop ageappropriate and basic skills? If Deaf/ HH students are to be treated equally, they should have mandated programs to develop age-appropriate communication and language, and services and programs that enhance rather than deny peer and staff access.

Some Other Legal Arguments While a right to communication and language can be validated under the U.S. Constitution it can also be created by the passage of a law by Congress (or a state legislature). Section 1703(f) of Title 20 of the United States Codes directs educational agencies “to take appropriate action to overcome language barriers that impeded equal participation by its students in its instructional programs.”

In Martin Luther King Jr. v. Ann Arbor Sch. Dist., certain African American children spoke ‘‘Black English,’’ a vernacular or dialect used in their community.

The court ruled that the school district had to develop a plan to overcome the language barriers these children 16

faced, including training school staff to understand, identify, and assist these children to develop standard English skills. The school district was required to make use of the child’s unique communication, for the ‘‘language of ‘black English’ has been shown to be a distinct, definable version of English [but] different from the general world of communications [and] is not used by the mainstream of society—black or white’.” It is not too difficult to substitute ASL (or any communication mode) for “Black English.”

In Lau v. Nichols, 2,856 nonEnglish-speaking Chinese students sued the San Francisco Unified School District for appropriate language services. The court ordered that where ‘‘inability to speak and understand the English language excludes children” from an education, ‘‘the district must take affirmative steps to rectify the language deficiency in order to open its instructional program to these students.’’ Why doesn’t this apply to our Deaf and Hard of Hearing children—same issues, same needs?

A constitutional right is a rare and valuable thing and so it should be.

Some rights are so fundamentally clear, logical, fair, and honorable that

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Education, Oxford University Press, Volume 7, Number 3, Summer, 2002. Interested readers might also want to read The Educational & Communication Needs of Deaf & Hard of Hearing Children, Gallaudet University.

it is hard to conceive of an argument to the contrary. The right to communication and language, particularly for Deaf/HH children is such a right, for the “purpose of language is communication in much the same sense that the purpose of the heart is to pump blood” (Chomsky, 1975, p. 55). That ‘purpose’ applies to hearing and Deaf/ HH students and requires us to look to and apply our Constitution to our children.

This article is taken from The Human Right to Language, by Lawrence Siegel and published by Gallaudet University Press. A condensed version was published in the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf

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"Children are a gift and a

Advantages of Early Visual Language

respectful, be gentle, listen to

Thank You to the Texas School for the Deaf

Deaf Autism America

Lawrence Siegel holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in American History from the University of California, Berkley. He has a J.D. from Hastings College of the Law, University of California. The founder/director of the National Deaf Education Project and a founding member of the National Agenda, and author of the nation’s first Deaf Child’s Bill of Rights, he authored The Educational & Communication Needs of Deaf & Hard of Hearing: A Statement of Principle and The Human Right to Communication.

He has advised various local, state and national organizations on reform of Deaf education. He was appointed Endowed Chair at Gallaudet University (20042005) and is an approved 2011-2016 Fulbright Specialist. He teaches special education law at Hastings College of the Law.

Seen Us Lately?

Check Out ASDC’s new and improved website at www.deafchildren.org!

blessing. Speak kindly, be them, talk to them, take them seriously, play with them, and see their behavior as a symptom of what is going on inside of them rather than just reacting to

Please send me more information about ASDC Your Name Your Email

it. Be a proactive parent rather than a reactive one. They deserve nothing less."

Erin Kane

Parent, .

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Deaf and Hard of Hearing Child’s Bill of Rights No matter where you are, communication matters!

By Della W. Thomas, Ed. D. In September 2010, Delaware joined the throng of states that have ratified some version of a Deaf/Hard of Hearing Child’s Bill of Rights. Due in large part to collaboration between the Delaware Chapter of Hands and Voices, Delaware Statewide Programs for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deaf-Blind and the Delaware Dept. of Education– Exceptional Students Division, certain rights of all deaf and hard of hearing children were outlined. In tandem with this bill, Statewide Programs for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deaf Blind created the “Communication Considerations” document to be used at every student’s IEP meeting in the state. This document follows comparable documents in states such as Colorado and New Mexico and closely resembles the template provided by national Hands and Voices.

This list of considerations provides guidance to an IEP team who may or may not have detailed knowledge of the impact hearing loss has on communicative, cognitive and socialemotional development of children. In fact almost half of the school districts in Delaware do not employ a professional trained in Deaf/Hard of Hearing 18

issues and are in dire need of guidance to assure that they thoroughly explore the child’s communication needs.

Discussions regarding communication should occur regardless of where the child receives his/her education, the level of hearing the child has, or the type of professional who works to address his/her needs. Parents should prepare themselves for that one question in the IEP that addresses communication. It may only be one line on the IEP, but it makes a world of difference for the deaf/hard of hearing child’s development.

The communication considerations document includes a provision to create action plans, if needed. For example, there may be a plan to expose the child to adults who have hearing loss or who use the same language (spoken or signed). It is unreasonable to expect a district to create a “critical mass” when one deaf child lives in the

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district, but there are creative ways to help that student understand there is in fact a community with similar challenges.

Utilize the resources found in your state or at the Hands & Voices website, found at www.handsand voices.org/resources/docs.htm.

The Communication Plan will help guide your IEP team to consider multiple aspects of the development of a deaf or hard of hearing child. Communication entails a great deal more than the giving and receiving of information. Like all other provisions in the IEP, a careful conversation about the impact of communication matters to the success of the child.

DeafNation World Expo in Las Vegas This July If you are looking for something to do this summer, why not consider attending DeafNation World Expo 2012? This event will bring 30,000 people together for a week of exhibitions, workshops, entertainment, sporting activities, presentations, and networking.

DeafNation World Expo 2012 Bayside C at Mandalay Bay Hotel & Convention Center Las Vegas, NV 89119 July 30–August 1 www.deafnation.com/dnwe

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Thank You! DawnSignPress ASDC extends its gratitude to DawnSignPress. DawnSignPress has been a loyal ASDC supporter for many years.

DawnSignPress sponsored ASDC at the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Conference in St. Louis last March.

DawnSignPress is a publisher of American Sign Language materials, including literature, videos, games and gifts. Visit www.dawnsign.com for more.

Gallaudet University’s Alpha Sigma Pi Fraternity Alpha Sigma Pi (ASP), Gallaudet’s second fraternity and founded in 1947, has four missions: lore, amity, presence and influence. ASP brothers come from various backgrounds; several are from multi-generational Deaf families, while others are the only deaf persons in their families.

For the past two years, ASP brothers have attended the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Conference. Because of ASDC’s Back row (L-R): Timothy Frelich, Beth Benecommitment to Deaf children and dict, Scott Keller, Wes Singleton and Nick their families, ASP felt that ASDC Roquemore. In front are Kendall Demonstradeserved to be recognized. ASP’s tion Elementary School students.

Scott Keller said that ASP raised $3,500 for ASDC “in hopes that this donation will help boost ASDC in doing what it does best.”

ASP shares ASDC’s belief that for Deaf children to grow up successfully, they need the earliest possible access to communication and language. ASP is glad to join hands with ASDC.

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In the News...

Maryland School for the Deaf Wins Third Straight Academic Bowl

the Deaf, Fremont, Model Secondary School for the Deaf and Maryland School for the Deaf.

