Home Visit on April 13th, 2012

My mentor, Debbie, and I talked a lot about going on a home visit and I was able to go on one on Friday. I even ate my lunch in the car to go, haha. Anyways, I wasn't really expecting for anything crazy or over the top awesome home visit, because I have never been to one, but it was nice.

When we got there, they were really nice. The daughter, who had cochlear implants, was super sweet. Debbie told me their story in the car on the drive there and back, too. She said Diana, the 2 & a half year old girl, went into surgery when she was around 6 months old. Cochlear ear implants are basically extremely powerful hearing aids that destroys whatever is left of the person's hearing. It then uses a computerized device that sits on the outside of the person's ears with magnetic things that are placed onto the hard part that is about an inch or two behind the person's ear.

I learned from watching Switched at Birth that although these are ideal and usually work extremely well, there are extreme risks and emotional things to go through. Daphne, the girl who is deaf on Switched at Birth, decided to not get cochlear implants. The reasoning behind this is because it would place her out of the deaf community and into the hearing world. Yes, although this would make her life easier, it would definitely be different.

Anyways, back to the home visit. I really enjoyed it. It gave me a perspective on a potential career in helping the deaf. Debbie was continuing this profiling on which they keep track of Diana's progression in different caterogies such as being able to talk, comparing things, signing and/or talking, drawing, motor skills, etc. I think it is important to do this things because for a deaf child, it is different than raising one of hearing. In comparison to my little sister who is just 2 months older than Diana, she does a lot more. That's because with hearing, the child takes in whatever the people around them are saying or what they hear on tv, much more than a deaf child does.

Which brings me back to those lectures that my S.E.E. signing teacher gave about the hardships of being a deaf child or a deaf child's parent with or without previous knowledge of the deaf culture.

During the home visit, at first Debbie would play with Diana and show signs of animals. She was trying to see if Diana would remember which animal she hid or took away from the board, but Diana usually never guessed. It was so cute though because when it came to her own playtime, she made the animal noises of the animals she was matching with the pictures.

I hope to go more frequent or work with some kids or be able to sign with a deaf child fully or completely because I think that would make my project even more, I guess, seem worthwhile.

Another Mentor Update (Home Visit, Comments not working)

Great news!! My mentor emailed me this week and I get to go on a home visit with her this Friday, April 13th, 2012. We tried a couple times before (as in trying to have me go with her on a home visit so that I can meet a deaf child and see what she does), but it was a quick idea. The parent did not get back to my mentor on time, so I was unable to go with her.

What I hope to get out of the home visit (and hopefully more home visits in the future) is just seeing how it feels to talk to someone that can't talk or can't hear or just signs. I want the actual hands on with me there experience.

Also, my mentor emailed me and she told me she has been trying multiple times in commenting on this blog but she said that there was some error, so nothing was ever posted. I emailed her back and asked her if it was alright if I posted myself what she wanted to comment. I am still waiting for her response.

She also says she apologizes for not providing me with better mentoring.

Finger Spelling and Mentor Update

Hello!! Learning signing has still been tons of fun. Last class we practiced finger spelling. It means to finger spell a word. It may sound easy, but even after memorizing the signs for each letter, it is extremely difficult to just finger spell out of nowhere. It is not a one person job either. When having a conversation with someone and you may not know a sign, it is much easier just to finger spell. Sounding out the letter instead of spelling the entire word in your head is a lot easier, too. Say the word "eat." When you see it on paper it's easy, but when reading it through finger spelling, although it is only a three letter word, one might read it as "ee-ayyy-t." I don't know about you, but "ee-ayytt" is not a word. Haha. Since we know English, it is easy to correct ourselves since it is a small word, but with younger kids who are deaf and can't hear themselves, it's difficult. A lot of words have different sounds than others. Some have silent "e"s that you can't tell someone just through finger spelling. So "ate" could be phonetically read as "aahh-t-eee" instead of "ate." Longer words....well that's a different story. With practice it is most definitely a lot easier for me to read, but before all the practice Lois (my teacher) gave us in class, it was SO hard.

Now about my mentor... I must admit, my Senior Project has been mainly taking the class, practicing in class, teaching a small amount of words to my friends and family, rarely signing with my sister, signing words to songs, etc etc. I haven't been working with my mentor to the full extent is mainly because I've got so much on my plate and so does she. I've got Chemistry two nights a week. My signing class in between the two nights of Chem (so Wednesday nights). I used to meet with my mentor, but especially this semester everything has been piling up in both of our lives. I promise to try harder and call her and talk to her about this. To be honest, life just catches up to us and it's not easy.

I have grown in this process though. Learning signing, the background of it all has been so much fun and I'm not even stopping at the end of Senior Project. This is something I want to pursue even in school or in my future career somehow. I hope to continue my studies in the deaf culture and learning signs and practicing them so that I don't forget. It is something in this world that not everyone knows about and maybe my small part in knowing about it may help.

Which reminds me, one day at Tech, one of my friends seemed to be interested in signing. I think I was signing at one point just for fun or someone asked me what the sign for a word was. James (the friend who asked) asked a lot of questions too. I was really happy to answer them. I remember explaining to him the differences between ASL and S.E.E. signing. I learned it all through the signing class I am currently taking. It's on its third class and boy, it easier, but with so many words, I don't remember them all. Anyway, back to James... It was a great conversation. I told him why ASL is merely conceptual whereas S.E.E. signing is the exact word. Some may say ASL is much better (for reasons I do not remember) when S.E.E. signing, I believe, helps children learn English. All those difficult words that may "sound" wrong when used in a sentence are not applicable to deaf children. They can't hear those words because of their deafness. Through S.E.E. signing, it is a tool that assists them in learning these things.