2019_winter_nl_fndc : simplebooklet.com

WINTER Winter Jan 2019 FNDC values sharing information to deaf children families professionals and the communities that support them These events advertisements and or articles do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of FNDC or offer an endorsement An Educator friend and mentor Roger Carver met hearing professionals I probably hadn t even given it a second thought until the day that Roger Carver came to our home life the same as our hopes and dreams for our older daughter He assured us that our hopes and dreams should still be the same At that time Roger was the Director of Deaf Children s Society We knew we wanted to be open minded and explore all 3 early intervention programs but decided ASL was going to be our last choice for our 3 month old baby Little did we know Up until this very point everyone had been telling us what to do in order to have a successful deaf child but to this very point in time we had never met any Deaf professionals that were in administrative positions He was the first person that we met that was LIVING PROOF It just seemed so right for us to be part of an organization that believed so much in the education of deaf children that they would hire a Deaf person to manage the organization Done deal When we made the appointment we knew that Roger was Deaf but he would come to our home with an interpreter As I learned many years later Roger purposely told the interpreter to arrive 15 minutes late Can you imagine our shock when the doorbell rang and we had to communicate for 15 minutes without an interpreter Roger made us feel at ease he was funny warm hearted and our little baby was mesmerized by the signing Interestingly I don t remember the interpreter arriving if that tells you how comfortable we were Before our daughter was identified as deaf my husband Doug and I had our life somewhat planned out and it seemed pretty perfect We already had a 2 year old daughter Annie when our 3 month old baby Mari was identified as profoundly deaf From that exact moment our family began the never ending phase of the parade of professionals in our lives Roger was the very first Deaf professional we met he had his Masters degree from Gallaudet He openly welcomed us to ask some pretty stupid questions Can deaf people drive a car Do deaf people go to university Does the Deaf community want to steal my child Yes I did ask that question So many choices hearing aids cochlear implant brochures of early intervention programs Signing only Speaking only A combo of both The never ending appointments we attended with professionals guiding us our heads were swimming I hadn t realized it at that time but we had only He was the very first person to ask us the question What are your hopes and dreams for your daughter I cried My husband cried We wanted our daughter to have friends to love her family to get an education hopefully university to share our faith to get married and have a great After a few months of early intervention home training we were waffling on dropping sign and focussing on speaking and listening We shared our thoughts with Roger and he immediately arranged and prepared for the organization to pay for the additional services while we remained in the program something that really wasn t done in those days FYI This is the reason I was am a strong advocate for the new Early Intervention model where parents can have many choices and flexibility within programs without quitting one and joining another Over the years Roger became my educator I would read read and then read some more and march into his office debating with him signed English v ASL cued speech fingerspelling deaf school v local school Roger was probably one of the most literate people I have met in my lifetime he was a voracious reader and I would always leave his office with a new pile of books to read and more thoughts to ponder Twitter FNDCandDYT Facebook www facebook com fndc ca