The Hoy Tournament is named in honor of William E. “Dummy” Hoy (1862-1961), noted for being the most accomplished Deaf player in major baseball league history.

Maryland School for the Deaf won its third straight National Academic Bowl championship, its fourth national title in eight years. The National Academic Bowl is hosted by Gallaudet University; more information is at www.gallaudet. edu/academic_bowl.html.

U.S. Deaf Soccer Team at OSD Ohio School for the Deaf hosted the men’s and women’s U.S. Deaf soccer teams on April 27. Exhibition games were held on April 28 in Columbus.

The teams spent an hour with the kids introducing themselves and their backgrounds. It was inspiring for both the students and the staff to have the players at OSD.

ISD’s Varsity Softball Team Wins Hoy Tournament

Do You Have a Story to Tell?

The Indiana School for the Deaf varsity softball team won the Hoy Tournament in April. The national Deaf fast- pitch tournament was held at the California School for the Deaf, Riverside. Six state schools for the deaf from across the country compete in the Hoy Tournament annually: Texas School for the Deaf, California School for the Deaf, Riverside, California School for

The Endeavor wants stories from you. These stories can be about your experiences finding out your child was deaf, early intervention, education, socialization, advocacy, or anything else that can help other families on their journeys.

The deadline to submit stories for the next issue of The Endeavor is Sept. 1, 2012. Send stories and photographs to asdctami@ aol.com.

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Soup or Salad? Yes!

By Tony Ronco You probably know and lived this scenario: You’re in a nice restaurant, sitting at your table looking over the dinner menu when your server arrives ready to take your order. While giving your order to your server, he reminds you that the meal includes a first course side order and asks, “Would you like the soup or the salad?”

Familiar? Have you ever answered with just a “Yes”?

When my wife and I discovered our baby daughter was deaf, this analogy came to mind when we were faced the choice of how our baby would access language: through spoken English or visually through American Sign Language (ASL).

Ahh, a “soup or salad” question. We just answered with a “Yes!”

Even with the question clarified: soup OR salad?, the answer was still “yes.”

We (as all parents we know) simply want to raise our children to be happy and successful.

With my wife being a teacher and both of us prepared to be parents, we knew the importance of early language acquisition, and laying the foundation to later support our daughter becoming kindergarten-ready.

Our older hearing son had already provided us with a practical skills course that was far beyond books and classes.

But discovering that our daughter was deaf was not something we had prepared for; more needed to be done.

We came to feel that parents should not be compelled to choose. As parents,

Professionals in Deaf Education ASDC seeks articles from professionals who work with Deaf children or students. If you have articles that may benefit families with Deaf children, please submit the articles and accompanying photographs by Sept. 1, 2012, to Editor Tami Hossler at asdctami@aol.com.

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we hoped to provide her with all the opportunities possible to help ease her way to become happy and successful.

For us, there were no other options than that.

After discussion with friends and extended family, they processed our path in various ways, most of which could be categorized into a risk mitigation perspective.

Our daughter is now 12. When she was younger, she entered kindergarten ready to learn on a level that was consummate with her hearing peers.

From that time forward, she has been and is academically advanced and socially successful (with hearing friends and Deaf friends). Our daughter can use either her hands or her

voice to express herself. The journey continues and our daughter leads.

With the benefit of hindsight, we have come to further realize and appreciate even more the importance of having a visual language foundation and are grateful for ASL providing that. This is because of our daughter’s receptive access level to language: 20/20 vision compared to hearing that’s definitely not “20/20.” Later audiological Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) evaluations finally quantified how much (little) she was getting. Compared to the results of devised visual language evaluations, the contrast in receptive access was dramatic.

As her parents, we are glad we just said “yes.”

These titles and more ... available from buttepublications.com 23

Websites of Interest Friendship Circle Blog blog.friendshipcircle.org The Friendship Circle blog provides a space to receive great resources, read and share opinions, and stay up to date on the latest trends and news in the special needs community.

Basic ASL: First 100 Signs www.lifeprint.com/index.htm

National Advocates on Deafness to Inform, Network, and Enrich Children’s Literacy in ASL: A Joint Project between callVRS and Project N.A.D.I.N.E www.projectnadine.org/PN/ ASLstory.html Children and adults alike can now view popular children’s books translated into American Sign Language (ASL) by online streaming video! A new book is narrated each month.

Supporting Success for Children with Hearing Loss www.successforkidswithhearingloss. com

This site contains links to about a hundred basic ASL signs that are frequently used between parents and their young children. There is much more to learning ASL than just memorizing signs. ASL has its own grammar, culture, history, terminology and other important aspects. It takes time and effort to become a “skilled language user.” But you have to start somewhere if you are going to get anywhere— so dive in and enjoy.

1001 Books in ASL 1001booksinasl.blogspot.com This blog contains children’s books narrated in ASL, and offers tips and techniques for reading with your child.

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This is a ‘go-to’ site for professionals and family members seeking to identify and address listening, social communication and learning issues of children with hearing loss of all ages.

Have a website you’d like to see featured in The Endeavor? Let us know by e-mailing asdctami@aol.com.

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Integrating ASL with Visual Media and Literacy Sign language is a beautiful gift to be shared with the rest of the world. Humanity can benefit from sharing literature, linguistic research, and using sign language as an educational tool.

ASLized fosters the integration of American Sign Language (ASL) educational research into visual media and literacy. The main objective is to produce teaching and learning materials in ASL with two focuses: ASL literature, preserving culture and history and ASL linguistics, promoting a better understanding of the complex structure and use of sign languages.

ASLized believes that sign languages can offer a vital paradigm shift in education as we know it today. Sign language is a visual language that relays non-linear, visual information in 3D. Relaying information in 3D allows us to approach teaching in a such that stimulates the imagination and reinforces understanding of the visual, physical world in a way that linear languages cannot.

To learn more about ASLized, check www.aslized.org.

DID YOU KNOW? The International Association of Parents of Deaf was founded in 1967 by concerned parents of deaf and hard of hearing children. The organization changed its name in 1985 to the American Society for Deaf Children. Today:

• ASDC is the oldest national organization founded by and governed by parents of deaf and hard of hearing children.

• ASDC depends solely on donations, memberships, and proceeds from conferences for operations.

• ASDC’s board is a “volunteer” board with members who pay their own travel and lodging expenses for all ASDC events.

Become a part of this innovative organization by joining today!

See membership form on page 56. www.deafchildren.org 25

Hey, Kids!

Summer Learning Can Be Fun!

Summer learning can be fun; you don’t have to be in a classroom to learn new things!

Take learning outdoors.

• Plant a small garden. It doesn’t have to be big. It can simply be in a container or a small section of your yard.

• Collect rocks and learn what kind they are.

• Learn the names of the trees in your neighborhood. Collect leaves and make a collage.

• Go on a search for insects. What types of insects are in your backyard?

Learn through play.

• Have an outdoor scavenger hunt.

• Put on a play using only props that are found outdoors such as flowers, tree branches, rocks, leaves, etc.

• Play time-tested games like Kick the Can. Make academics fun.

• Have a lemonade stand.

• Make the grocery list and decide how much you have to spend.

• Plan a trip and map it out. It can be as near as the local park or a family camping trip.

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Components of an ASL/English Bilingual Early Childhood Program • •

•

•

ASL and English are each developed, used, and equally valued.

