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Summer (June 2019)SUMMERFNDC values sharing information to deaf children, families, professionals and thecommunities that support them. These events, advertisements and/or articles do notnecessarily reect the viewpoint of FNDC or offer an endorsementTwitter: @FNDC andDYTFacebook: www.facebook.com/fndc.caHappy summer to everyone!As I type this, Family Deaf Camp is only a few days away and I’mnishing up some loose ends for the Deaf Youth Today programwhile they are all over at Hornby Island involved in staff training. Such a busy time of year, and we are extremely thankful for theDYT Coordinators and all the DYT staff for Summer 2019.I love Family Deaf Camp because it’s always fun and inspiringto be reacquainted with families as well as meet new familiesfrom all over British Columbia. This year we have 40 familiesregistered!Regardless of where we live in this province, parents all want thebest for our children. We may make choices that are differentfrom each other, but we share common goals – ensuring deaf &hard of hearing children have a solid and growing rst language,a strong sense of inclusion and belonging, access to a qualityeducation and great family communication. When parentsmeet at camp, they learn from each other, share experiencesand build friendships that last for many years, while supportingeach other along the journey.Family Deaf Camp is a diverse range of kids and adults withcommunication ranging from Deaf ASL users to Hard of Hearingauditory verbal users – all wanting to be involved in a weekendsigning camp. It is always amazing to see “rst-time” kidsafter a couple of days, involved in skits at the re and feelingcomfortable in a signing atmosphere.We hope you join us next year! BUT, remember to sign up earlyas this year Family Deaf Camp registration was full after oneweek!A HUGE THANK YOU to the Y.P. Heung Foundation who worked with us in a “Matching Campaign”. We invited past and new donors to participate in this fundraisingcampaign and for every dollar that was donated, the Y.P. HeungFoundation matched dollar for dollar (up to a maximum of$25,000). As of July 1st, we are delighted to announce, weare only $500 away from meeting our goal of raising $25,000. -meaning the Y.P Heung Foundation will match that for a total of$50,000. SO … who wants to be the donor to push us over toraise the last $500. www.fndc.ca/donationAlso, a big thanks to grants from Coast Capital Savings and the CKNW Kids’ Fund for supporting our Deaf Youth Today program!
FNDC Summer • 20192MEET OUR TEAMAndrea started with DYT 8 years ago as the Hornby Island Coordinator Assistant. She is very excited toreturn for another summer with DYT! Her favorite part of camp is meeting all the new campers, andseeing how much our returning campers have changed over the past year. She loves that Hornby IslandCamp is a place where campers can truly be themselves while developing lifelong friendships along theway.Outside of Camp, Andrea works full time as the Head Coach for Girls with Coquitlam Metro FordSoccer Club. She's a busy mom of three children who love to play sports, read and travel. She feelsincredibly fortunate to be a part of Hornby Island and DYT staff again this yearBella is one of our new staff to DYT this year. She loves to play sports and brings positive energy tothose around her. Bella comes from a 4th generation Deaf family. Sushi is her favourite thing toeat! Bella is looking forward to sharing her energy with all the campers this Summer.Benjamin is a first year staff and you can call him BEN. He has attended VCC for the past few yearsand will continue at VCC in the fall. He loves sports and plays a lot of basketball and soccer andhas recently been playing on Deaf Team Canada Basketball Under 21 team and has been able totravel and experience different tournaments. Ben loves to talk and meet new people and is lookforwarding to meeting all the DYT campers and families this year.ANDREA MALONEYBELLA AIKINBEN IDEMUDIAThis is Brittany's 7th year with DYT and she will be the Team Leader this summer! She has completedher classroom and community support diploma with an Autism Specialty. Currently she is close tocompleting her degree in Child and Youth Care and whats next? A degree in Education! In her downtime she enjoys hiking, swimming, back country camping and of course surfing on Netflix! At the ageof 16 she volunteered at a Camp for Children with special needs and she quickly learned what passionfeels like. At 19 she worked as a Behavior interventionist and she currently works with BC School forthe Deaf as an EA. She is looking forward to playing, having fun and experiencing personal growth atDYT this summer!Cameron has been working full time with DYT for the past 4 years and was a CIT prior to being staff.He recently graduated from Kwantlen Polytechnic and now works with the Surrey School District. He isa certified Educational Assistant and is ABA certified. Cameron recently travelled to Hawaii and tried tolearn how to surf and it was AWESOME. He can’t wait to meet new and returning faces and makeSummer 2019 the best yet!BRITTANY SCHWEEDERCAMERON EPPHilary has worked with DYT for the past 5 years in a variety of positions. She loves woodworking,gardening, reading, enjoying the outdoors and hanging out with friends. Her first year attendingHornby Island camp was as a staff, and now she has been 5 times. She loves learning new thingseach summer, expanding her knowledge and leadership skills and most importantly to have FUN!HILARY POTTER
FNDC Summer • 20193Isabella, also called Izzy is very excited to be on the DYT team this summer for the first time! Shewill be entering grade 11 next fall. Izzy loves to play sports, read, chat and hang out with friends.She enjoys going to new places, hiking, going to cities and traveling. A few fun facts about Izzy: sheused to be a figure skater for a few years and was born really early weighting only 1.5 pounds.Marcus Lacuesta or AKA: Mark has been with DYT for 2 years. He loves learning about actingand drama. His favourite pastime is watching Movies and playing Video Games. Ask him abouthis double jointed thumbs! He can’t wait to share all the FUN activities with the kids thissummer.Mari has not only been a staff for many years, but began with DYT as a young camper. She hasworked with DYT for over 11 years. She holds two BA's (ASL and Deaf studies) and a MA in SignLanguage Education from Gallaudet University. She plays volleyball, loves to hike and herfavourite thing to do is hang out with her partner and their dog “Panda”. Mari is excited to seeall the returning campers and to meet all new campers.ISABELLA “IZZY” JOHNSTONMARCUS LACUESTAMARI KLASSENMia, knicknamed Skittles by her friends because of all the hair colours she has had is working withDYT for the first time. Her focus will be to work as a Personal Support Worker to support Deaf orHard of Hearing children with additional support needs. Mia completed the 1 year ClassroomCommunity Support Progam at Douglas College and is going to George Brown College in the fall toenter the Deaf-Blind intervenor program. Her hobby is Para Dressage and she is trying to qualifyfor the Tokyo Paralympics. She is looking forward to meeting new friends and going on manydifferent adventures!Nina has worked with DYT for the past two years. She/they are graduating with the class of2019 at BCSD/Burnaby South and this September she will enter VCC. She/they has a love todance, ride bikes and photography and currently volunteers at Kickstand Vancouver in theyouth bike club. Nina is looking forward to another great summer and wishes everyone a warmwelcome.MIA SCHARTAUNINA WARDKareem has been with DYT for four years. He currently is at Douglas College and hopes to beginthe Child & Youth Counsellor Program in the fall 2020. He loves to play basketball, travel, workwith kids and try different cultural foods. His family is from Libya, but was born in Canada. Heis looking forward to giving kids opportunities to flourish and have fun in the DYT environment.KAREEM MANSOURI
FNDC Summer • 20194Scott has been with DYT for 20 years as a camper and staff - DYT is in his blood! Scott is lookingforward to spending time at DYT this summer! He looks forward to seeing our campers grow andbecome the next staff and a leader within our Deaf Community. Scott has a new family memberand would like to welcome his daughter, Quinn to the DYT family. Scott loves spending as muchtime as he can with Quinn and his dog, Bosco.Sul has been with DYT for 3 years. He was in the Social Worker program at Douglas College,and is interested in pursing a career in counselling . He enjoys sports and enjoys volunteeringwith young children. He loves learning about different cultures and countries. He can’t wait tohave new experiences with everyone this summer!This will be Terry's 9th year with DYT as the Hornby Island Coordinator. He is excited to work alongsidethis wonderful staff and give our Campers another great year to remember! He is a Teacher of the DHH(since 2003) and currently works as the Vice Principal for the Provincial Outreach Program for the Deafand Hard of Hearing (POPDHH). In his spare time, Terry loves to try new things, travelling, playing sportsand enjoying time with his family. Terry loves Hornby Island Camp because it gives campers from allacross the province an opportunity to get together in a fun and positive environment where they get tomake new connections, friendships and experience new activities. He looks forward to being a RoleModel to our upcoming leaders!Zack is returning for his second year at DYT. He is pursuing a career in Education. His hobbiesinclude cycling, soccer and any sports and a bit of video game fun on the side. This year hereceived an award in English 12 for Excellence and has received his cycling certification. All of hisfamily is Deaf, and he has attended mainstream schooling. Zack wants to improve his personalgrowth this summer and make sure everyone has an amazing summer experience with DYT.SCOTT JEFFERYSULEIMAN "SUL" NOORTERRY MALONEYZACK KEATSZAIN A RASHEEDWE ARE BEYOND EXCITED TO MEET YOU ALL THIS SUMMER!Zainual otherwise known as Zain has been with DYT for 3 years. He is currently attending BCIT inthe Architectural program. He enjoys playing chess and checkers, any sports like soccer andbasketball. He is also a fan of a good riddles, puzzles or brain teasers. Zain has always lovedclimbing trees since he was a young child. Zain can’t wait to work with DYT again this summer.