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children knowing he worked with and guided their parents many years ago Roger was the first person to come up with the idea of FNDC and also encouraged myself Bella Magel Poato Sylvia Walterhouse and Kathy Caldicott to begin a non profit society in BC He was our biggest cheerleader FNDC will forever be indebted to his guidance Roger had a long list of academic and career accomplishments across the US and Canada but in my opinion his impact on BC families was the catalyst for so many resources and services here in BC Roger empowered us all to make changes Photo of Roger Carver with the BC deaf children attending Gallaudet University in 2012 the result of his work with their parents Left to Right Nicole Musey Bree Sproule Isaac Flink JC Horton Mari Klassen Jill Schellekens Roger Chan Roger Carver He was open minded and flexible in support of deaf children and their parents believed in a strong family bond and was unequivocally passionate about a full language for deaf and hard of hearing children In our discussions and debates I loved those he was always encouraging me to try different tools like playing with signed English or trying out cued speech as long as Mari had a full language He said the biggest mistake people make is using tools as a substitute for language He taught me that without a full language tools alone can become confusing for a child Because of having a full grasp of age appropriate ASL Mari and I would dance around our house signing verbs in ASL and then signing them in signed English with our pinkies in the air for the ing and laughing That s the power of a full language when a deaf child is eight years old Yes language language language Roger intuitively knew that in order to impact deaf children parents had to be encouraged to become educated themselves and that was his guiding philosophy Perhaps it was because of the stories of so many deaf adults that didn t have relationships with their families He invested FNDC 2 Winter 2019 in so many families that attended Camp at that time LVE in Squamish and through his monthly thought provoking newsletter editorials I was reminded of his answer to me when I asked if I would lose my child to the deaf community He laughed and said no they have their own children BUT when a child doesn t have communication in their family they will gravitate to those that they can communicate with I got it I was never going to lose my child as long as our family could communicate So sign language classes became part of our lives When Mari attended Gallaudet University Doug and I flew down for a weekend and Roger was there attending Homecoming Here we were in Washington DC with the very man that encouraged us to pursue our hopes and dreams for our deaf daughter when she was 3 months old and now we were visiting her at university Definitely a Deaf Circle of Life moment for us all I cried a lot that weekend For Roger the weekend was equally emotional I witnessed his tears and pride several times as he bumped into all the BC For myself and my family Roger s greatest accomplishment was making me a better parent and instilling in me the passion that every deaf child deserves a full language to live learn and laugh in Roger was my friend and mentor I shall be eternally grateful for the time he invested teaching me Roger may you rest in peace knowing you made an impact here in BC and we are carrying on your legacy With much love and gratitude forever Cecelia

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Eight things to know about the new Starbucks Signing Store From Newsroom Starbucks Oct 23 2018 at https news starbucks com news eight things to know about the new starbucks signing store 1 A mural brings it all together The new Starbucks Signing Store in Washington D C is led by a diverse team of employees who are all fluent in American Sign Language ASL Just inside the doors of the new Signing Store is a mural created by Yiqiao Wang a deaf artist and adjunct professor at Gallaudet University The mural includes a host of letters signs and symbols representing English ASL Deaf culture and coffee In the center of the piece you can see two very strong hands arms raised up rising from the bottom of the artwork Wang said Deaf people can see that It means community in ASL and bringing various backgrounds languages and people all together All store partners are proficient in ASL whether they are hearing hard of hearing or Deaf However Deaf partners at the Signing Store wear special green aprons created by a Deaf supplier embroidered with the ASL finger spelling of Starbucks 4 A sign of hearing allies There are several hearing partners on the team at the new Signing Store and all are fluent in ASL Hearing partners wear traditional green aprons with I Sign pins which are actually available to any Starbucks partner worldwide with sign language proficiency 2 Designed for communication The store the first of its kind in the United States is down the street from Gallaudet University a bilingual English and ASL institution for Deaf and hard of hearing students It was inspired by a similar store in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia that opened in 2016 with nine Deaf partners The infrastructure and experiences in the new Washington D C Signing Store were designed to create a melding of worlds and the best possible experience for partners and customers alike whether they are Deaf hard of hearing or hearing In 2005 the ASL Deaf Studies Department at Gallaudet University and architect Hansel Bauman created the DeafSpace Project cataloguing design elements that address major aspects of the Deaf experience with the built environment including space and proximity sensory reach mobility and proximity light and color and acoustics The new Signing Store incorporates aspects of DeafSpace including an open environment for communication and low glare surfaces 5 Technology lends a hand Here are eight things to know about the new Starbucks Signing Store For customers new to sign language the Signing Store features some high tech options for assisting with communication ordering drinks and receiving beverages at the hand off counter including digital notepads and a console with two way keyboards for back and forth typed conversations 6 Sign of the week 3 A symbolic green apron For hearing customers who don t know ASL even those just ducking in to grab a cup of coffee to go the Signing Store offers an opportunity to FNDC 5 Winter 2019