Deaf and hard of hearing children with varying degrees of hearing levels and varied use and benefit from listening technologies (hearing aids, cochlear implants) are educated together.

Teams of deaf and hearing professionals work together to support the development and use of both ASL and English.

The team may include paraprofessionals and other support service professionals who provide purposeful use of each language based on the individualized goals of each child.

Assessment to document each child’s development in ASL and spoken English. An individualized bilingual plan for ASL and spoken English use is designed for each child.

—Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center

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Save the Dates Now! JUNE 26 – 29, 2013 Tucson, Arizona

The ASDC Biennial Conference provides families with five days of information and fun! Daytime workshops captivate parents while children participate in educational and recreational activities. Evening events bring families together, providing the opportunity to form new friendships and peer support. Alliances built and information gathered make this conference a once in a lifetime experience for families across the nation.

For more information contact the conference chair: Kelly Birmingham, at 520-­‐770-­‐3725 or kelly.birmingham@asdb.az.gov

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Featured School:

Illinois School for the Deaf

The Illinois School for the Deaf (ISD) is located in Jacksonville. For 174 years, the school has offered both residential programming for students who live more than 25 miles from Jacksonville and day programming for students within 25 miles of Jacksonville. Our longevity speaks not just of history but also of a school that is dynamic and evolving in providing deaf and hard of hearing students with the best and most updated education.

ISD offers programming for students in grades Pre-K–12 as well as outreach for ages 0-3. ISD programming offers a language and cultural environment that challenges students with curricula designed to fit their needs, faculty and staff trained in deaf education and deaf culture, as well as inclusion with a group of students who share similar communication and socialization challenges. Students participate in a variety of sports and extracurricular activities that help them become wellrounded and productive adults. Many

staff and faculty members are deaf or hard of hearing, serving as role models of success.

Students are given respect and support for their choices, whether they use American Sign Language (ASL), spoken language, hearing aids, or cochlear implants. We have excellent professionals in speech therapy, occupational and physical therapy, social work, school psychology, medical care, mental health and audiology, including a trained cochlear implant specialist. We utilize research-based programs such as Direct Instruction in reading and language and Everyday Math to enhance our already strong curriculum. Instructional tools, such as Visual Phonics, Cued Speech, and advanced technologies such as SmartBoards and iPads, are available to enhance learning.

ISD continues to be a leader in the field of the deaf education state and nationwide. For more, please visit the ISD website at morgan.k12.il.us/isd.

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Diveheart Group Immersed in Sharing Experience

By Jake Russell Jacksonville Journal Courier

Morgan County/ Jacksonville Search and Rescue Dive Team member Bob Fitzsimmons showed Illinois School for the Deaf student Adam Lyke how to do underwater somersaults and upside-down handstands Thursday afternoon in the Illinois School for the Deaf pool.

The junior from Chicago had to use his arms to float higher or sink lower.

“I really appreciate him teaching me so much,” Lyke said through an interpreter. “This was my first time and, wow, it was cool.”

In the pool, students from Illinois School for the Deaf and Illinois School for the Visually Impaired learned how to clear water from their regulator, recover their regulator, equate their ears to deep-water pressure and many more things.

The point of the Diveheart Scuba Experience is to give people the opportunity to do things they maybe never thought they’d get to do.

Five students from Illinois School for the Deaf participated, followed by five students from Illinois School for the Visually Impaired. The schools selected 32

children facing other physical or cognitive challenges than just deafness or blindness.

Lyke, for example, has ectrodactyly, commonly referred to as lobster claw.

“This is my life,” said Fitzsimmons as he put together his scuba gear. He’s been teaching since 1971 since falling in love with it after his first dive in the same Illinois School for the Deaf pool in 1961.

“The community supports us and we support the community,” Fitzsimmons said. “We wanted to assist however we could. It’s just another facet of helping people do what we love.”

The hope is that the program will grow into a self-sustaining program where Diveheart President Jim Elliott trains the dive team to train the children with the end goal that the children can go on a true diving expedition, Illinois School for the Deaf spokeswoman Carolyn Eilering said.

Jacksonville Rotary is interested in seeing how it can involve itself and

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other service organizations in exploring starting a Diveheart in Jacksonville, Rotary President Lori Hartz said.

One of the major focuses of Rotary is the eradication of polio, but the service organization is not limited to only one cause, Hartz said. With a motto like “service above self,” it takes on the face of the community.

Diveheart is an educational scuba diving and snorkeling program opened to people struggling with physical and cognitive challenges in life to engage in exercises in a zero-gravity atmosphere, Elliott said.

When Illinois School for the Deaf Recreation Worker Joe Viera contacted Elliott, it was because he wanted to open the hearts and minds of students through educational recreational activities.

Elliott fell in love with diving in college and decided to use it to help others, especially when many people with spinal cord injuries reported no pain in the water.

His daughter was born visually impaired and was frustrated to the

point of throwing her cane down at one point and refusing to learn Braille.

When she became involved in skiing, children respected her for being able to do the activity in spite of the challenges associated with being visually impaired.

“It’s about giving people the opportunity to escape gravity and to explore the possibilities in their life,” Elliott said.

“We want them to think about what they can do and not about what they can’t.”

It’s a chance to open doors for the students to have a real world experience and supports the school’s mission to make every student a self-supporting citizen, Viera said.

“In the water, the deaf and hearing are on an equal playing field,” Viera said.

One boy never experienced the deep end before Thursday.

“I loved learning how to do this and maybe someday I can be like Bob,” Lyke said.

Reprinted from Jacksonville Journal Courier at www.myjournalcourier.com/ articles/school-38348-illinois-deaf.html.

I Deafinitely Can!

The Endeavor is excited to feature stories of deaf and hard of hearing individuals who test and go above their limits.

If you know of someone with a story to tell, e-mail the editor at asdctami@aol.com.

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Awareness about Virus is Needed

By Sarah Prentice I am the mother of Savanah, a bubbly and creative seven-year-old. She is deaf from a congenital virus I acquired during pregnancy, cytomegalovirus (CMV). Most of you are probably wondering why you have never heard of this virus or why your doctor may not have mentioned this to you. . . which is exactly what I was thinking.

We found out Savanah was deaf at birth after she failed her newborn screening test. Shortly afterward a TORCH lab was performed.

This acronym stands for different diseases and viruses that could potentially cause a child’s deafness, and the ‘C’ in that stands for CMV. Only 14% of women have heard of CMV. What is even more frightening is that more children have disabilities due to congenital CMV than other well-known infections and syndromes, including Down Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, spina bifida, and pedi34

atric HIV/AIDS. The key to the “silent threat” of CMV is prevention and treatment during pregnancy which can help prevent birth defects and developmental disabilities.

Babies born with CMV are not all affected the same way. There are severe cases where cerebral palsy, blindness, seizures, developmental delays, and brain calcifications are some of the horrific and lifelong issues that have to be dealt with.

The ironic thing about this virus is that it is very easily preventable.

Handwashing is the number one goal.

People at most risk for acquiring this virus are teachers, healthcare workers and families who have young children. By refraining from kissing your toddler on the mouth while pregnant to washing your hands frequently after diaper changes, you could stop this virus dead in its tracks.

To learn more about CMV and its effects, visit www.stopcmv.com.

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For Hearing People Only Releases Third Edition Deaf people get asked much the same questions over and over again: “Can all deaf people read lips?” “Is the same sign language used around the world?” “How do deaf people use telephones?” “Can deaf and hearing people work together?”