FNDC Summer • 20195Counsellor in Training2D Animation CampHornby Island Kids CampSwimkids WeekExplorations WeekArchery EventDeaf Theatre Week Adventure WatersportsHero Week July 7 to 11, 2019Ages: 8 to 15 years (Deaf/HH only)$175 before June 23 | Late fee $225 aer June 24 DYT Registration July 7 to 11, 2019Ages: 16 to 18 years (Deaf/HH only)$75 before July 5 July 15 to 18, 2019 | 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Ages: 5 to 7 years (Deaf/HH only)$80 before June 30 | Late fee $130 aer July 1July 15 to 18, 2019 | 9:00 am to 3:00 pmAges: 8 to 15 years (Deaf/HH only)$250 before June 30 | Late fee $300 aer July 1July 22 to 25, 2019 | 9:00 am to 3:00 pmAges: 5 to 12 years (Deaf/HH/CODA & SIBS)$80 before July 7 | Late fee $130 aer July 8July 26, 2019 (one day) | 1:00 pm to 6:00 pmAges: 10 to 15 years (Deaf/HH only)$25 before July 12 | Late Fee $35 aer July 19July 29 to Aug 1, 2019 | 9:00 am to 3:00 pmAges: 5 to 15 years (Deaf/HH only)$80 before July 14 | Late fee $130 aer July 15August 6 to 8, 2019 | 1:00 pm to 7:00 pmAges: 5 to 15 (Deaf/HH/CODA & SIBS)$80 before July 22 | Late fee $130 aer July 23August 12 to 15, 2019 | 9:00 am to 3:00 pmAges: 5 to 12 (Deaf/HH only)$80 before July 28 | Late fee $130 aer July 29 Proudly hosted by the Tribune Bay and DYT sta! Campers will participate in a variety of activities including paddle boarding, kayaking, beach combing, hiking, climbing, rappelling, high and low ropes, group games, sports, drama/skits, campre fun, deaf-friendly activities, and interactive workshops.In the CIT program at Hornby Island, you will learn from DYT Sta, participate in training and workshops, gain leadership and communication skills, team building, interpersonal relations and participate in campre performances. Our morning swim lessons will help campers discover condence and joy in the water without the fear and distraction that can come with large, crowded swim classes. Highly trained instructors will work alongside our DYT sta so that throughout the lessons your child can stay focused on learning to swim.DYT will be working with BYTE CAMP to host this Specialized 2D Animation Camp. Turn your drawing skills into awesome animation skills on our tablets! We will show you how to make beautiful animations as wild as your imagination. Participants will learn storyboard skills and use some advanced animation.Explorations Week will oer our campers rich and diverse activities within a dynamic and safe environment. Our thoughtfully structured program includes a day to explore at Science World, a shing lesson at Lafarge Lake, art and water activities, as well as play and social time outdoors.All campers will be taught by certied instructors and learn how to shoot a recurve bow (with the opportunity to try compound and longbows), range safety, equipment set up, scoring, and will develop the skills needed to become a safe and consistent archer.Campers will be introduced to fun, interactive drama activities lead by experienced Deaf Mentors. e camp will allow your child to unleash their creativity through movement, improvisation, ASL, and dance. Your child will have an opportunity to work with Deaf Actors and Mentors. DYT will be working in collaboration with Windsure at Jericho Beach to introduce the campers to 3 days of Adventure Watersports! Will be taught Stand up Paddleboarding, Skimboarding, Canoeing and Windsurng. Hero Week will be both on and o-site at Burnaby South. is camp will introduce campers to a variety of fun activities and education about our local and historic Police Department as well as an introduction to Knighthood and medieval times. To Register or More Detailswww.fndc.ca/summercampDeaf Youth TodaySummer Camp 2019
Reprinted with Permission – Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, Gallaudet UniversityFNDC Summer • 20196ODYSSEY 20194St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf in the Bronx, N.Y., has beenundergoing significant changes in our approach and our curriculum,and including parents has been an informative and critical part ofthe process. For decades, we employed a Total Communicationapproach to educating our students. However, just over two yearsago, the administration invited representatives from GallaudetUniversity’s Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center tocome and talk with the educational staff—including our teachers,teacher assistants, speech-language/audiology personnel, and mentalhealth professionals—about the design and potential benefits of anASL/English bimodal bilingual program. An initial six-hour training that focused primarily on theory and practice wasfollowed by two years of consulting with the Clerc Center, addressing the designof effective bimodal bilingual early childhood programs for deaf and hard ofhearing children from birth to 5 years old. During this same time, theadministration hosted Dr. Amanda Howerton-Fox, a deaf education researcherfrom a nearby college and co-author of this article, in a series of professionaldevelopment sessions for teachers and speech-language professionals on thelinguistic foundations of a bimodal bilingual approach. This approach, which isAmanda Howerton-Fox, PhD, assistantprofessor of language andliteracy education at IonaCollege in New Rochelle,N.Y., has worked as ateacher of deaf and hard ofhearing students, as ateacher of students whoare learning English as asecond language, and as aprofessional developmentprovider in the New YorkCity area. She is a certifiedreading specialist andearned her doctorate indeaf education with aconcentration in appliedlinguistics from ColumbiaUniversity. Howerton-Fox’s research focuses onbimodal language andliteracy development andpreparing teachers to workeffectively with studentswhose languages ordialects have beenhistorically undervalued byour nation’s schools,including students who are deaf or hard of hearingand use American SignLanguage. Photos courtesy of St. Joseph’s School for the DeafBy Amanda Howerton-Fox and Jodi L. Falk Supporting Families inProgram Transition and the Hard Truths of Early Language:What Should WeSay to Parents?
Reprinted with Permission – Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, Gallaudet UniversityFNDC Summer • 201972019 ODYSSEY5supported by current research in bilingualeducation, emphasizes the importance ofdeveloping both signed and spoken language(perhaps exclusively in its written form) so thatchildren can use their knowledge of bothlanguages to support their overall language andliteracy acquisition. The word bimodalhighlights the inherent linguistic differencesbetween languages that use the manual-visualmodality and those that use the auditory-oralmodality, as well as the importance ofdeveloping the listening and spoken languageskills of students for whom that is anappropriate goal. As a result of the knowledgegained in these professional developmentsessions, the teachers asked that Howerton-Foxcontinue working with them to integratelinguistic competencies in American SignLanguage (ASL) and English into the school’sEnglish Language Arts curriculum. St. Joseph’sA Place for FamiliesSt. Joseph’s has a long tradition ofcommunicating closely with and offeringongoing support to the families of our students,and as we adopted a new bimodal bilingualapproach to educating students, we investedtime and resources in sharing our plans with ourstudents’ parents via parent-teacher conferencesand Individualized Education Program (IEP)meetings.Always an integral part of our school, familiesof our students can often be seen on campus,taking classes, meeting for parent groups, orvolunteering at some of the school’s manyspecial events, such as World Read Aloud Dayand plantings for our children’s garden. Theschool hosts two weekly groups: one for thefamilies of students in the Parent InfantLeft: A father anddaughter involved inthe Deaf Role Model Program learn how tosign I love you.Far left: A motherlearns the sign familyfrom a deaf role model.Jodi L. Falk, PhD, hasbeen the upper schooleducational supervisor forSt. Joseph’s School for theDeaf in the Bronx, N.Y.,since 2007. Prior to thisposition, she was St.Joseph’s parent-infantteacher, an earlyintervention serviceprovider in WestchesterCounty, N.Y., and a highschool teacher for the NewYork City Department ofEducation. Falk receivedher bachelor’s degree inspeech-language pathologyfrom Hofstra Universityand both her master’sdegree and her doctoratein the education of thedeaf from TeachersCollege, ColumbiaUniversity. Falk wears twohats in the field of deafeducation: As aneducational supervisor, sheoversees every aspect ofschool programming,including curriculum,instruction, personnelperformance, and studentbehavior management;academically, she teachesas an adjunct professor atIona College and presentsat conferences. Commenc-ing August 2019, Falk willbe the executive director atSt. Francis de Sales Schoolfor the Deaf in Brooklyn,N.Y.Above: Howerton-Fox leads a parent workshop, givingparents the opportunity to ask questions related to theirchild’s language development.
Reprinted with Permission – Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, Gallaudet UniversityFNDC Summer • 20198ODYSSEY 20196Program (birth to3 years old) andthe other forfamilies of school-aged students (preschool to eighthgrade). School social workers run theParent Education programs. Theprograms are divided into sessions oneducation and sessions for social-emotional support. The educationalsessions include classes in ASL andworkshops on topics such as Deafculture, the IEP process, behaviormanagement, speech, language andliteracy instruction, storytelling, and theuse of technology. Guest presenters areinvited as experts in their respectivefields. Presenters have included localpolice officers, technology supervisors,educational supervisors, and members ofthe Deaf community. Mediated bysocial workers, the sessions offer familiesinformational and social-emotionalsupport as they explore topics related toraising their deaf or hard of hearingchildren.As St. Joseph’s draws students fromthroughout the Bronx, a denselypopulated borough of New York City,distance and cost can present obstaclesfor attendance, so a taxi service isprovided for those in the Parent InfantProgram and a special bus service isavailable for parents to attend othermeetings and activities. All sessions aremultilingual—offered in English, ASL,and Spanish—and interpreters areprovided for parents who speak otherlanguages. St. Joseph’s also providesevening ASL classes for families andcommunity members. Further, eachfamily participates in a support group,and each family is assigned a socialworker who advocates for them andhelps them access community resources.An on-site food pantry and clothingcollection is also available. A TEDx Talk A Need Exposed Last spring, Howerton-Foxdelivered a presentation on theimportance of early exposure tosign language for all deaf and hardof hearing children—and theauthors realized that our parentsshould be more aware of therationale behind the changes takingplace at St. Joseph’s. In “LanguageBeyond the Sound Barrier,” a TEDxpresentation, Howerton-Fox covered thecognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional benefits of educating deaf andhard of hearing children bilingually inASL and English as well as theimportance of exposing the youngestdeaf and hard of hearing children tovisual language. Howerton-Fox and JodiFalk, a St. Joseph’s educationalsupervisor who is also co-author of thisarticle, began to plan workshops forparents that could be integrated into thealready-scheduled parent supportgroups. We asked the question: What isit that parents of deaf and hard of hearingchildren should know about language andliteracy development—particularlybilingual ASL/English development—sothat they can not only support theirchildren at home but advocate for them atschool and in society? We reviewedmaterials we had previously gathered,including the content of Howerton-Fox’s TEDx talk, information fromprofessional development sessions, andthe survey responses of our facultyregarding their understanding of theASL/English approach. Instead ofpresenting this information inPowerPoint slides loaded withtheoretical models and researchcitations, as it had been presented to theschool’s faculty, we decided that thepresentations should look more like aTEDx talk. We redesigned the slides sothat they would be more meaningful toour audience of parents, the majority ofwhom speak English as a secondlanguage. We used fewer words, morevisuals, and built in ample time for theparents to ask questions and engage inconversations that would allow them toconnect the content of the presentationto their own firsthand experience. We would use our first parentworkshop from the fall to get a sense ofwhat parents already understood aboutthe differences between the TotalCommunication and bilingualapproaches to deaf education and tointroduce the following five argumentsin support of the bimodal bilingualapproach:1. Language supports language. Theways in which bilingual learners usetheir knowledge of each language toRight: Howerton-Fox gives a TEDxpresentation; someof her slides, “WhyBimodal Bilingual?”and “The BilingualBrain.”