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Unraveling the Grammar of Sign Language From AAAS Aug 15 2016 at https www aaas org unraveling grammar sign language Carol Padden s analysis of verbs in sign languages has influenced similar work on sign languages the world over Erik Jepsen University of California San Diego a professor of English literature at Gallaudet University the nation s oldest school of higher learning for deaf students Stokoe was challenging a belief held by many of his faculty colleagues some hearing some deaf that ASL was not a real language In Stokoe s lab he and others had started the timeconsuming work of dissecting ASL and its many signs painstakingly compiling what they found into a comprehensive dictionary a notable first When he set up his linguistics laboratory on campus people thought What is he doing He was putting together a dictionary of sign and people couldn t figure out what the relevance of this was says Padden In the late 1950s linguist Noam Chomsky proposed a radical idea The ability to speak language was an innate universal human endowment derived from the brain s ability to generate grammar Since the Chomsky Revolution as it became known linguists have labored to dissect the nuances of thousands of languages stripping them down to their grammatical gears their syntactic systems Yet for many years one type of language remained untouched sign languages The reason says AAAS Fellow Carol Padden is that many linguists didn t consider sign languages including American Sign Language ASL to be languages at all I was getting very different views of sign language at the time and of course now people understand that it is a language says Padden about ASL Currently Dean of Social Sciences at UC San Diego Padden was one of the earliest to write about the grammar and culture of ASL More recently the 61 year old has been examining a newly formed sign language developed some three generations ago in a small community in Israel Padden s first major inroad into sign language linguistics began in the 1970s when then a sophomore in linguistics at Georgetown she began working in the lab of William Stokoe FNDC 10 Winter 2019 At the time the prevailing attitude says Padden was that ASL was mostly English translated into a kind of sophisticated pantomime but was not its own language She didn t hold with this view and neither did Stokoe who Padden says inspired her to take a more contrarian approach in her studies which she did Padden went on to apply the same Chomskyinspired techniques that had been so fruitful for dissecting spoken languages to the study of ASL helping to prove that ASL was not only a legitimate complex language but also markedly different from English The daughter of French Sign Language born of deaf communities in Paris and later transported to the United States in the early 1800s ASL is decidedly not English though they do have some features in common Unlike English ASL lacks a version of the verb to be It lacks many Englishstyle affixes such as the suffix ed used to show past tense a trait it shares with Chinese Instead ASL relies on words like yesterday or tomorrow to add tense And while ASL sentences can have the same word order as English sentences where subjects are followed by verbs and then objects as in Carol studies linguistics ASL often doesn t follow this strict word order ASL can change its word order in a way that English cannot explains Padden Signs can move their position So how do you know if a sign is the subject of the sentence or the object That was the question Padden hoped to answer when she entered her Ph D program in 1978 at UC San Diego where she has been ever since Studying under David Perlmutter and Ursula Bellugi the latter a pivotal figure in ASL linguistics Padden tackled the subject object problem by employing a series of tests to tease out how ASL used verb inflection changes in the form of the verb sign in lieu of a strict sentence order to determine what was a sentence s subject and what was its object In the 1970s linguists started describing ASL as largely a spatial not a linear language where subjects and objects in sentences were largely determined by their relationship to each other in the physical space they occupied when being signed As part of her graduate thesis Padden proposed a framework to help explain how this spatial grammar determined subjects and objects Padden determined that ASL has three basic classes of verbs that in effect help standardize the relationship between subject and object in space and that it does this in a somewhat analogous way to how Latin conjugation works for nouns and verbs The categories in turn determine how words are inflected which shows up as slight modifications or directional cues to the original sign in much the same way English speakers might add an ed or an s to the end of a word Padden s analysis of verbs in sign languages has influenced similar work on sign languages the world over which is where Padden now focuses much of her attention Starting in early the 2000s Padden and several of her colleagues began studying the emergence of a new sign language used in a remote Bedouin village in Israel The result of a high incidence of genetic deafness Al Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language ABSL is believed to be one of the few instances where researchers have been able to track the spontaneous emergence of a sign language It s impressive how much signing there is in the village In a village with maybe 3 000 people 500 were using it says Padden Padden and her colleagues have written several papers on their work with the Bedouin community including one describing ABSL s word order an order they suspect like other sign languages