Inspired by questions like these, and motivated by the need to provide an easy-to-read, entertaining, illuminating orientation handbook for “new visitors,” authors Matthew S. Moore and Linda Levitan created the “For Hearing People Only” feature in DEAF LIFE, and published the first edition of the book-format compendium in 1992.

The third edition of For Hearing People Only: Answers to Some of the Most Commonly Asked Questions about the Deaf Community, its Culture, and the “Deaf Reality” is now in its 14th printing, and is the most comprehensive book of its kind. Written for those with no background in Deaf issues, it presupposes no knowledge of sign language or terminology. It makes a thoughtful gift for parents of deaf children, relatives, colleagues, friends, students, teachers, and neighbors—anyone who’s curious about Deaf issues.

ASDC Referral Hotline Are you a parent or professional with a question, comment or concern?

ASDC has a referral hotline.

Our trained staff is available to answer your questions.

Just call (800) 942-2732 or (202) 644-9204 videophone.

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Taking Two Leaps of Faith

By Michael and Erin Kane Our daughters, Emma and Julia, were adopted on December 2006 and February 2010, respectively, from China. When adopted, Emma was 34 months old and is now 8; Julia was 40 months old and is now 5. Both girls are profoundly deaf.

As their new parents, we tackled two immediate issues: bonding/ attachment through security, trust, and love, and language acquisition/development.

When adopted, both girls had no previous exposure to language despite their orphanage and foster families being aware of their deafness. Their windows of opportunity to learn language were shrinking, so we immersed both girls in American Sign Language (ASL) from the first moments we met them in China. We pointed, gestured and signed with them during our Family Forever Days and onwards.

Emma’s first word was “bathroom” and Julia’s first word was “smell.”

While Emma was in the bathroom, we would sign the word. A day later, we looked at her, signed “bathroom” and she immediately headed toward the bathroom. As Julia’s older sister during our second adoption trip, Emma showed Julia some flowers and signed the word “smell.” Julia grasped 36

the concept right away, signing the same word back! We were amazed and knew they would be just fine. We knew we had two very bright, beautiful, and sweet girls. We could not be more blessed with them.

Currently, both girls are doing very well and are on track developmentally at home and in school. We daily remind ourselves of this SPICE acronym, promoted by Frank Turk who currently leads the National Leadership and Literacy Camp (NLLC).

The NLLC mission stresses fostering personal growth through camping activities that involve the social, physical, intellectual, communicative, and emotional (SPICE) domains of learning.

Emma and Julia are students at the Rochester School for the Deaf (RSD), a school that emphasizes languagebased education through bilingual and

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bicultural roots. Emma is in second grade; Julia is in preschool. It is also our good fortune that we live in Rochester, NY—a deaf-friendly environment.

We rely on parental instinct while raising our children. Each child is different. Our Emma is reserved whereas Julia is more sociable. We watch out for potential issues affecting self-esteem for each of our children.

Once effective communication takes place between the deaf and hard-ofhearing child and parent, everything else will fall into place.

We encourage parents of deaf and hard of hearing children to explore all communication options and select the one that best meets their children’s social and educational needs. Give

the deaf and hard of hearing child the chance to achieve his or her potential to the greatest extent possible. Deafness does not define a person, but rather is a part of who the individual child is. Embrace it!

For those who are interested, please visit our adoption website at www. myadoptionwebsite.com/juliajourney; Emma’s story is linked to this website.

Michael and Erin Kane both work at the National Technical Institute of the Deaf (NTID) on the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) campus. Michael teaches accounting and personal finance in the Business Studies department and Erin is the Assistant Director of Admissions and Visitation. In addition, Erin serves on the Board of Directors for ASDC.

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Assimilation Arguments Cheat Us All

By Susan Schaller People often ask me why I decided to work with Deaf people. I never decided.

I accidentally walked into a classroom where drama professor Lou Fant was signing a lecture at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), with an interpreter voicing for the hearing students. The voiced English translation freed me to absorb the signing and I fell in love with what looked like Leonardo da Vinci painting in air. I didn’t want to blink for fear of missing another imaginative image, another delicacy for my eyes. My introduction to “sign language” (before it was named American Sign Language, or ASL, and I’m not that old) was one hundred percent positive. It changed my eyes and face and hands, and life completely.

Imagine my shock when I began to study that rich language, meet Deaf people, and learn of their childhoods and schooling. The entire emphasis, in almost every person, was on speech and hearing. Lovely babies were reduced to mouths and ears. Their capacity for seeing and learning through their talented and able eyes was ignored, and they were not exposed to what could have made them thrive, could have made them be equal to all hearing babies. Instead of communicating and relating to the human baby, the goal was to make the child as hearing as possible. Of course, no one thinks that way consciously, whether parent 38

or doctor or audiologist, but unconsciously the baby’s humanity is second to the difference, deafness.

It took me years...well, actually, decades (okay, I am that old), to finally understand why Scandanavians were so much more enlightened on the need for visual language for deaf infants and children than the rest of the world.

They have a history of caring about human rights and children’s rights. In other words, they see the human first and deafness second. Mandated learning of a signed language is the result.

Bilingual education is the result.

If “what does a baby need?” is the first question, better, more humane answers follow. If “what is wrong with my baby?” is the question, the difference and fixing it become emphasized, and the poor baby and the need for the most accessible language and communication get lost. The deaf baby obviously loses, but so do the parents and society. Diversity and learning from all of our differences make us bigger, more connected people. Conforming and forcing people to be who they are not limits us all.

If I, a hearing adult, have benefited so much from learning a visual language, how much more would a deaf baby or young child?

Susan Schaller is the author of A Man Without Words and ASL Tales’ The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

See www.susanschaller.com for more.

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Department of Education

ASL/English Bilingual Early Childhood Education Courses (Birth to 5)

Face-­to-­Face and Online Courses

EDU 795.OL1 Theoretical Perspectives of ASL/English Bilingual Education for Birth to 5

Dates: DAILY Face-­to-­Face: Monday, June 18 Friday, June 29, On-­line: Monday, July 2 Friday, July 20 Face-­to-­Face Time: 9 AM 12 PM Instructor: Dr. Marlon Kuntze

EDU 795.OL2 Foundations of Policy and Legislative Perspectives on Bilingualism: Implications for ASL/English for 0-­5 Bilingual Education Dates: DAILY Face-­to-­Face: Monday, July 9 Friday, July 20, On-­line: Monday, July 23 Friday, August 10 Face-­to-­Face Time: 1:30 PM 4:20 PM Instructor: Dr. Petra Horn-­Marsh

EDU 795.OL3 Family Collaboration and Partnership: The ASL/English Bilingual Lens Dates: DAILY Face-­to-­Face: Monday, July 9 Friday, July 20, On-­line: Monday, July 23 Friday, August 10 Face-­to-­Face Time: 9AM-­12PM Instructor: Jodee Crace

For more information and registration: http://www.gallaudet.edu/ Summer_Programs/On_Campus_Courses.html and http://www.gallaudet.edu/ summer_programs/online_courses.html

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Department of Education

Face-­to-­Face Course

EDU 795.04 ASL: ALL WAY for P-­12 Deaf Children

Dates: Monday, June 18 Friday, June 28 Days of the Week: MTWR Time: 9AM 4PM Instructor: Francisca Rangel