Reprinted with Permission – Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, Gallaudet UniversityFNDC Summer • 20199scaffold their learning of the other iswell-documented in the literature(Garcia, 2009).2. Bilingualism is a gift. Research incognitive science has consistentlyshown that bilingual individualshave more cognitive flexibility andcontrol in comparison tomonolingual individuals (Costa &Sebastián-Gallés, 2015).3. Technology isn’t perfect. Cochlearimplants have variable success rates,and the factors influencing successare not fully understood(Marschark, Sarchet, Rhoten, &Zupan, 2010).4. Early language is critical. Decadesof research indicate a critical periodexists for human languagedevelopment, after which languagelearning becomes much moredifficult (Mayberry & Kluender,2018).5. Membership in Deaf culture isempowering. The benefits ofparticipation in Deaf culture are notonly linguistic but alsopsychological, social, and creative(Bauman & Murray, 2014). We would focus a second parentworkshop on the changes in thecurriculum at St. Joseph’s and discussways in which parents could supporttheir children’s learning at home.Thirteen parents attended the sessions.Ten parents spoke Spanish as a firstlanguage and communicated via aSpanish-English interpreter. One wasbilingual in Spanish and English; onewas bilingual in Arabic and English; andone was bilingual in English andBembe, one of the languages of hernative Zambia.The Dilemma of EarlyLanguageWhat Do We Tell Parents?Overall, the workshops were verysuccessful. Parents were grateful for theinformation and pleased to have accessto an expert to whom they could addresstheir questions and concerns about theirown children’s language development.However, a moment of unexpectedanxiety arose when the presentationturned to the critical importance ofchildren developing language while theyare still very young. As discomfortspread through the room, we thoughtabout the parents who had children inmiddle school. For these parents, datathat showed language delayed couldmean language denied could not behelpful; it was too late for these parents.So strong was the reaction that we madean on-the-spot decision to stop talkingabout it; we cut short the discussionabout how people’s facility for languagelearning decreases with age and aboutthe cognitive and social-emotionaleffects associated with the lack of earlylanguage in human development. DebraArles, St. Joseph’s executive director,who was observing the sessions, came tothe front of the room to reassure theparents that they were doing the rightthings for their children, and that thisnew approach included a learning curvefor everyone in the school, herselfincluded. A few of the parents visiblyrelaxed upon hearing this. Send Us Your ThoughtsAt St. Joseph’s we remain committed tosupporting parents, and we areconflicted about how to handle the dataon the importance of early languagelearning. We believe strongly in theimportance of giving parents accurateand complete information aboutlanguage and literacy development, butwe also understand that parents mayinterpret the data as a reflection onthemselves and decisions they madelong ago. Parents who feel negativelyjudged and deflated are not parents whoare likely to become actively engaged inadvocating for their children. We would be grateful to hear thethoughts and experiences of the Odysseyreadership on this critically importantissue. Parents, teachers, and othersinvolved in the education of deaf andhard of hearing children, please contactus via e-mail if you have a story or aninsight to share. Help us to think aboutwhat we should tell parents, especiallyparents of older deaf children, about theimportance of full language exposureduring the earliest years of a child’s life.Contact us most directly through e-mail: Howerton-Fox atahowertonfox@iona.edu and Falk atjodifalk@icloud.com.ReferencesBauman, H., & Murray, J. (2014). Deaf gain: Raising the stakes for humandiversity, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Costa, A., & Sebastián-Gallés, M. (2015). How does the bilingual experiencesculpt the brain? Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15(5), 336-345.Garcia, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st century. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Marschark, M., Sarchet, T., Rhoten, C., & Zupan, M. (2010). Will cochlearimplants close the reading achievement gap for deaf students? In M. Marschark& P. E. Spencer, The Oxford handbook of deaf studies, language, and education(pp. 127-143). New York: Oxford University Press.Mayberry, R. I., & Kluender, R. (2018). Rethinking the critical period forlanguage: New insights into an old question from American Sign Language.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21(5), 886-905. doi: /10.1017/S13667289170007242019 ODYSSEY7
FNDC Summer • 201910BC Children's Hospital opens rst-in-Canada hearing clinichttps://bc.ctvnews.ca/bc-children-s-hospital-opens-rst-in-canada-hearing-clinic-1.4486213 Posted June 27 2019 Lily Palmer got a cochlear implant - a device implanted in the brain that allows a deaf or hard-of-hearing person to hear - when she was just one year old. Since then, for more than a decade, her family has made the eight-and-a-half hour drive from their home in Prince George to BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver multiple times per year. On Thursday, they didn't have to.The rst of its kind in Canada, the clinic allows doctors to tap into a patient's implant remotely. (CTV)BC Children's Hospital has opened a permanent, remote clinical service for patients with cochlear implants in Prince George.The rst of its kind in Canada, the clinic allows doctors to tap into a patient's implant remotely. That means families like Palmer's don't have to make their way to Vancouver for the routine procedure known as "virtual mapping," a process that essentially amounts to tuning the device."Now we can have a patient visit our clinic that we have set up in Prince George, and we can remote in and remotely control the software that they need to be connected to while we program their cochlear implants," said audiologist Reagen Bergstrom, who conducted Lily Palmer's virtual mapping session Thursday. "They don't actually have to be physically with us on the same site any longer," Bergstrom said.Andrea Palmer, Lily's mother, told CTV News Vancouver the new facility is going to make their family's life easier and more aordable. "I don't think telehealth will take over from all of our visits because face-to-face is still really great," Andrea Palmer said. "But for the basic mapping sessions, when we don't have any problems and we're just checking in, it's fantastic."BC Children’s Hospital hopes to set up three or four similar clinics across the province over the next two years. Currently, there are approxi-mately 250 deaf and hard of hearing children with cochlear implants in B.C., according to the hospital, which provides roughly 35 new cochlear implants each year. More than 40 per cent of the hospital's cochlear implant patients live outside the Greater Vancouver area. Hands & Voices Summer Play Days –KAMLOOPS, KELOWNA & NEW WESTMINSTER BC Hands & Voices, Guide By Your Side, BC Early Hearing Program Come and get together with other families of deaf/hard of hearing children. Bring your own picnic / snacks, blanket and water gear if you want to get wet! Parents are responsible for their own children at these events. Hands & Voices Deaf/Hard of Hearing Guides (D/HH) Tara Dyck & Bowen Tang are coming to Kamloops & Kelowna – a great opportunity for your kids to meet D/HH role models! Fri, Aug 16 – 10:30am-12:30pm Riverside Park– 100 Lorne St., Kamloops Sat. Aug 17 – 10:30am-12:30pm City Park – 1600 Abbott St., Kelowna Tues. Aug 20 – 11am-2pm Grimston Park – 1900 Seventh Ave, New West RSVP not required but watch Facebook page for cancellation notice in case of rain – any questions to info@bchandsandvoices.com Will be posted shortly at https://www.bchandsandvoices.com https://www.facebook.com/handsandvoicesBC/Northern BC Children & Families Hearing Society Adventure Camp 2019!Adventure Camp is back and will be better than ever. If you have a child with a hearing loss, this one is for you! So come out and have fun, meet other families, build connections, facilitate resources and get more support.Adventure Camp is hosted at the beautifulNess Lake Bible Camp located 30 minutes outside of Prince George, BC.Join us September 6-8, 2019. Registration is only $150 per family but spaces are limited. Act fast: sign up to avoid disappointment. Info & Registration:www.eventbrite.ca/e/adventure-camp-agm-2019-tickets-62523712106
FNDC Summer • 201911The Society'sSean Berdy on ASL Representation, Teen Activism and His Buzzy New Netix Dramahttps://time.com/5587386/society-netix-sean-berdy/?amp=true&__twitter_impression=true Posted: May 24,2019There are plenty of despicable characters inThe Society, Netix’s newapocalyptic teen dramathat imagines a present-day, Lord of the Flies-inspired crisis in a small New England town. But Sam, a deaf teenager played by Sean Berdy, is not one of them: after the town’s parents disappear, he acts as a steady moral center as the community around him descends into ruthlessness and egotism.Berdy, 25, spent ve seasons playing the teen heartthrob Emmett Bledsoe in the Freeform family drama Switched At Birth. During that run he became a prominent face of an ASL (American Sign Language) community hungering for repre-sentation. But in 2018, he announced that was stepping away from acting due to his struggles with bipolar disorder. “I may look like the happiest and silliest man on earth, but that is an artist’s art of hiding,” he wrote on Instagram. “I have been hiding for so long and I’m done with it.”The Society marks Berdy’s rst major role since his hiatus. In a phone interview conducted with the assistance of an interpreter, Berdy talked about returning to acting, the atmosphere on set and the increasing visibility of the ASL community in lm and TV.What parts of The Society feel most similar to our own society? The society in the show is actually based heavily on the politics of today. We have this gun violence epidemic, we have domestic violence increasing. We have social justice and the hate for socialism. I think the creators tried to include a lot of those issues to bring the story to life.Last year you wrote on Instagram about your struggles with bipolar disorder. What have the last few years been like for you? To be honest, I had hidden my struggle with my bipolar situation for over a good 14 years, I would say. It is a battle from from the moment I wake up until the end of the day. It feels like you’re in a bubble at times and you’re trying to get out. You stretch the bubble and want to break out of it—but you’re back inside and in the darkness at the end of the day. That has been dicult for me. I am very fortunate to have my family who’s supported me.How did you decide you were ready to return to acting? I think acting is in my blood—I am always ready to perform when I feel it. I took a good three years to focus on myself.I guess you don’t really know when the time is right until the material presents itself. This script came to me, and therefore the time was right. When I read the script, I thought, “Wow, This is dierent. This is a story that is going to be a big hit once it goes out into the world.” I believe that.My struggle has been up and down. It’s a situation where I live day to day. But with a daily focus and working with such a great cast and crew who supports me, they understand that some days aren’t the best for me and they’re there for me.You’ve described your character on Switched at Birthas the “deaf James Dean.” How is your new character, Sam, dierent? Sam is very aware of the fact he’s always been dierent from everyone where he grew up. He’s the only deaf guy in a hearing family. He thinks outside of the box, and really cares about people more than he cares about himself, in many ways.The Society is unique in that virtually all of its characters are teenagers. What was it like lming with a cast of of exclusively young actors? We were all meeting at this place for the rst time and learning how to be a family. We were away together for four months lming these ten episodes that had all these heavy emotional scenes and required a lot of mental preparation. That helped us get closer quicker.We would eat dinner together. We would have house parties. We had a lot of fun while working very hard. We spent four months away on the East coast, shooting in 20-degree weather with the wind chill factor making it maybe 10 degrees. We were wearing parkas. We had to rent a charter bus to sit on with the heater between takes.It was a lot of fun, and we do feel like a family. Chris [Keyser, the show’s creator] and the producers have given us these opportunities to run wild, to be creative with our characters. They believe in us. This show is a heavy show. We’re putting all of our emotions out there and giving it our all.The house parties on the show are pretty crazy. How did the ones in real life compare? Those parties were pretty tame: board games, spaghetti dinners, or we’d order Chinese takeout. They were very traditionally oriented and warm gatherings, as opposed to the show, where you’d have these wild get-downs. In the rst episode, we’re partying in a church—that’s about as wild as it gets. It’s probably about as wild a scene as I had ever lmed.Your character mostly communicates with the other characters using American Sign Language. Did the other actors know how to sign before the show started? They literally knew not one sign. We had an ASL coach on set who was responsible for teaching the lines in sign language to the cast. They had to have lessons during their free time and sometimes had to work extra over the weekends. I’m so proud of the cast—It’s not easy and they’re doing a great job on the show.I admire Gideon [Adlon, who plays Becca] so much. She showed up cold and impressed me with how motivated she was to learn the language. Basically for each episode, she had a week-and-a-