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may become more fluid as the language evolves The story of their research was the subject of the 2007 book Talking Hands in a number of papers and in her book Deaf in America which she wrote with her husband Tom Humphries We don t know a lot about how sign languages form and change over time that s an entirely new field and that is why we went to study Al Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language Padden says ASL is close to her heart because she grew up with it Born deaf Padden learned ASL from her parents who are also deaf parents who were surprised when she decided to study ASL as a true language something neither believed Beyond grammar Padden s other lasting impact on the study of sign language has been to chronicle the history and culture of ASL Once known as playground sign because it was banned in many classrooms but lived on in playgrounds bathrooms and other unsurveilled niches ASL has a rich history Padden has written about ASL Today Padden says she is concerned about the impacts new technologies such as cochlear implants and genetic counseling could have on how we view sign languages possibility leading to the perception that they are outmoded or no longer necessary While she welcomes innovation she warns that as a society we should be cautious not to make our decisions based on what we feel is normal or average She summed up her thoughts in a commencement speech at the Swarthmore College which recently rewarded her with an honorary doctoral degree We too often believe that humans must live a certain way must believe certain things and must behave as expected But in fact there is a stunning diversity of ways in which humans use language and live in cultures Online course for Advocating for DHH Students Contact us at info dhhcertification com www dhhcertification com Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in rural and urban settings are often isolated invisible and unsupported Social and academic access may be unavailable in their daily school experience The goal in creating this online course is to provide basic knowledge understanding and sensitivity to those working with students with hearing loss Advocating and developing self advocacy skills in DHH students is critical in developing social and academic success The course consists of eight modules Each module focuses on a specific topic related to Hearing Loss and the DHH student Discounted price for parents Contact us at info dhhcertification com FNDC 11 Winter 2019

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Skype Has Added Live Captioning And Subtitles For Those Who Have Hearing Disabilities Fr o m INQ UI SI TR Dec 29 2 01 8 a t h ttp s www i n q u i si tr co m 52 276 56 sk yp e h a sa d d ed l i v e ca p ti o n i n g a n d su b ti tl es fo r t h o se wh o h a v e h ea r i n g d i sa b i l i ti es The huge telecommunications application software product Skype specializes in providing users with video chat and voice calling via tablets mobile devices computers the Xbox One console smartwatches and even regular telephones The company also provides instant messaging options and allows video conference calls Now they are looking to be even more versatile and inclusive by including options for Skype users who have hearing impairments reports Eweek The video calling web conferencing and chat application now officially has live captioning and subtitles to make using the software easier on those who are deaf have hearing disabilities or who may speak varying languages from others in their video chat Jenny Lay Flurrie Skype s chief accessibility officer reported on the Microsoft Accessibility Blog recently that the new live captioning and subtitle capabilities will arrive natively in Microsoft PowerPoint by early 2019 She herself is in fact hearing impaired FNDC 12 Winter 2019

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This update will allow users to see real time transcriptions of the person they are communicating with The spoken words will appear on screen either in the same language or in the user s language of preference Turning these options on and off is easy and Skype has a help option to walk users through the process In the next few weeks Skype plans to roll out translation support for more than 20 languages and dialects according to LayFlurrie These captioning services are powered by Microsoft s artificial intelligence research All of this is happening in the wake of Skype s recent recognition of the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities Other features which users may find beneficial in Office 365 include expanded availability of automatic closed captions and searchable transcriptions for videos via Microsoft Stream and enhancements to the Office 365 Accessibility Checker According to the World Health Organization over five percent of the world s entire population equating to 466 million people have disabled hearing loss The breakdown is 432 million adults and 34 million children The World Health Organization estimates that by the year 2050 over 900 million people which is one in every ten will have disabled hearing loss With figures and estimates such as these it is just another reason for companies such as Skype to begin implementing more inclusive features and options for their consumer base and the world s population 121 Captions listed out options for the hearing impaired who seek out cinema access and other services that are not always user friendly FNDC 13 Winter 2019