For more information and registration: http://www.gallaudet.edu/ Summer_Programs/On_Campus_Courses.html

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Department of Education

Deaf Students with Disabilities Certification Program

Online Courses

EDU 771.OL1 Trends in Special Education

Dates: Monday, May 14 Friday, July 6 Instructor: Dr. Christina Yuknis

EDU 775.OL1 Language and Literacy Development for Deaf Students with Disabilities

Dates: Monday, June 25 Friday, August 3 Instructor: Dr. Catherine Krammer

EDU 777.OL1 Differentiating Instruction in the Content Areas

Dates: Monday, May 14 Friday, July 6 Instructor: Dr. Raschelle Theoharis

For more information and registration: http://www.gallaudet.edu/ summer_programs/online_courses.html

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Reflections on Language, Communication and Education Michelle Morris

I was six years old when it was discovered that I had a hearing loss. Up until middle school, I functioned as a hearing person in a mainstream school. I was made to wear these ugly ear things that had weird antennas on them. I also remember having meetings with this nice woman who seemed to want to make sure I could recite the alphabet—again and again. Even so, I felt I fit in at school.

My mom never gave me special treatment. She scolded me when I didn’t wear the hearing aids and punished me when I lost them on purpose. Apparently they cost a lot of money. Like all the hearing children surrounding me, I was full of joy and life.

When my mom made the decision to put me in a “deaf program” far away from my friends, I was furious. All summer I argued with her, asking why I had to go and what was so special about this other school. Mom refused to budge, and so I went to Seminole Middle School where I had my first encounter with Deaf people. I had never seen sign language or the word “deaf” before; my family and I had always pronounced it “death.” How ignorant we were.

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I learned sign language and today am glad that my mom made that decision.

I then attended a public high school where I cheered, I debated, I reported, I acted, and I wrote. Almost anything and everything I could get my hands on, I did. Nothing could stop me. Even so, it was Gallaudet University where I finally accepted myself and my Deaf identity.

It was through my involvement with the Gallaudet Academic Bowl that I came to consider Gallaudet as an option for college. Prior to my involvement in the Academic Bowl, I generally had a low opinion of Deaf people and their intelligence. The Academic Bowl exposed me to others who, like myself, had a passion for learning, politics and literature, and made me realize that Deaf people are among the most intelligent and perceptive people. During my junior and senior years, I was captain of my school team, and received the most valuable player award. I can only thank Gallaudet for helping me realize Deaf students’ potential.

Family commitment and involvement in a Deaf child’s life is worth the investment. As I mentioned before, my mother never gave me special treatment and didn’t treat me much differently from my brothers. It was later in life that I learned, much to my surprise, that my mom had always been afraid of my hearing loss. She had cried when she found out. There were

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always moments where I missed parts of the conversation or couldn’t understand my family members, but they always made sure to look at me, repeat what they said and talk loudly. Even with the challenges she faced in raising me, my mom has never been prouder of me. I credit her for encouraging me to be independent and discover my strengths on my own. My modicum of hearing isn’t the most important factor in my life; it’s family and the sacrifices they made so I could grow.

Bethany Gehman

I consider myself very fortunate to have had a taste of everything: a deaf residential school, a mainstream program, and a deaf classroom at a public school. Early in my school years, most of my education was in a classroom at a public school along with other Deaf students. In the first grade, my teachers and mother decided it would be academically wise for me to be mainstreamed full-time, with some opportunities to interact with other Deaf students during gym and art classes and recess. They felt that the deaf classroom was not challenging enough and that other deaf students were pulling me down.

I had an advantage that most Deaf children in my school did not have: the ability to communicate effectively at home. My mother chose to learn American Sign Language (ASL) immediately after finding out that I was deaf and wanted me to have a choice with my languages: ASL or spoken English.

ASL was the most effective method for me to communicate with my family, peers and teachers. My mother not

only learned ASL, but also learned about Deaf culture. She sought ways to get me involved with the local Deaf community. At dinner time, the ultimate rule was to use ASL at all times with no questions asked. I have three older siblings and they all learned sign language as well. I developed a close relationship with everyone in my family. I was fortunate to have family members who could communicate with me. I did participate in speech therapy during elementary school, but I never felt that it was helpful. During each speech therapy session, I always felt different and as if there were something wrong with me. I hated every minute of it.

My mother invited my hearing classmates to our house after school often, to provide an informal sign language class for them along with their parents.

It benefited us greatly; it allowed my classmates to communicate with me without an interpreter. It was nice to go to their houses and have their parents try to use sign language with me. My mother ensured that I had the best interpreter, and that my teachers knew how to work with me. She was a big part of my life.

Right before middle school, my mother passed away from breast cancer, and of course, my world turned upside 43

down. I moved in with my father who did not know much sign language. He allowed me to attend Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (WPSD) in Pittsburgh for eighth grade, after a tough year at a new middle school with new peers. I was definitely lonely at the middle school, even though more than half of my peers knew sign language.

Something was missing.

It was when I was at WPSD that I realized that my identity was missing. I had no clue about who I was, and whether I was proud to be Deaf or not. After meeting so many Deaf peers and role models at WPSD, I was sure proud to be Deaf and proud of my language. Unfortunately, since WPSD was four hours away, Dad and I made the decision to continue my education at the public school. I also had a limited choice of activities. I ended speech therapy after returning from WPSD, because I felt that I could communicate effectively with my hearing peers via lipreading and writing back and forth.

Attending Warwick High School, I got involved with the theater, volleyball, art

Marshall Harris

club, and lacrosse. I sought ways to be part of the Deaf community to continue my Deaf identity development. After graduating, I attended Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina, then a few other colleges before finally deciding to go to Gallaudet University. Going to Gallaudet was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

I’m about to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in studio arts, minoring in psychology and family and child studies. My eyes opened so much during my years at WPSD and Gallaudet. I was able to communicate with my peers and understand what was truly going on around me and in this world. I seized the opportunity to participate in class discussions, something that I was unable to do with hearing peers, due to the delay in interpretation. I tremendously enjoyed not being the black sheep in my classes and community.

My family and I still communicate in ASL and I intend to find a job within the Deaf community. I am very fortunate to be part of this an enriching culture.

On June 25, 1986, I was born. At two years old, I became sick and had H-Flu Meningitis. I lost my hearing and almost lost my voice. My mom didn’t know what to do and went on to search in different areas to find help. My mom was really young at the time, and it was difficult for her to understand the effectiveness of the services that were provided for deaf and hard of hearing people. She also didn’t know anyone to go to for help, and only knew a few deaf people and hearing teachers for the deaf. Her knowledge of Deaf culture was limited.

When I was in school, I was picked on because I couldn’t hear or talk, but I stood 44

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strong.

Later I got involved with sports and made friends. I took speech classes, and my speech skills got a lot better throughout the years. I did not have interpreters in high school due to budget constraints. It was hard, but I made it through on my own.

Even as I attended eleven different schools, including college—nothing prepared me for the first time I got to Gallaudet University. It was awkward at first because as the one and only Deaf university for liberal arts in the world, I was afraid that my signing abilities weren’t good enough. My mom was thrilled to see that Gallaudet had voice interpreters, and believed Gallaudet would benefit me and be easier for me to fit in.

I went through Jumpstart that summer to learn American Sign Language (ASL) and academics. When I was in the ASL class, I was very shy.