FNDC Summer • 201912half or two weeks max to learn all her lines in sign language believably. That’s a lot of pressure—and she nailed it every time.How did you draw on your own experiences with deafness to inform this character? Sam’s story doesn’t exactly parallel my life because I’ve always been able to hear a little bit. I love music. I consider myself bilingual: my rst language is ASL but I do have the ability to speak.Has ASL visibility increased in Hollywood since you started your career? I can say that Hollywood has recognized ASL nally. Two recent movies,The Shape of Water and A Quiet Place, were both beautiful movies featuring sign language in dierent ways.In fact, I’m writing a movie right now that uses ASL. It’s a love story, and I hope to go into production in the next couple years. ASL is hot right now—but it’s my life language and it’s a beautiful language.We have seen teenagers stepping up and becoming activists for change regarding issues like gun violence and climate change. What impact can teens have on the discourse? For young people, this world is just getting crazier and crazier. It’s very hard for me emotionally, personally, to see things that are happening the world right now. I hope this show speaks for itself and illuminates what’s happening and helps the audience see we need to take care of some issues. I think that young people can inspire the world by sharing the message of love.How would you fare in the world of The Society? I’d lead. I’d jump right in and take a lead position, simple as that.2019 FORREST’S FIFTH ANNUAL KICKBALL TOURNAMENT Mark it on your calendar now! Fun event to play or watch & socialize! Forrest's 7th Annual Kickball 2019 Saturday, September 7, Sunnyside Park, Surrey 8:30am to 5:00pm $300 per team 8-12 players per team3 guaranteed gamesT-shirts includedTeam managers: free lunch Profits go to deaf and hard of hearing childrenFind the group on Facebook: Forrest’s 7th Annual Kickball Tournament 2019
FNDC Summer • 201913Seeing music: Groundbreaking deaf musical The Black Drum aims to astound audiencesDeaf actors nd their voice as growing number of plays made accessible for deaf and hearing audienceshttps://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/black-drum-deaf-musical-1.5181760 Posted: Jun 22, 2019From left to right: Corinna Den Dekker, Dawn Jani Birley, Yan Liu and Daniel Durant in The Black Drum, which combines dance, movement, signed music and a rich visual design. (Dahlia Katz/Soulpepper)A "deaf musical" may sound like a contradiction in terms, but that's exactly how the creators of a new play calledThe Black Drumare describing it. "A lot of people think deaf people cannot appre-ciate music, but that's not true," said lead actor Dawn Jani Birley. "The world of a deaf person is very dierent when it comes to music. Because you depend on your ears to receive information and music. We depend on our eyes."Produced by the Deaf Culture Centre in collab-oration with Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company,The Black Drumaims to show both deaf and hearing audiences how music can be not only appreciated but also expressed by deaf actors using movement and sign language.Written by deaf playwright Adam Pottle and performed by seven deaf actors along with three child ballet dancers from the E.C. Drury School for the Deaf, it combines movement, signed music, motion capture projections and dance into a rich visual experience for both deaf and hearing audiences. The only musical instrument played live onstage is a large drum that is amplied and augmented by a prerecorded deep rumbling bass sound track. The strong vibrations can be felt by deafaudience members.The Canadian actor describes how the new musical The Black Drum shows the experiences of being deaf.The Black Drumtells the story of a young woman (Birley) whose tattoos come alive and inspire her to explore her subconscious fears on a journey to nd her own inner music. "Many of us do have a real ability to move and feel movement and have rhythm and be able to take in the world visually with our eyes in a musical way," said Birley.Since the show uses American Sign Language (ASL), the most popular sign language in North American deaf communities, there is a written description in the printed program and a voice synopsis of the story plays over loud speakers for hearing audiences who do not understand ASL. There are also audio assist devices for audience members who are hard of hearing.Norwegian director Mira Zuckermann, who runs the deaf theatre company Teater Manu in Oslo, has come to Toronto to direct The Black Drum. There have been musicals that incorporate deaf actors, she said, but Zuckermann believes this is the world's rst entirely deaf musical theatre production that didn't originate from a sound-based work."All our lives, deaf people always have to have interpreters to t into the hearing world," she said”. "This time, we thought, 'Now the hearing world will have to t into our world, our music, our way of showing it.' "Hearing people will have to use their eyes. They will have to try to understand our language, our play." Following itsworld premiere run in Toronto,which continues through June 29, The Black Drum will represent Canada at France's Festival Clin d'Oeil, the largest international deaf arts festival.Collaboration between 2 communities'Meanwhile in the U.S., an original musical theatre production for deaf and hearing audiences is in development, with the dream of eventually getting to Broadway.StepchildretellsCinderellaas the story of a young deaf woman named Orella, who grows up in a society rife with intolerance. She's locked in an attic and forbidden from using sign language.Music and lyrics are by David James Boyd and the book is co-written by Boyd and Chad Kessler.The showcombines three languages — English, music and ASL — and every performance will be acces-sible to deaf audiences using ASL and captioning projected onscreen, Kessler explained. "The whole idea of the show is about the uniting of deaf and hearing worlds," he said.Since the main creators are from the hearing community, they've brought in many deaf collab-orators, including enlisting actor Josh Castille as associate director.Castille performed in Deaf West Theatre's 2015 Broadway revival of the musical Spring Awakening, which combined deaf and hearing actors. The deaf actors used sign language while hearing actors shadowed them onstage, singing the songs and speaking the dialogue. The production earned rave reviews and three Tony nominations. "I believe that this story is really about embracing your inner uniqueness," said Castille, who explained that he'sne with the fact that Stepchild originated with creators who are not from the deaf community. "It's a collaboration between two communities."A growing movementTheatre for the deaf is more established in the U.S. and Europe than in Canada, but things are starting to change.More theatre companies are providing ASL interpretation for select performances and there are increasing opportunities for deaf actors as some theatre companies integrate them into certain productions.Mira Zuckermann, left, in rehearsal for The Black Drum, billed as the world's rst deaf musical. 'This time we are not giving hearing people an advantage,' she says. 'They have to try to understand us.'(Daniel Malavasi/Soulpepper)Amelia Hensley in a workshop of Stepchild by David James Boyd and Chad Kessler. It's a new musical that combines deaf and hearing actors to retell the story of Cinderella as a deaf young woman.(Nina Wurtzel)
FNDC Summer • 201914Regina-born Birley said she loved acting as a child, but she was told she couldn't be part of the drama club at school because she was deaf. She turned to athletics, representing Canada in taekwondo at international competitions.When she moved to Finland and spent time in Norway and Sweden, Birley discovered theatre organizations for the deaf community. That reawakened her love for theatre and she became a professional actor.Before The Black Drum, Birley played Horatio in Why Not Theatre's Prince Hamlet, an inter-pretation of Shakespeare's play seen through Horatio's perspective. She used sign language both for her role and to interpret the rest of the play for deaf audiences. It premiered in 2017 and the production toured Canada this year.Seeing Voices Montreal has put on plays and other events for deaf and hearing audiences since 2012 and hosted the Awakening Deaf Theatre in Canada conference last November. One of its productions, an adaptation of The Little Mermaid, was the subject ofa CBC arts documentary series.This spring,Edmonton's Citadel Theatreproduced Shakespeare's The Tempest directed by Josette Bushell-Mingo, former artistic director of the Tyst Theatre in Sweden, the country's national deaf theatre. She cast six deaf actors (out of a 15-member cast), including Toronto performer Thurga Kanagasekarampillai as Prospero's daughter Miranda.The deaf theatre scene in Canada has "experi-enced tremendous growth in the past ve years," according toChris Dodd, a deaf actor and playwright in Edmonton who runs SOUND OFF, Canada's only deaf theatre festival. The rise is "thanks to an increased anity among deaf artists, elevated support from arts funding organizations, along with a changing narrative by mainstream theatre companies," he said via email."Canada's prole for the deaf arts has never been better."Save the Date! Saturday November 16, 2019FALL 2019 PARENT WORKSHOP Hosted by: BC Hands & Voices & Family Network for Deaf ChildrenDetails to be announced soon!
FNDC Summer • 201915Meet a deaf art director taking the world by stormhttps://www.hearinglikeme.com/meet-a-deaf-art-director-storm-smith/ Posted: February 8,2019Storm Smith grew up inspired around anything arty and creative. Today, she is taking the world by storm as an art director and motiva-tional speaker.Born in Los Angeles, California, Smith lost her hearing at the age of two to three years old. This meant relying on her eyes to communicate with the world. From the beginning, she loved getting her hands on anything visual. She also loved to express her creativity through drawing, painting, and writing. It wasn’t long before her mom noticed her talents.“My mom told me that I was gifted at such a young age at what I do,” Smith recalls during her interview with HearingLikeMe. She embraced artistic and storytelling talents by executing projects and connecting with people.Smith attended Gallaudet University, a deaf-friendly university. There she communicated in American Sign Language (ASL) with her peers. Today she uses a mixture of ASL and speech.FilmmakerAfter graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, Smith undertook numerous jobs. She dabbled in photography and lmmaking, but never considered them for a career. That is, until she received encouragement from a mentor while in graduate school. She made a short lm in a week despite not having any lm background or formal training. When she came in fth place in a lm festival, she quit grad school and began making lms.As Smith told PopSugar, she became the main specialist, producer, and director at Gallaudet in their communications and marketing department. For two years, she produced content for them. Then the new president of Gallaudet – the rst female president in 152 years – appointed her to “build out more visibility for the deaf and hard of hearing community around the world.” This allowed her to build her craft as a storyteller, she says, and is how she was recognized and recruited by a global leading advertising agency in New York City. Now she’s an art director for the agency, and the rst deaf female there, no less.In the same PopSugar interview, Smith said that because of her deafness and being a woman of color, she’s on a mission to make the world more inclusive and diverse. She also wants to inspire “other aspiring creatives to pursue the life of their dreams.”Proactive and positiveAs part of her mission, one of Smith’s goals is to increase awareness in the workplace, where communication can be challenging for people with hearing loss.“Be proactive and make it work, no matter how dicult,” says Smith about working with hearing loss. “You have to self-advocate and raise awareness for hearing colleagues to meet halfway communication-wise. This way, both worlds can work together eectively.” To communicate with her colleagues, Smith uses technology tools such as notes and voice to text apps.Facing adversity and aiming highDespite her success, Smith has faced her share of obstacles in life. In addition to her hearing loss, she’s dealt with racism and sexism. As a result, she felt hurt, confused, and upset. Over the years she discovered her true self by investing in resources, such as therapy sessions, books, and seeking valuable support from family and friends.“A new perspective of light, positivity, and hope, with the declarations of ‘I love myself’ and ‘unconditionally accept for who I am,’ helped me overcome the circumstances and become stronger each time,” she says. “These strong words of advice show how important it is to put yourself rst, accept your hearing loss, and to “always nd a way when you face obstacles.”Smith encourages others to face challenges with adversity and to gain the tools needed to overcome obstacles. “We all don’t have it all gured out and can’t always be too prepared,” says Smith. “As long we have the adversity tools to overcome, nothing will be in the way and will be a step closer to our dreams and goals.”Motivating othersThe drive she found inspired her to become a motivational speaker alongside her day job. She presents talks, lectures, and workshops on popular subjects of storytelling. Her dream is to become a producer and director for studio work. “I want to incorporate representation and the human experience that really reects all of us,” she told PopSugar. “I want that to be on screen, for that to inspire people — especially deaf youth, deaf youth of color, deaf youth who are girls of color — to have them to see that and go, ‘Wow, I can go just as far as you can, Storm.'”Recently she was invited to speak at a creative summit about “Visual Accessibility and Maximizing Audiences with Creative Captioning.” Her presen-tation provided new eye-opening perspec-tives and a new way of thinking, especially for businesses.It’s incredible to see Smith using her platform as a way of inspiring, educating and raising awareness to others. Speaking publicly enables her to “give back to communities by sharing my experi-ences and resources that they deserve to thrive for bigger things in life,” she says. “Any types of disability, including a range of hearing loss, is a massive struggle in this society,” Smith adds, “but as long we tap the relatable stories and resources with the light of possibilities in the distance, nothing can stop us. We become warriors.”Smith’s main motto remains clear: “Always remember – any types of obstacles you face does not dene who you are.”
FNDC Summer • 201916Many deaf children lack early access to American Sign Language. This woman is harnessing tech to change that.From apps to digital books, Melissa Malzkuhn is dedicated to making ASL accessible — and fun.https://www.thelily.com/many-deaf-children-lack-early-access-to-american-sign-language-this-woman-is-harnessing-tech-to-change-that/ Posted: April 15 2019Growing up, Melissa Malzkuhn cherished story time, squeezing on a couch or bed with her two siblings while their mom read them their favorite books.Following along in the Malzkuhn household went beyond looking at words and pictures on the page. Like their mother, the Malzkuhn children were born deaf. As she ipped through the pages, Malzkuhn’s mother read the stories “aloud” using American Sign Language.“My mom would just open up a book and just start signing the book,” Malzkuhn said.Malzkuhn's mom did the same with TV, translating captions in real time as the kids watched cartoons or movies. The exposure paid o. Before long, Malzkuhn was able to read on her own.Malzkuhn’s experience and early exposure to signing, and therefore reading, is unfortunately far from the norm. As the third generation in her family born without the ability to hear, she grew up learning American Sign Language. But more than90 percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents. Many of those children lack early access to ASL, a language used by hundreds of thousands of members of the deaf community that is celebrated every April 15 onNational ASL Day. As a result, many deaf children experiencea language decit early on that can set them behind on learning and literacy.“Language deprivation really means that someone is set on a path of continued struggle, they’re always catching up,” Malzkuhn, who signs, said through a translator. “They’re missing a lot.”Malzkuhn doesn’t think that should be the case. The 37-year-old advocate, artist anddigital strategisthas spent the last decade-plus leveraging her passion for art, technology and creative storytelling to increase exposure to ASL and, hopefully, close that gap.These days, that work is happening inMotion Light Lab, a research center Malzkuhn runs at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. Core to its mission is using the power of visuals to improve learning and language for the deaf community — “The lion’s share of information comes in through the eyes. How does that impact cognitive processes?” she said of the question driving the center’s work — and even the building that houses the lab reects that. It’s airy, with wide hallways and open spaces, and the hallway leading to the lab is lined with colorful posters. Those posters depict the cover art for a series of digital children’s books Malzkuhn built for iPads so families can follow along as actors sign the words. Every aspect of the digital books, from the technology to the illustrations and storylines, was specically designed with a deaf audience in mind.“Our whole approach was very organic,” she said. “How do you create the reading experience for deaf children? How do you create an experience that’s bilingual and seamless visually? And then we also needed to develop the actual story.”The books, which have been translated into multiple languages, have been a hit among both kids and their parents.“A lot of parents will struggle with feeling like they don’t sign well enough. And we have to tell them, like, actually it’s okay. It’s okay even if you don’t sign perfectly,” she said. “This has turned out to be an amazing way for parents to feel a little bit more condent about signing with their kid. They’re able to point things out and still engage, and there’s that reading experience.”Malzkuhn is now building on the success of that concept with projects like anapp featuring nursery rhymes signed by cartoon avatars and new exper-iments involving articial intelligence and early learning. The work to make those ideas a reality happens inside the one-room lab, which looks like a cross between a classroom and a commercial studio. Chairs and tables are mixed in with photo lights and giant monitors. A black track suit covered in motion sensors, which Malzkuhn and colleagues use to record the movements they’ll turn into signing avatars, hangs on a mannequin. No fewer than 16 cameras are mounted around the room to catch the gesturing from every angle.“Our goal is to create signing characters, and we need to gure out a technology that can do that, and do that in 3-D,” she said. “We need to see what that looks like and the complexity of signing, like how much detail do you need in the ngers? How much do you need to use the right facial expressions?”While promoting early learning and literacy is a central focus of Malzkuhn’s work, her products aren’t just for kids. Over the years, she’s launched an award-winning iPhone ASL app that teaches users how to use ASL to communicate common phrases (“You’re cute,” “That’s a cool shirt”); she created GIFs that translate key Washington, D.C., words (“The Capitol,” “The monument”); and she brought ASL to group chats everywhere with a series of Apple iOS stickers signed by America’s Top Model alum Nyle DiMarco. The stickers include slang like “Omg” and “Lol.” High demand has led Malzkuhn and her team to add even more vocabulary categories to the ASL app since its initial launch.“We found that our audience ended up being so much wider than we had ever expected,” she said.Malzkuhn’s groundbreaking initiatives have already snagged her time on a Ted Talk stage and a spot in the Obama Foundation’sinaugural two-year fellowship class. But her work is far from over. The lab is now experimenting with 3-D avatars, articial intelligence and more cutting-edge technology to further its mission. She just launched a new edition in her children’s book series. And a recent grant from Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation will allow her to spend the next three years training members of the deaf community to make storybook apps of their own.In recent years, Malzkuhn’s commitment to early exposure to language and literacy for deaf children extends well beyond work hours. After her own son was born deaf, she found herself bringing her exper-iments into his life. He loves the apps and books his mom created. And, of course, she’s continuing the tradition of interpreting shows and story time at home. (Courtesy of Melissa Malzkuhn)
FNDC Summer • 201917 https://artsandscience.usask.ca/news/magazine/Spring_2019/adam-pottle.php Posted: Jun 7, 2019YOU MAY HAVErecently watched the movieThe Upside, with Brian Cranston ofBreaking Badfame in the co-lead as a paraplegic who hires a tough ex-con to wheel him around in his chair. They both learn a lot from each other and it’s a real feel-good story, one Hollywood took from the French Les Intouchables.It’s the kind of movie—see also Me Before You, Million Dollar Baby—that makes Dr. Adam Pottle’s blood boil.Cover image of Voice courtesy of University of Regina Press. It’s what he and other people in the Deaf and disabled community call inspiration porn. They see it every day around them, the same old stories of people overcoming a disability of some kind to really start living.The Upsidefeatures an able-bodied actor in the role of the paraplegic getting his gritty lessons, while the injured in the other two movies realize that their now disabled lives aren’t worth living.For Pottle, a lifetime of deafness is something he has learned to live with and from which to draw strength. His new book, Voice: Adam Pottle on Writing with Deafness, is part memoir of growing into a life of education and writing, and part notes on craft—the benecial side of his deafness.“I wouldn’t be a writer if I wasn’t deaf,” he says. “With my deafness I have a bivouac around my imagination. No distractions, and my mind is free to roam “For me,” he continues, “deafness has kept alive the child-like part of me. It’s helped me maintain my curiosity.” And, he says, it’s helped develop his empathy and helped him be mindful of other people.Pottle, who’s originally from Kamloops, B.C., earned his rst two degrees at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George. He completed his PhD at the University of Saskatchewan in 2016, working with English professors Dr. Kathleen James-Cavan and Dr. Kevin Flynn while writing on how deafness and disability are portrayed in Canadian novels since 1984. “They were very patient with me,” he says, “though they did have to warn me a few times about how long I was taking.”It took him just under seven years to complete his doctorate. While that’s hardly a record for longest time to complete a degree, it’s not as if Pottle was sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike. While he worked on his PhD he completed his rst collection of poems, Beautiful Mutants, including poems such as “Deaf Speech” in which he worked at “test(ing) the limits of language … both by disrupting the structures of English and by embracing (his) inability to hear properly.”After that came Mantis Dreams: The Journal of Dr. Dexter Ripley, a novel in which an academic chooses a life as a disabled person so that he may give all his energy to research and writing. The title character views disability not just as a physical, mental or intellectual condition, but as a philosophy. Mantis Dreams won the 2014 City of Saskatoon and Public Library Saskatoon Book Award.Pottle’s second novel,The Bus, rolled around in his head and heart for eight years, starting while he was working on his MA. It’s about a little-known story from disability history in which 275,000 people were exterminated by the Nazis between 1941 and 1945. He travelled to Germany to visit the euthanasia centre in Hadamar, where he spent 10 days going through patient les and, in some cases, simply sitting in the gas chamber for hours to absorb the voices of disabled people sent there to die.During this time he was supposedly devoting himself to his doctorate, he also wrote and had performed his rst play, Ultrasound, by Cahoots Theatre/Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto. Not coincidentally, considering his trip to the eutha-nasia centre, it’s a play about genetic screening, only in Pottle’s case he reverses the common logic and asks, what kind of person would abort a child because it was normal? Because deafness is the world he knows and is comfortable with, the deaf husband in this play wants a deaf child.Considering all that Pottle talks about in the rst section of his new book, Voice, in which he describes at length the agonies he went through simply trying to be an ordinary kid who happened to be deaf, it’s not surprising that he would view deafness as his norm.One of the most poignant and aecting sections in Voicecomes when Pottle describes the dier-ences between his master’s thesis defence and the one for his PhD. In the rst, despite all his preparedness, including PowerPoint presenta-tions, his external examiner was unable to make it to town and was then set up on a conference call through a tinny phone speaker. Pottle could not hear her. His anxiety exploded and he couldn’t attend to the other examiners in the room. He passed, but he says he felt like a fraud. He hadn’t been able to be true to his material or the way he wanted it to come across.By contrast, when he defended his PhD thesis, his external examiner not only made it, but his department enabled him to have every back-up plan ready, including a captionist who typed everything that was said or asked of him. Seeing
FNDC Summer • 201918the examiner speak the words in a quiet room and reading what was said gave him the condence he needed to do the best job he could. Responding to Pottle’s thesis on “the most dynamic portrayals of disability in Canadian literature,” the graduate chair in English said, “People were very positive about your oral defence. They said you did a stellar job.”This is what happens when the right tools are marshalled and people are given a chance to do their best work. It’s whatVoiceis all about: a man’s struggle with nding who and what he is and, having found that, putting in place what he needs to be his best—what he calls his most expressive self. Pottle’s prodigious output speaks for itself.Deaf student wins school's rst Female Athlete of the Year Awardhttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rst-deaf-students-award-le-yi-deng-grade-12-burnaby-south-secondary-bc-provincial-school-for-the-death-1.5174954 By CBC News·Posted: Jun 16, 2019Deng asked coaches to communicate through writing and gesturesLe Yi Deng won the B.C. School for the Deaf Female Athlete of the Year Award after getting involved in as many sports as possible. She wants to inspire other deaf students to do the same.(Evan Mitsui)The school year is nearly over, and Grade 12 student Le Yi Deng is beingrecognized for more than just her academics.Deng is the rst deaf student to win the Female Athlete of the Year Award at Burnaby South Secondary B.C. Provincial School for the Deaf for playing in several sports this year.And she wants students to know that being deaf doesn't determine what you can or cannot do. "I wanted to do everything that I could before I graduated, I didn't want to regret not doing every-thing that I could," Deng says.She runs cross-country and track, wrestles, dances, plays volleyball, basketball and ultimate frisbee. Making time for team practices and games was a challenge, but Deng says she gured out how to balance her responsibilities. "I organized myself and my homework to make sure that I was doing everything without feeling overwhelmed and to make sure that I handed in all my homework."Le Yi Deng won the B.C. School for the Deaf Female Athlete of the Year Award after getting involved in many sports. She wants to inspire other deaf students to do the same.(Evan Mitsui)In Grade 4, Deng was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome, which causes deafness and progressive vision loss, which meant that she would also gradually loseher sight.At the time, she decided she would stop playing sports. But once she entered high school, she couldn't deny her love of athletics, so she jumped into it.She saysnot everyone at her schoolbelieved in her abilities to thrive in sports, so shewas deter-mined to prove them wrong. "I really want to prove my worth and my skill that you don't need to be able to speak in order to fully participate in these teams or these sports. Body language is so valuable," says Deng.She began advocating for herself, and asking the coach to communicate with her in writing and using gestures as opposed to speaking. "You should try your best regardless, if you think it's hard or not."Deng wants to attend Vancouver Community College in the fall, and then transfer to the University of British Columbia to prepare for law school.