Jumpstart had voice interpreters, which helped. When I first began signing, no one could understand me because I used my voice more than I signed. I had to repeat myself using my voice so the interpreter could sign for me. I began to find that I preferred to sign for myself than to let others do it for me.

The teachers at Jumpstart told me that the secret to improving my signing skills was to socialize with Deaf people.

I took their advice and met two of my best friends. They supported me and helped me improve my signing.

During my first semester, my signing was okay. I had an interpreter in my classes. One day in class when we had to do a presentation, my professor called my name to present my project.

I signed my presentation. Suddenly, my professor stopped me and said that she couldn’t understand me. I felt like I was lost in a jungle trying to find my way out…figuring out the communication issues. I then decided not to have an interpreter and to try to do everything on my own. By the fourth week, my signing skills improved as well as my social skills. My professor was shocked when I signed my final presentation all on my own. I passed the course. From that point on, I started to find myself more comfortable having the use of both languages, ASL and spoken English. I felt like I belonged at Gallaudet.

I am now 25 years old. Right now, success in my life to me is getting my degree in physical education and hopefully heading to graduate school.

Brochure Available: Thriving With Your Deaf Child Published by California School for the Deaf, Fremont

2011 – 2012

Version 3.0

Research proves Deaf babies gain significant COGNITIVE, SOCIAL, and ACADEMIC benefits from an early foundation of American Sign Language

Building blocks toward lifelong learning

The 2011-2012 Thriving With Your Deaf Child 24-page brochure contains a wealth of information ranging from language options to parent networks to role models to information about educational rights. The brochure also includes activity ideas. To download the brochure, visit www.csdeagles.com/outreach/calnews/2011-12/deafbaby.pdf.

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The Right of the Deaf Child to Grow Up Bilingual

By François Grosjean University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Every deaf child, whatever the level of his/her hearing loss, should have the right to grow up bilingual. By knowing and using both a sign language and an oral language (in its written and, when possible, in its spoken modality), the child will attain his/her full cognitive, linguistic and social capabilities.

ing takes place.

2. Develop cognitive abilities in infancy. Through language, the child develops cognitive abilities that are critical to his/her personal development. Among these we find various types of reasoning, abstracting, memorizing, etc. The total absence of language, the adoption of a non-natural language or the use of a language that is poorly perceived or known, can have major negative consequences on the child’s cognitive development.

3. Acquire world knowledge. The child will acquire knowledge about the world mainly through language.

As he/she communicates with parents, other family members, children and adults, information

What a child needs to be able to do with language The deaf child has to accomplish a number of things with language: 1. Communicate with parents and family members as soon as possible. A hearing child normally acquires language in the very first years of life on the condition that he/she is exposed to a lanAuthor’s note: This short text is the result guage and can perceive it. of much reflection over the years on bilinLanguage in turn is an imgualism and deafness. Those who surround portant means of establishyoung deaf children (parents, doctors, laning and solidifying social guage pathologists, educators, etc.) often and personal ties between do not perceive them as future bilingual and the child and his/her parbicultural individuals. It is with these peoents. What is true of the ple in mind that I have written this paper. I hearing child must also bewould like to thank the following colleagues come true of the deaf child. and friends for their helpful comments and He/she must be able to comsuggestions: Robbin Battison, Penny Boyesmunicate with his/her parBraem, Eve Clark, Lysiane Grosjean, Judith ents by means of a natural Johnston, Harlan Lane, Rachel Mayberry, language as soon, and as Lesley Milroy, Ila Parasnis and Trude fully, as possible. It is with Schermer. language that much of the parent-child affective bond46

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about the world will be processed and exchanged. It is this knowledge, in turn, which serves as a basis for the activities that will take place in school. It is also world knowledge which facilitates language comprehension; there is no real language understanding without the support of this knowledge.

4. Communicate fully with the surrounding world. The deaf child, like the hearing child, must be able to communicate fully with those who are part of his/her life (parents, brothers and sisters, peers, teachers, various adults, etc.). Communication must take place at an optimal rate in a language that is appropriate to the interlocutor and the situation. In some cases it will be sign language, in other cases it will be the oral language (in one of its modalities), and sometimes it will be the two languages in alternation.

5. Acculturate into two worlds.

Through language, the deaf child must progressively become a member of both the hearing and of the Deaf world. He/she must identify, at least in part, with the hearing world which is almost always the world of his/ her parents and family members (90% of deaf children have hearing parents). But the child must also come into contact as early as possible with the world of the Deaf, his/her other world.

The child must feel comfortable in these two worlds and must be able to identify with each as much as possible.

Bilingualism is the only way of meeting these needs Bilingualism is the knowledge and regular use of two or more languages.

A sign language–oral language bilingualism is the only way that the deaf child will meet his/her needs, that is, communicate early with his/her parents, develop his/her cognitive abilities, acquire knowledge of the world, communicate fully with the surrounding world, and acculturate into the world of the hearing and of the Deaf.

What kind of bilingualism?

The bilingualism of the deaf child will involve the sign language used by the Deaf community and the oral language used by the hearing majority. The latter language will be acquired in its written, and if possible, in its spoken modality. Depending on the child, the two languages will play different roles: 47

some children will be dominant in sign language, others will be dominant in the oral language, and some will be balanced in their two languages. In addition, various types of bilingualism are possible since there are several levels of deafness and the language contact situation is itself complex (four language modalities, two production and two perception systems, etc.). This said, most deaf children will become bilingual and bicultural to varying degrees. In this sense, they will be no different than about half the world’s population that lives with two or more languages. (It has been estimated that there are as many, if not more, bilinguals in the world today as monolinguals.) Just like other bilingual children, they will use their languages in their everyday lives and they will belong, to varying degrees, to their two worlds—in this case, the hearing world and the Deaf world.

What role for sign language?

Sign language must be the first language (or one of the first two 48

languages) acquired by children who have a severe hearing loss.

It is a natural, fullfledged language that ensures full and complete communication. Unlike an oral language, it allows the young deaf child and his/her parents to communicate early, and fully, on the condition that they acquire it quickly. Sign language will play an important role in the deaf child’s cognitive and social development and it will help him/her acquire knowledge about the world. It will also allow the child to acculturate into the Deaf world (one of the two worlds he/she belongs to) as soon as contact is made with that world. In addition, sign language will facilitate the acquisition of the oral language, be it in its spoken or written modality. It is well known that a first language that has been acquired normally, be it an oral or a sign language, will greatly enhance the acquisition of a second language.

Finally, being able to use sign language is a guarantee that the child will have mastered at least one language. Despite considerable effort on the part of deaf children and of the professionals that surround them, and despite the use of various technological aids, it is a fact that many deaf children have great difficulties producing and perceiving an oral language in its spoken modality. Having to wait several years to

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reach a satisfactory level that might never be attained, and in the meantime denying the deaf child access to a language that meets his/her immediate needs (sign language), is basically taking the risk that the child will fall behind in his/her development, be it linguistic, cognitive, social or personal.

What role for the oral language?