Reprinted with Permission – Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, Gallaudet UniversityFNDC Summer • 201919ODYSSEY 201966A critical part of parental advocacy is being informed. Sometimes this meanseducators must stay on top of research and share what they learn with parents.This may be especially important in the case of research on early languageexposure.Exposing our youngest children to language—whether it is English, American SignLanguage (ASL), or any other fully developed language—is essential. Early languageexperience leads to stronger kindergarten language ability, which is one of the bestpredictors of later academic success (Pace et al., 2019). This is the reason that educatorsadvocate using ASL with deaf and hard of hearing children. Through use of ASL, deaf andhard of hearing children are ensured full access to a full language. Research indicates,however, that it is not only the use of a language but also the amount of the language andthe way adults use that language that is critical to the child’s development. In fact, studiesdone with hearing children indicate that it is the quantity and quality of the language thatchildren receive that affects their cognitive and academic outcomes (Gilkerson et al., 2018;Marchman & Fernald, 2008). Language Quantity, and QualityWhat the Science ShowsStudies with hearing children showed that the quantity of language—the sheer number ofwords that a child experiences—varied greatly among families. In a day’s time, 2- to 4-month-old infants heard an average of 15,071 words from adults, but there was a differenceof almost 6,000 words between the infant who heard the greatest and the infant who heardPhotos by Matthew VitaBy Todd LaMarr and Lisalee D. EgbertTodd LaMarr, MA,is a professor in thedepartment of EarlyChildhood Education atAmerican River Collegein Sacramento, Calif.He received hisbachelor’s degree in deafstudies and ASL and hismaster’s degree in childdevelopment fromCalifornia StateUniversity, Sacramento.Previously, LaMarrtaught preschool andworked with elementaryand high school deafand hard of hearingstudents. An alumnus ofGallaudet University’sScience of LearningCenter on VisualLanguage and VisualLearning, LaMarr hasworked at the Universityof California, Davis andStanford University,researching the languageand brain developmentof children learningAmerican SignLanguage.The Importance of Quantity andQuality of ASLwith Young Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children
Reprinted with Permission – Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, Gallaudet UniversityFNDC Summer • 2019202019 ODYSSEY67the fewest number of words (Gilkerson et al.,2017). These day-to-day differences in thequantity of language exposure added up andcompounded over time, leading to a differenceof potentially 30 million words received by achild’s fourth birthday (Hart & Risley, 1995).This difference had early and long-lastingeffects. Parents who exposed their children to alarger quantity of language at 18 months hadchildren with larger vocabularies and fasterlanguage processing six months later (Hurtado,Marchman, & Fernald, 2008). Children whoheard more words in the first two years of lifedemonstrated better language and cognitiveabilities eight years later (Gilkerson et al.,2018). While quantity is important, so, too, is thequality of language to which children areexposed. Researchers have found that qualityof language—the way parents use languagewith children—also differs among families,and these differences also impact later abilities.One measure of language quality concerns howchildren experience language. Hearing childrencan experience language when their parentstalk directly to them and when they overhear itbeing used in their environment. Hearingchildren who more frequently experiencedlanguage through being talked to directly hadlarger vocabularies and faster languageprocessing abilities than other children(Weisleder & Fernald, 2013). Another way tomeasure the quality of language is through theamount of turn-taking that a child experiences.Turn-taking is the intimate exchange ofcommunication between the adult and thechild that occurs in conversation. For the firstyear of life, infants and parents engage in about200-300 back-and-forth interactions per day(Gilkerson et al., 2017). Hearing children whoexperienced more conversational turn-takingwith their parents gained more vocabulary(Cabell et al., 2015) and exhibited greateractivation in language areas of the brain(Romeo et al., 2018). Research with Hearing ChildrenImplications for Deaf and Hard ofHearing ChildrenThe lessons learned from research with hearingchildren can easily be applied to deaf and hardof hearing children. While educators have longadvocated early use of ASL for deaf and hard ofhearing children in order for them toexperience the benefit of full language access,Above: One unique strategy Deaf parents use withtheir deaf or hard of hearing child is to make the signson the book itself or on the child.Left: A father anddaughter involved inthe Deaf Role Model Program learn how tosign I love you.Far left: A motherlearns the sign familyfrom a deaf role model.Lisalee D. Egbert,PhD, is a two-termmember of the MarylandGovernor’s Office for theDeaf and Hard of HearingAdvisory Council and sitson the Maryland Culturaland LinguisticCompetence Committeerelated to mental healthservices for deaf and hardof hearing individuals.Egbert received a CivicEngagement Award forservice in social justice,diversity, and equality. Shealso serves in the EarlyHearing Detection andIntervention (EHDI)Program for the MarylandDepartment of Health andfor the Parents’ Place ofMaryland as well as theEHDI Screening andBeyond AdvisoryCommittee. She and herhusband are deaf, and theyhave two hard of hearingand two hearing children. The authors welcomequestions and commentsabout this article atLaMarrT@arc.losrios.edu.
Reprinted with Permission – Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, Gallaudet UniversityFNDC Summer • 201921we should also advise parents andeducators of young deaf and hard ofhearing children to increase the quantityand improve the quality of the signlanguage to which their children areexposed. This means taking advantageof opportunities when together andsigning more. It also means signing tothe child directly and engaging in turn-taking that encourages children’sparticipation in conversation.The discussion of ASL quantity andquality can seem very intimidating,especially for parents who are stilllearning ASL, but parents do not needto be fluent signers to do this. Researchhas shown that even for parents who arestill learning ASL, the quantity andquality of their sign languageinteractions with their deaf or hard ofhearing child can make a substantialpositive difference in their child’sdevelopment (Allen, 2015; Allen &Enns, 2013). Furthermore, we canencourage parents to turn their dailyroutines and chores into rich languageexperiences. For example, before goingto the grocery store, they can help theirchild create the grocery list, learning thesigns for each item of food they expectto buy. Once in the store, parents andchildren can discuss the color, size,shape, weight, and texture of eachproduct as well as their differences andsimilarities.Further, resources exist to help bothparent and child learn new signs and seeASL used by skilled native signers.These resources can help increase thequantity of signs and the quality ofsigning to which a child is exposed aswell as allow parents to enjoy materialswith their children. For example:•A free library of ASL signs,including an ASL/Englishdictionary (www.lifeprint.com) •Children’s stories produced in ASL(www.dawnsign.com)•Bilingual English/ASL story appsdeveloped for children(http://Vl2storybookapps.com)The Visual DifferenceMentors and ReadingOne of the reasons that hearing parentsmay be hesitant to sign more and engagein quality interactions with their deaf orhard of hearing child is that this requiresvisual and language strategies withwhich hearing parents are often notfamiliar (Lieberman, Hatrak, &Mayberry, 2014; Spencer, Bodner-Johnson, & Gutfreund, 1992). A way toimprove quality language interactions isto elicit the support of Deaf individualsto serve as mentors to hearing familymembers. A Deaf Mentor can model strategiesfor engaging young deaf or hard ofhearing children, such as getting andkeeping their attention. They can alsoprovide Deaf cultural knowledge andstrategies for signing. In one study, afterDeaf Mentors visited their homes,hearing parents learned importantstrategies, such as getting a child’sattention, and strategies to improvequality language interactions. Familieswho were visited by a Deaf Mentor haddeaf children who demonstrated largervocabularies and more advanced Englishskills compared to deaf children whosefamilies did not work with a mentor(Watkins, Pittman, & Walden, 1998).Reading is a great way to increase thenumber of signs a child is exposed toand offers opportunities to practicehigh-quality strategies unique to readingwith deaf and hard of hearing children(Swanwick & Watson, 2005). Toincrease sign exposure, parents can learnthe signs beforehand to introduce newsigns to the child. A few uniquestrategies Deaf parents use are to makethe signs on the book itself or on thechild and to sit across from the child sothe child can easily see both the bookand the parent signing. Resources exist to help parents learnvisual strategies for interacting with andreading to their deaf or hard of hearingchildren and help them increase thelanguage quality that they provide.These include: •A collection of research-based briefsfor families and educators, fromGallaudet University’s Science ofLearning Center on VisualLanguage and Visual Learning(https://vl2parentspackage.org), thatincludes topics such as “VisualAttention and Deafness” and“Family Involvement in ASLAcquisition”•A free webcast, “Language LearningThrough the Eye and Ear,” from theLaurent Clerc National DeafEducation Center (http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu), for parents aboutBy increasing theamount of ASL deafand hard of hearingchildren experienceand ensuring weengage our childrendirectly with visualstrategies, we havethe potential to impacttheir early languageand cognitive abilitiesand, later, academicachievement. ODYSSEY 201968
Reprinted with Permission – Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, Gallaudet UniversityFNDC Summer • 201922how deaf and hard of hearingchildren acquire language andsupportive strategies Advocating for Language Quantity and Quality MatterAs both educators and parents, webelieve that as we advocate for the valueof sign language in the lives of deaf andhard of hearing children, we must alsoexplain and advocate for the importanceof increasing the quantity andimproving the quality of the signlanguage that our deaf and hard ofhearing children receive. It is essentialthat we support parents as they learnnew visual strategies for interacting withtheir deaf or hard of hearing children.We must make parents aware not onlyof the importance of learning and usingASL but also of the importance of usingit more often and more effectively. Thismeans understanding the significance of“quantity” and “quality” of languageexposure and explaining it to parents. As simple as it may seem, the scienceis clear: By increasing the amount ofASL deaf and hard of hearing childrenexperience and ensuring we engage ourchildren directly with visual strategies,we have the potential to impact theirearly language and cognitive abilitiesand, later, academic achievement. Weowe this information to parents so thatthey can more effectively advocate fortheir children.692019 ODYSSEYAllen, T. E. (2015). ASL skills, fingerspelling ability, homecommunication context and early alphabetic knowledge ofpreschool-aged deaf children. Sign Language Studies, 15(3),233-265. Allen, T. E., & Enns, C. J. (2013). A psychometric study ofthe ASL receptive skills test when administered to deaf 3-, 4-,and 5-year-old children. Sign Language Studies, 14(1), 58-79.Cabell, S. Q., Justice, L. M., McGinty, A. S., DeCoster, J.,& Forston, L. D. (2015). Teacher–child conversations inpreschool classrooms: Contributions to children's vocabularydevelopment. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 30, 80-92.Gilkerson, J., Richards, J. A., Warren, S. F., Montgomery, J.K., Greenwood, C. R., Kimbrough Oller, D., ... & Paul, T.D. (2017). Mapping the early language environment usingall-day recordings and automated analysis. American Journalof Speech-Language Pathology, 26(2), 248-265.Gilkerson, J., Richards, J. A., Warren, S. F., Oller, D. K.,Russo, R., & Vohr, B. (2018, October). Languageexperience in the second year of life and language outcomesin late childhood. Pediatrics, 142(4), e20174276.Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences inthe everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore:Paul H Brookes.Hurtado, N., Marchman, V. A., & Fernald, A. (2008). Doesinput influence uptake? Links between maternal talk,processing speed and vocabulary size in Spanish‐learningchildren. Developmental Science, 11(6), F31-F39.Lieberman, A. M., Hatrak, M., & Mayberry, R. I. (2014).Learning to look for language: Development of jointattention in young deaf children. Language Learning andDevelopment, 10(1), 19-35.Marchman, V. A., & Fernald, A. (2008). Speed of wordrecognition and vocabulary knowledge in infancy predictcognitive and language outcomes in later childhood.Developmental Science, 11(3), F9-F16.Pace, A., Alper, R., Burchinal, M. R., Golinkoff, R. M., &Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2019). Measuring success: Within andcross-domain predictors of academic and social trajectoriesin elementary school. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 46,112-125.Romeo, R. R., Leonard, J. A., Robinson, S. T., West, M. R.,Mackey, A. P., Rowe, M. L., & Gabrieli, J. D. (2018).Beyond the 30-million-word gap: Children’s conversationalexposure is associated with language-related brain function.Psychological Science, 29(5), 700-710.Spencer, P. E., Bodner-Johnson, B. A., & Gutfreund, M. K.(1992). Interacting with infants with a hearing loss: Whatcan we learn from mothers who are deaf? Journal of EarlyIntervention, 16(1), 64-78.Swanwick, R., & Watson, L. (2005). Literacy in the homesof young deaf children: Common and distinct features ofspoken language and sign bilingual environments. Journal ofEarly Childhood Literacy, 5(1), 53-78.Watkins, S., Pittman, P., & Walden, B. (1998). The deafmentor experimental project for young children who are deafand their families. American Annals of the Deaf, 143(1), 29-34.Weisleder, A., & Fernald, A. (2013). Talking to childrenmatters: Early language experience strengthens processingand builds vocabulary. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2143-2152.References