Being bilingual means knowing and using two or more languages. The deaf child’s other language will be the oral language used by the hearing world to which he/she also belongs. This language, in its spoken and/or written modality, is the language of the child’s parents, brothers and sisters, extended family, future friends and employers, etc. When those who interact with the child in everyday life do not know sign language, it is important that communication takes place nevertheless and this can only happen in the oral language. It is also this language, in its written modality mainly, that will be an important medium for the acquisition of knowledge. Much of what we learn is transmitted via writing be it at home or more generally at

school. In addition, the deaf child’s academic success and his/her future professional achievements will depend in large part on a good mastery of the oral language, in its written, and if possible, spoken modality.

Conclusion It is our duty to allow the deaf child to acquire two languages, the sign language of the Deaf community (as a first language when the hearing loss is severe) and the oral language of the hearing majority. To achieve this, the child must be in contact with the two language communities and must feel the need to learn and use both languages. Counting solely on one language, the oral language, because of recent technological advances is betting on the deaf child’s future. It is putting at risk the child’s cognitive and personal development and it is negating the child’s need to acculturate into the two world’s that he/she belongs to.

Early contact with the two languages will give the child more guarantees than contact with just one language, whatever his/her future will be, and whichever world he/she chooses to live in (in case it is only one of them).

One never regrets knowing several languages but one can certainly regret not knowing enough, especially if one’s own development is at stake. The deaf child should have the right to grow up bilingual and it is our responsibility to help him/her do so.

See next page for an interview with author François Grosjean.

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Interview with François Grosjean, author of The Right of the Deaf Child to Grow Up Bilingual Professor Grosjean, can you introduce yourself to us?

I am an academic and my area of expertise is psycholinguistics. I have done research on language perception and production in both monolinguals and bilinguals. I have also worked on the psycholinguistics of sign language (ASL). My career started in Paris and continued in the United States where I lived for twelve years. I then moved back to Europe and am currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.

Your The Right article has been translated into some 35 different languages and obtained some 29,000 hits on Google. Can you tell us how you first thought of it?

Back in 1998, I was invited to a conference in Bern, Switzerland, and was told I had 20 minutes to present my position on the bilingualism of deaf children. As I was thinking of the title of my presentation, during a walk with my wife in the woods near our home, I seized upon the notion of the right of deaf children to be bilingual in sign language and the language of the hearing majority. It then took me a day or so to write my text as I had defended this notion over the years in various talks and writings.

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What has been the text’s history since it was first written?

The original text was in French (Le droit de l’enfant sourd à grandir bilingue) and so I set about translating it into English. I then sent it around to my colleagues who encouraged me to have it published and translated into other languages. By 2001 it had been translated into some 14 languages, most of the time totally benevolently.

It was then that its continued translation became a joint project with Gallaudet University under the supervision of Professor Carol Erting in the Signs of Literacy Program. With the help of dedicated collaborators in her team, and with funding from the Parthenon Trust and the Elysium Foundation, we doubled the number of translations. All these, as well as four

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signed versions, can be found on my website at www.francoisgrosjean.ch.

Thinking back over these years, would you have written it in any other way?

Upon rereading my text, I feel that it states exactly what I believe in. I firmly believe that it is our duty to allow the deaf child to acquire two languages, the sign language of the Deaf community (as a first language when the hearing loss is severe) and the oral language of the hearing majority. Early contact with the two languages will give the child more guarantees than contact with just one language, whatever his/her future will be, and whichever world(s) he/she chooses to live in. One never regrets knowing several languages but one can certainly regret not knowing enough, especially if one’s own development is at stake.

What are your dreams relating to this issue now that we are in 2012?

I dream that this right is affirmed and guaranteed in every text governing the education of deaf children, be it at the state, national or international level. I dream that no deaf child will be impeded by his or her lack of knowledge of a sign language and an oral language, be it in the spoken and/or written modality. Finally, I dream that my two dreams will be realized one day soon.

Other works by François Grosjean • • • • • • •

(1982). Life with Two Languages: An Introduction to Bilingualism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

(1987). Bilingualism. In Gallaudet Encyclopedia of Deaf People and Deafness. New York: McGraw-Hill.

(1992). The bilingual and the bicultural person in the hearing and in the deaf world. Sign Language Studies, 77, 307-320.

(1994). Individual bilingualism. In The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

(1994). Sign bilingualism: Issues. In The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

(1996). Living with two languages and two cultures. In I. Parasnis (Ed.), Cultural and Language Diversity: Reflections on the Deaf Experience (pp. 2037). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

(2008). The bilingualism and biculturalism of the Deaf. Chapter 13 of F. Grosjean. Studying Bilinguals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Also check Francois Grosjean’s website at www.francoisgrosjean.ch.

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ASDC’s Renewing Educational and Organizational Members Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind 205 East South St. Talladega, AL 35160 256-761-3215 www.aidb.org

Cleary School for the Deaf 301 Smithtown Blvd.

Nesconset, NY 11767 531-588-0530 www.clearyschool.org

American School for the Deaf 139 North Main St. West Hartford, CT 06107 860-570-2300 www.asd-1817.org

Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind 33 N. Institute St. Colorado Springs, CO 80903 719-578-2100 www.csdb.org

Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind P.O. Box 88510 Tucson, AZ 85754 520-770-3468 www.asdb.state.az.us

Delaware School for the Deaf 620 E. Chestnut Hill Rd. Newark, DE 19713 302-545-2301 www.christina.k12.de.us

Arkansas School for the Deaf 2400 W. Markham St. Little Rock, AR 72205 501-324-9543 www.arschoolforthedeaf. org

Educational Service Unit #9 1117 S. East St. Hastings, NE 68901 402-463-5611 www.esu9.org

Beverly School for the Deaf 6 Echo Ave. Beverly, MA 01915 978-927-7070 www.beverlyschool forthedeaf.org 52

Florida School for the Deaf & Blind 207 N. San Marco Ave. St. Augustine, FL 32084 800-344-3732 www.fsdb.k12.fl.us

Gallaudet University 800 Florida Ave. NE Washington, DC 20002 202-651-5000 www.gallaudet.edu Indiana School for the Deaf 1200 East 42nd St. Indianapolis, IN 46205 317-550-4800 www.deafhoosiers.org Iowa School for the Deaf 3501 Harry Langdon Blvd.

Council Bluffs, IA 51503 712-366-0571 www.iowaschool forthedeaf.org Kansas School for the Deaf 450 E. Park St. Olathe, KS 66061 913-791-0573 www.ksdeaf.org Kendall Demonstration Elementary School 800 Florida Ave. NE Washington, DC 20002 202-651-5206 www.gallaudet.edu/ clerc_center

www.deafchildren.org

Lamar University P.O. Box 10076 Beaumont, TX 77710 409-880-7011 www.lamar.edu

Michigan School for the Deaf 1667 Miller Rd. Flint, MI 48503 810-257-1400 www.deaftartars.com

Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center 800 Florida Ave. NE Washington, DC 20002 202-541-5855 www.gallaudet.edu/ clerc-center

Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf P.O. Box 12 Mill Neck, NY 11765 800-264-0662 www.millneck.org

Maryland School for the Deaf P.O. Box 250 Frederick, MD 21705 301-360-2000 www.msd.edu

Missouri School for the Deaf 505 East 5th St. Fulton, MO 65251 573-592-4000 www.msd.k12.mo.us

Model Secondary School for the Deaf 800 Florida Ave. NE Washington, DC 20002 202-651-5031 www.gallaudet.edu/ clerc_center Montana School for the Deaf and Blind 3911 Central Ave. Great Falls, MT 59405 406-771-6000 www.msdb.mt.gov National Center on Deafness CSUN 18111 Nordhoff St. Northridge, CA 91330 818-677-2145 www.csun.edu/ncod/

Membership Package for Schools/Organizations ASDC provides a very special membership option for schools and organizations.