FNDC Summer • 20192310 Conversation Strategies Highlighted in the Father-Son Viral Videohttps://blog.asha.org/2019/06/14/10-conversation-strategies-highlighted-in-the-father-son-viral-video/ Posted: Jun 14, 2019 Watch this baby have a full convo with his dad! 58 MILLION VIEWSVIDEO can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/RtgMVac1i2IThe viral video of a conversation between a father and his young child that has delighted viewers highlights 10 keyconversation strategiesspeech-language pathologists routinely share with families. The interaction in the video demon-strates key skills needed for speech, language, and communication development.SLPs oer these 10 tips to help parents enhance conversational interactions with their children: 1. Take turns when talking.Start conversations with children from birth. Pause after you nish talking to signal it’s the child’s turn to communicate. This gives your child a chance to respond and initiate conver-sation.2. Respond to the content and intent of a child’s vocalizations.Respond to any attempts at conver-sation, including cooing and babbling.3. Follow the child’s lead to establish joint attention.Talk about what the child sees and does.4. Pay attention to verbal and nonverbal communi-cation.Use meaningful gestures when you talk. And respond to your child’s gestures, like pointing.5. Encourage communication interactions when your child watches TV or uses digital devices.Talk about what is happening and tell stories.6. Use dierent types of communication. Appro-priate use of greetings, comments, and asking and answering questions, all help a child learn that talking serves dierent purposes.7. Use “child-directed speech,” also known as “motherese” and “fatherese.” Parents (and older siblings too!) naturally use exaggeration, higher pitch, and relatively simple grammar and vocabulary when they talk to young children. The melodic pitch, repetitions, and questions encourage attentive interactions. But don’t simplify all talk. Model more complex language and new vocabulary words to build speech, language, and conversational skills.8. Use expansions.Repeat what your child says and add to it.9. Show your excitementwhen your child vocalizes or uses words. A positive, engaging interaction creates the context for enhancing conversation skills.10. Practice conversations in multiple languages.If your child is being raised in a multilingual home, create conversational opportunities in all languages. Use the language or languages you feel comfortable using.The video shows interactions using spoken language. These tips are also applicable in other language modalities, such as sign language.
FNDC Summer • 201924One-day Summer Event for the Whole Family - VICTORIA Island Deaf & Hard of Hearing Centre (IDHHC) IDHHC is happy to welcome the Family and Community Services team from Provincial Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services (PDHHS) for a one-day summer event for families with deaf and hard of hearing children under 6 years of age and their families! This one-day event will include: • Morning ASL classes for parents • Afternoon workshop on Advocacy, and Deaf Culture • Programs for deaf and hard of hearing children, and their siblings Sunday, Aug 18th, 9am-4pm Location To be determined Register: Leslee Scott at IDHHC-Victoria: leslee@idhhc.ca or 250-592-8144 to register and for further information. Spaces are limited, families MUST pre-register to attend! One-day Summer Event for the Whole Family - NANAIMO Island Deaf & Hard of Hearing Centre (IDHHC) IDHHC is happy to welcome the Family and Community Services team from Provincial Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services (PDHHS) for a one-day summer event for families with deaf and hard of hearing children aged 8-12 years old and their families! This one-day event will include: • Morning ASL classes for parents • Afternoon workshop on Advocacy, and Deaf Culture • Programs for deaf and hard of hearing children, and their siblings Saturday, Aug 17, 9am-4pm Location: Nanaimo Child Development Centre, 1135 Nelson Street (near Nanaimo General Regional Hospital) Register: Alex Walker at IDHHC-Nanaimo: alex@idhhc.ca or 250-753-0999 to register & for further information. Spaces are limited, families MUST pre-register to attend!
FNDC Summer • 201925Canada recognizes American Sign Language (ASL), langue des signes québécoise (LSQ) & Indigenous Sign Languages (ISLs). OnFriday,June21,2019,TheGovernorGeneralofCanada,JuliePayette,grantedRoyalAssentfortheBillC-81,intheSenateChamber.BillC-81,theAccessibleCanadaAct,isnowlawatParliamentofCanadaunderfederaljurisdictionwithrecognitionofAmericanSignLanguage(ASL),languedessignesquébécoise(LSQ)andIndigenousSignLanguages(ISLs). Photocredit.JessicaSergeant
FNDC Summer • 201926 TheSecondAnnualScarlett'sParkConferencefocusingonDeafandHardofHearingChildrenwithAutismDate:September27&28,2019Location:FresnoStateCampus,SatelliteStudentUnionTopic:DeafandHardofHearingChildrenwithAutismSpectrumDisorderConferenceWillAddress1. NewDSM-5criteriafordiagnosingautism2. Redflagsindicatingapossiblediagnosisofautismspectrumdisorder(ASD)3. Evidence-basedtreatmentmethodsforDHHchildrenwithASD4. Modificationstoevidence-basedtreatmentmethodsforDHHchildrenwithASD5. SensoryconsiderationsforDHHchildrenwithASD6. Familycenteredservicedeliveryforbirthto3DHHchildrenwithASD7. MulticulturalconsiderationsinservicedeliveryforDHHchildrenwithASD8. SupportforDHHpeoplewithASDthroughoutthelifespan9. OccupationalandrecreationalopportunitiesforDHHadultswithASDKeynoteAddresses1. Won'tyoubemyneighbor?HowMisterRogers'NeighborhoodcangiveustheanswersweneedtosupportchildrenwhoareDeafandhaveAutismbyChristenA.Szymanski2. BeTheirAdvocate:AmplifyingtheNeedsofYourDHHChildwithASDbyRosangelaJaech3. RedFlags:ThePresentationofASDinChildrenwhoareDHH&ConsiderationsforSupportandInterventionbyAmySzarkowski4. OpeningtheDoorthatGotStuck:ExploringPathwaysofCommunicationforChildrenontheAutismSpectrumbyJefferyS.Bravin5. UnderstandingtheDSM-5DiagnosticCriteriaforAutismandBestPracticeAssessmentGuidelinesbyHollyMiller6. Evidence-basedTreatmentforChildrenandAdolescentswithAutismSpectrumDisorderbyKarenWilson
FNDC Summer • 201927Deaf printers once helped create every day’s Washington Post newspaperFrom the Washington Post, June 24, 2019On a March night in 1988, Janie Golightly’s boss — a man namedPaul Poteat— suggested that she and her colleagues take o work, leave the building and watch history being made.The workplace was The Washington Post. And the history? Students at Gallaudet University were marching to the Mayower Hotel to confront the school’s board of trustees, who had just announced a hearing person would be the school’s next president.Poteat wasn’t deaf, but Golightly is. So were many of her co-workers at The Post. They were printers, the people who laid out the type for the news stories, made up the advertisements and got the pages ready to be transmitted to the presses.Golightly recalled that episode at a recent reunion of more than a dozen deaf printers who once worked at The Post.“If I’ve done my math correctly, you represent more than 350 years of experience,” saidBrian Greenwald, a history professor at Gallaudet, the university in Northeast Washington where the meeting was held. He and his colleagueJean Bergeyrun theSchuchman Deaf Documentary Center, which is creating an online exhibit about deaf printers.This was a brainstorming session on what that exhibit should include.Janie Golightly, a deaf printer who retired from The Washington Post in 2001, signs the word for “sub,” part of the printing jargon she and others used. A sub was a part-timer chosen to work a shift, signied by moving his or her card onto a board. (John Kelly/The Washington Post)“We’re the last,” said Golightly, whose husband,Mike, was also a printer. “There is no one else after us. We want to preserve this history. It’s important for future generations.”The printers are all in their 70s now. Some had started in the days of the Linotype machine, when lead was melted and molded into letters: hot type. They transi-tioned to cold type, when text on lengths of photo-graphic paper was cut and pasted onto lined boards. And then they witnessed pagination, when computers could create entire pages on a screen.All that type, all that wax to hold it down, all those rolls of line tape for making boxes and borders, all the X-Acto blades to cut it — all replaced by a computer program and a hard drive. But for decades, being a printer was a very good job.“Schools for the deaf encouraged students to work in certain elds,” saidSteve Moore, who worked at The Post from 1968 to 2001. “Printing went to the more advanced students.”Post printers were members of the International Typographical Union. To be hired as a journeyman printer, they had to pass what was known as the DUPE test, neatly laying out a full page of multiple ads in four hours.Not all workplaces were the best for deaf people, the printers agreed. Some composing rooms had bad reputations. Not The Post’s.“The Post has a real love for deaf people,” said Daniel Krpta,who worked as a printer for The Post for years.The paper oered educational opportunities for its deaf printers — and American Sign Language classes for hearing editors who worked with them.Being deaf was not without its challenges. To enter darkrooms where photos were developed, printers had to walk through blackened, rotating doors designed to keep light out.“Imagine trying to do sign language in complete darkness,” said Jan DeLap, who worked at The Post for 27 years.Like any profession, printing has its own jargon. The printers demonstrated signs they used, like the one for “proofread”: one hand horizontal and at, like a piece of paper, the other passing over it with a pointed nger. There was “RC”: the letters R and C, signed in succession to indicate RayComp, a primitive, computerized ad-layout system.And there was the sign that meant “sub”: pointer and middle nger extended, like a Boy Scout salute turned horizontally. It looks a bit like a rectangular badge, and it comes from the paper name cards indicating who was working that day. A sub was a part-timer chosen to work a shift, signied by moving his or her card onto a board. (My thanks to able inter-pretersElla FagoneandJamie Yost.)“Do not forget the pranks,” DeLap said. “Holy moly, the things that went on down there.”Once, Janie’s husband, Mike, left two paper cutout hands on her chair so they would become taped to her bottom when she sat down.But there was great camaraderie, too. And pride. Said DeLap: “I knew working alongside hearing colleagues that we made the same money, and that was good.” And like anyone who worked at The Post, they got to witness history. Sometimes, that history was personal.When stories on the Deaf President Now — or DPN — demonstrations came down to the composing room, “We kept our eye out to make sure they used the right wording,” said Mike Golightly. That meant not using “hearing-impaired,” a term disliked by the deaf community.The DPN movement galvanized the student body at Gallaudet and brought worldwide attention to deaf culture. On March 13, 1988, university ocials announced thatI. King Jordanwould take the top job at Gallaudet. The headline on Page A1 of the next day’s Post read: “Gallaudet U. Selects First Deaf President; Board Chief Resigns; Student Demands Met.”Bergey signed a question: “How many of you kept that front page?”Up went every hand.Deaf printers who once worked at this newspaper ngerspell “The Washington Post” at a gathering June at Gallaudet University, which is creating an online exhibit about deaf printers. (John Kelly/The Washington Post)