If your school or organization would like to join ASDC as an Educational Member, ASDC will provide your school or organization with: • A free one-year membership for all of your families • A special thank you in the next monthly e-mail blast • A special thank you in The Endeavor • A special thank you in the news section of the ASDC website • A link to your school or organization’s website • A post of your contact information on ASDC’s Educational/Organizational Membership webpage Membership is only $250.

If you would like more information, e-mail asdc@deafchildren.org or call (800) 942-2732.

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National Technical Institute for the Deaf 52 Lomb Memorial Dr. Rochester, NY 14623 585-475-6426 www.ntid.rit.edu New Jersey School for the Deaf Box 535 Trenton, NJ 08625 609-530-3100 www.mksd.org New Mexico School for the Deaf 1060 Cerrillos Rd. Santa Fe, NM 87505 505-827-6700 www.nmsd.k12.nm.us Ohio School for the Deaf 500 Morse Road Columbus, OH 43214 614-728-1422 www.ohioschool forthedeaf.org Oklahoma School for the Deaf 1100 East Oklahoma Avenue Sulphur, OK 73086 580-622-8812 www.osd.k12.ok.us Pennsylvania School for the Deaf 100 W. School House Ln. Philadelphia, PA 19144 54

215-951-4700 www.psd.org Phoenix Day School for the Deaf 7654 N. 19th Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85021 602-771-5300 www.aidb.org Pressley Ridge School for the Deaf 8236 Ohio River Blvd.

Pittsburgh, PA 15202 412-761-1929 www.pressleyridge.com Rhode Island School for the Deaf One Corliss Park Providence, RI 02908 401-222-3525 www.rideaf.net Rochester School for the Deaf 1545 St. Paul St. Rochester, NY 14621 585-544-1240 www.rsdeaf.org Scranton School for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children 537 Venard Rd. Clarks Summit, PA 18411 866-400-9080 www.thescrantonschool. org

St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf 1000 Hutchinson River Pkwy.

Bronx, NY 14065 718-828-9000 www.sjsdny.org St. Rita’s School for the Deaf 1720 Glendale Mildord Rd. Cincinnati, OH 45215 513-771-7600 www.srsdeaf.org Texas School for the Deaf 1102 S Congress Ave. Austin, TX 78704 512-462-5353 www.tsd.state.tx.us The Learning Center for the Deaf 848 Central St. Framingham, MA 01701 508-879-5110 www.tlcdeaf.org Utah School for the Deaf and the Blind 742 Harrison Blvd.

Ogden, UT 84404 801-431-5100 www.usdb.org Vermont Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing 209 Austine Dr.

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Brattleboro, VT 0301 802-258-9500 www.vcdhh.org Washington School for the Deaf 611 Grand Blvd.

Vancouver, WA 98661 360-696-6525 www.wsd.wa.gov Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf 300 East Swissvale Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15218 800-624-3323 www.wpsd.org Willie Ross School for the Deaf 32 Norway St. Longmeadow, MA 01106 413-567-0374 www.willierossschool.org Wisconsin School for the Deaf 309 Wn Walworth Ave. Delavan, WI 53115 262-740-2066 www.dpi.wi.gov/wsd

A Family Fun Event

Start planning now to attend ASDC’s Biennial Conference in Tucson, AZ!

June 26-29, 2013

Gallaudet University Class Donates to Deaf Autism of America

By Chanel Gleicher Growing up, I had a hearing cousin who was diagnosed with autism, but I did not take the time to be involved with the autism community. Recently, my cousin died unexpectedly at the age of 18. As an advocate of the Deaf community, I decided to bring autism awareness to my public speaking course at Gallaudet University, taught by Beth Benedict, Ph.D. We, the students, were given the opportunity to be involved with a persuasive speaking project by convincing students to decide which Deaf organizations to donate our class fund to. I chose Deaf Autism America (DAA), which recently was adopted by ASDC, in honor of my cousin and the autistic community.

I strongly believe that we need to raise awareness about autism in the Deaf community, and DAA contributes greatly to that.

I am proud that my classmates chose to donate our class funds to DAA. DAA is an organization that should be recognized by the Deaf community. By donating our class funds, we hope to DAA will gain visibility, raise awareness of autism in the Deaf community, and maintain its mission for our future.

Learn more about Deaf Autism of America by reading the Summer 2011 issue of The Endeavor.

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asdc@deafchildren.org Parent Information and Referral Line: (800) 942-ASDC (2732)

MEMBERSHIP FORM Name:__________________________

E-mail: ___________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________ City: ___________________________

State:____________

Zip:__________

Phone: Voice/TTY/Videophone Membership Type

Individual memberships

_______$40 per year: Individual/Family Membership

_______$100 per year: Three-year Individual/Family Membership

_______$5,000 one-time fee: Lifetime Membership

_______First-Year Free Membership (Families with deaf or hard of hearing

children are eligible for a FREE one-year membership. Just fill out this

form and mail, e-mail or fax it back to us.)

Deaf or Hard of Hearing Child’s Name: ___________________________________ Date of Birth: ___________________________________

Group memberships

_______$250 per year: Parent Affiliate Group ( ____ Number of Parent Members)

_______$125 per year: Library Membership

_______$250 per year: Educational Membership

_______$250 per year: Organizational Membership I would like to send more than my membership dues. Enclosed is a tax-deductible donation: $10 $25 $50 $100 _______Other Total Enclosed: $__________ Make checks payable to American Society for Deaf Children.

Please charge my Visa or MasterCard: Card Number:_________________________________Expiration Date:______________ Please return to: American Society for Deaf Children #2047 800 Florida Ave. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002-3695 FAX: (410) 795-0965 • Phone: (800) 942-2732 • E-mail: asdc@deafchildren.org

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The William Center Behavior Program within the Austine School for the Deaf is a year-round, residential program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children whose success is held back by behavioral difficulties.

Licensed by the State of Vermont Department of Education, this unique program serves students ages 8-22.

A 2:1 staff-to-child ratio enables individualized, structured behavior management plans that incorporate education, physical activity, therapy, social activities, and family counseling. Our goal is to provide students with the independence, life skills, and emotional balance they need to successfully transition back into traditional education programs.

Located on the beautiful 174-acre campus of the Austine School for the Deaf in Brattleboro, Vermont, this tranquil environment and caring community have the power to change lives.

Learn more at: www.vcdhh.org/william

ASDC #2047 800 Florida Ave., NE Washington, D.C. 20002

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Camp Hill, PA Permit No. 993

OUR CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE. Mission Statement The American Society for Deaf Children supports and educates families of deaf and hard of hearing children and advocates for highquality programs and services.

Consider joining ASDC today, and receive The Endeavor three times each year, discount admission to the ASDC biennial conference, access to invaluable resources from the ASDC media library, and access to speakers for your parent support group or event. You will also join forces with thousands of other families across the country, and support an organization that advocates for crucial national legislation and services for deaf and hard of hearing children.

American Society for Deaf Children #2047 800 Florida Ave. NE • Washington, D.C. 20002-3695 (800) 942-2732 • asdc@deafchildren.org • www.deafchildren.org