FNDC Summer • 201928BC BASKETBALL YOUTH CAMP For the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Boys and Girls All skill levels welcome! Age 8 to 18 years old Cost $50.00 including nutritious lunch, t-shirt and surprise items WHEN: August 26 to 29, 2019 TIME: 9:30am to 2:30pm WHERE: Byrne Creek Secondary 7777 18th Street, Burnaby Registration Deadline August 7, 2019 Maximum 24 Students The students will learn variety of basketball skills and have some fun scrimmage games taught by deaf coach, Devin Aikin. Interpreter will be provided. Please contact BC Deaf Sports for more information and to register info@bcdeafsports.bc.ca #4-320 Columbia Street, New Westminster, BC, V3L1A6
FNDC Summer • 201929ASL MIX & CHAT
FNDC Summer • 201930AboutFeaturesK-12 Education.Explore the app.An app for families of children whoare deaf or hard of hearingattending IEP meetings, 504meetings, or other meetings.Families of deaf and hard of hearing childrenattend meetings—Individualized EducationProgram (IEP) meetings, 504 meetings, andother types of meetings. What are thesemeetings about? How can you be the bestadvocate for your child? The ParentAdvocacy app helps you to understand yourchild’s rights and to prepare you to workwith the school in the best interest of yourchild.Note: Apple version videos will open inyour web browser. The next update willallow the videos to open within the app.The Parent Advocacy app is a collaboration between:© 2019 by Gallaudet University | Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center. All rightsreserved.2019-06-25, 7+51 PMPage 1 of 1
FNDC Summer • 201931 BC Buddies (ages 8-15) Summer2019: There will be two sessions offered: 1. SatJuly20th11amto3pm What:Cometakeonaseriesoffunteamchallengesincludingwaterballoontosstounlockthesummertreasure!Where:BCFamilyHearingResourceCentre,1522092Avenue,SurreyBC2. SatAug24th11amto3pm What:Familieswithchildrenofallagesarewelcomeforafunpotluckpicnicwithaccesstospraypoolandmodelsteamrailway.Pleasebringyourownlawnchair.Where:ConfederationPark,120NWillingdonAvenue,BurnabyBCDeadlineforJuly20th:July13th/DeadlineforAug24th:Aug17thFormoreinformationandtoregister:www.chha-bc.org/youthpsp/
FNDC Summer • 201932 • Classes typically begin three times a year: September, January, and April. • The course meets once per week, for 10-12 weeks. • The class times are typically Monday afternoon or Monday evening (depending on demand) and Tuesday afternoon. Afternoon classes are held from 1-3:30. Evening classes are held from 7-9:30. • The course meets at the VCC Broadway Campus at 1155 East Broadway in room 2550. There is ample pay parking and some free street parking. There are several pay parking/handicap spots quite close to the classroom. We are on the Broadway bus routes, and there is also a VCC sky train stop. • You must receive permission from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Department (DHH) before you can register. You will receive a permission letter from DHH after you have communicated with Lisa Dillon Edgett through a phone, email or face-to-face conversation. • Registration is based on a first-come, first-served basis. • Friends and family members who do not have hearing loss are also encouraged to register with you. They must also pay the registration fees. • Class sizes are small (usually a max of 8), and there is an amplification system in the classroom to help you hear the instructor and other students. • Students must be able to speak and read English. Handouts are given to support class discussions. • Each week, we learn about speechreading (lipreading) and do activities to practice speechreading. Some activities use a video, and we also practice with your classmates. • Other topics include: how we hear, what things affect our ability to communicate, how to communicate better on the phone and in a restaurant, how to handle difficult situations, being assertive, and much more. • At this time, tuition for the course is $265.36. Financial support may be available for seniors and low-income applicants. We will work with you in hopes of getting a tuition waiver or grant to cover some of the required fees if you meet the criteria.
FNDC Summer • 201933Revised June 3, 2015 Speechreading for deaf and hard of hearing adults Speechreading (lip reading)Learn • Advantages and limitations of speechreading• How to combine what you see with what you hear• How to identify the factors that affect your ability to communicate• How to use a variety of strategies to communicate more effectively• How to behave assertively in difficult situations• Tips for stress reduction and relaxationVCC’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing department (DHH) offers 12-week speechreading courses on Mondays and Tuesdays. Evening classes may be available. Sessions begin in January, April, and September. Students must have good spoken English and be 18 years or older. Friends and family members are encouraged to register along with students who are hard of hearing or deafened. An interview with the instructor is required. Financial services may be available. Contact us—we’re here to help! For more information, please contact: Lisa Dillon Edgett Speechreading instructor 604.871.7348 (voice) ldillonedgett@vcc.ca
FNDC Summer • 201934What do past students from the Speechreading course say? “I have learned to have a more positive attitude in helping myself and in communicating to others what works best for me. It is important because it will keep me better connected with family and friends.” “I have more knowledge about my hearing loss to explain to family/friends/co-workers/general public what I need/what helps in communication. I use this knowledge daily!” “The most important thing I learned was “to advocate for myself and assessing environments and changing circumstances to hear better”. “I really enjoyed our group. It was nice to be with people who have hearing problems like me as they understand the problem.” “I have put in use the strategies and knowledge that I have gained in this course. My family and I are less stressed and have more meaningful conversations.” “This is an essential course for anyone with hearing loss.” “It helps everyone involved with me and fills me up to live less isolated, therefore could give so much more back to this world”. “A wonderful class- clear and effective instructor; caring and sharing classmates, and a safe and open environment to talk about our hearing loss.” “I find this class is helpful to how I deal with my hearing loss in effective ways. Also I realize a lot of people have the same problem as I have. I am not alone.” “Knowing and understanding hearing loss and its impact on my daily life. It is important because when I understand it better I can find better solutions for difficulties.” “I wish I had known about it a long time ago, as I could have benefitted greatly.” “It was much more than I expected as the course includes social, physical, environmental approaches rather than just lip-reading techniques.” “Assertiveness helps move emotions aside. I’ve had ongoing unrealistic expectations of how I “should” hear. This caused much disappointment, heart-ache, and even lower self-esteem. The class helped me to move into yet another stage of acceptance.” “I’m lipreading a bit better. I’m helping people assist me MUCH better. It hadn’t occurred to me what it would be like being in a class with other hard of hearing folks. The communal impact was huge for me. I didn’t expect to be so well supported and accepted.” “…I have become more aware of my attitudes towards others. I don’t hesitate to let them know what works best for me as well as compliment them on any changes they have made to help me. For some, I need to take more time to explain how severe the loss is because they really don’t know.” “The class provided much more than I anticipated and proved to be so much more than reading lips. Very highly recommended!!”
FNDC Summer • 201935• Designed for administrators and professionals in deaf and special education• Participate in discussions related to policy, best practices, and innovation related to education of deaf and hard of hearing studentsAdministrators are encouraged to bring deaf and hard of hearing high school students from their schools and districts to the youth summit that will be held concurrently with the professional summit.The free sessions will be conducted in American Sign Language and spoken English. Hosted by the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center and Gallaudet UniversityHOLD THE DATE!February 25, 20202020EDUCATION ADVOCACY SUMMIT:DEAF EDUCATION&/ClercCenter/InsideClercCenterclerccenter.gallaudet.edu
FNDC is a non-prot society (S-33351) that was founded in March, 1995 to bring together families of deaf children in British Columbia who share common concerns. Federal Registered Charity Number: 88622 5655 RR0001. Deaf Youth Today (DYT) is a program administered by FNDC.What is FNDC all about?Deaf Youth Today (DYT), is FNDC’s summer social/recreational program and is committed to providing recreational experience and leadership opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing youth in British Columbia that use sign language for all or part of their communication or who are interested in learning sign language.FNDC Board of DirectorsHester Hussey ...................................................Mentor, AdvisorColleen Peterson ..................Board President | colleen@fndc.caNicki Horton ..................................................................DirectorKaren Jackson ................................................................DirectorCharlie Coyle .................................................................DirectorJoy Santos ......................................................................DirectorGwen Wong ....................................................................DirectorLaura Batista ..................................................................DirectorLeigh Chan .....................................................................DirectorDan Braun ......................................................................DirectorBobbi Taylor ..................................................................DirectorPauline Anderson ...........................................................DirectorThe Board of Directors are parents of deaf children.FNDC StaffDYT StaffCecelia Klassen .......................................... Executive Director | cecelia@fndc.caBella Poato ......................................... Executive Assistant | accounting@fndc.caScott Jeffery ............................. Info Tech Manager FNDC/DYT | scott@fndc.caJason Berube ......................Newsletter Tech & IT Support | webmaster@fndc.caFNDC ..................................................................General Inquiry | fndc@fndc.caDYT Hornby Island Coordinator (Terry Maloney) .........................terry@fndc.caDYT (General Inquiries) ................................................................... dyt@fndc.caMembership (Paid)Join Our E-Mail List (for free)Contact UsMembership is open to those who support the goals of our Organization. * Our membership is open to individuals, schools, and organizations. Parents/guardians of deaf and hard of hearing children are eligible to vote.Join our email list (for free) and receive: * Our newsletter (which is published four times a year) * Email Updates regarding upcoming workshops and courses, children & youth programs as well as community updatesContact us below and be added to our email list or to request a membership form:Family Network for Deaf ChildrenP.O. Box 50075 South Slope RPOBurnaby, BC V5J 5G3604-684-1860 (voice/text message)www.fndc.ca (website) fndc@fndc.ca (e-mail)Family Network for Deaf Children (FNDC) is a parent run, non-prot, charitable organization supporting families with deaf and hard of hearing children that use sign language or are interested in learning sign language. Even though technology and methodology have changed over the years, we seek the wisdom of parents, professionals and Deaf/HH adults so that common themes of “access, equity and a sense of belonging” continue to be highlighted in areas such as: social/recreation, leadership, education, employment, general services and community involvement.What is Deaf Youth Today?