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Reprinted with Permission Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University Akilah English EdS is a deaf and hard of hearing specialist for the District of Columbia Public Schools in Washington D C With more than 10 years of experience she has taught at elementary and middle schools in the District and in Maryland English has a passion for education that is centered in social justice She earned her bachelor s degree in elementary education from Gallaudet University and her master s degree in deaf education from McDaniel College in Westminster Maryland English welcomes questions and comments about this article at aenglish7 gmail com ASL Is Just the Beginning A PLEA FOR MULTICULTURAL DEAF EDUCATION By Akilah English In recent years deaf and hard of hearing people have raised awareness about the importance of providing early intervention support and resources for deaf and hard of hearing children Most critically we emphasize the importance of using American Sign Language ASL With ASL parents and educators can directly and freely capitalize on the child s vision to ensure he or she is exposed fully to language and avoids the pitfalls inherent in early language deprivation However as we recognize the importance of using ASL to ensure an essential language foundation we must also recognize that increasingly our deaf and hard of hearing students come from diverse ethnicities cultures and lifestyles In fact in recent years the numbers of students in schools for deaf and hard of hearing students that come from diverse ethnic groups has shot up exponentially Nieto Johnson 2018 For students to reach their full creative and academic potential the education they receive should reflect the diversity of their backgrounds Lynch 2017 This means we should initiate multicultural education in schools for deaf and hard of hearing students across the country Multicultural education promotes the development of cultural competence and proficiency and allows students to understand and appreciate differences and values in their own and each other s cultures When teachers do not include a multicultural educational approach deaf and hard of hearing students miss their window of opportunity to understand and appreciate the differences between their own cultural practices and beliefs and those of their classmates James Banks founding director of the University of Washington s Center for Multicultural Education in Seattle Washington and pioneer educator and researcher notes that educational institutions teacher preparation programs and community organizations must recognize the need for multicultural education to ensure students develop cultural proficiency and that they value accommodate and respect diversity Banks Banks 2004 Photos courtesy of the Marie Philip School at The Learning Center for the Deaf 44 FNDC 14 ODYSSEY Winter 2019 2018

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Reprinted with Permission Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University PHOTO CREDIT MATTHEW VITA Left Teachers should incorporate the works and perspectives of people of color into their curriculum Goals of multicultural education include helping students gain greater self understanding by viewing themselves from the perspective of other cultures providing students with cultural and ethnic alternatives for academic support and reducing the pain and discrimination that members of some ethic and racial groups experience In Every Classroom 5 Multicultural Dimensions Most multicultural education theorists agree that the major goal of multicultural education is to restructure schools so that all students will acquire the knowledge attitudes and skills needed to function in an ethnically and racially diverse nation and world Banks 1999 Banks 2018 1999 established five dimensions of multicultural education that extend throughout the curriculum These dimensions can be incorporated into math and science classes as well as language arts classes Incorporating the following critical dimensions enables teachers to create a multicultural environment for deaf and hard of hearing students in every classroom or program 1 CONTENT INTEGRATION Content integration occurs when teachers use materials and examples from a variety of cultures to illustrate key concepts in the curriculum According to Banks many teachers often reject multiculturalism in biology physics or mathematics because they fail to see the relevancy in these subjects but of course there is relevancy Educators can ensure multicultural content in any subject through their use of examples without eliminating or weakening curriculum standards Most schools for deaf and hard of hearing students have ASL specialists to integrate the teaching and use of ASL into the curriculum However too often the ASL focus is exclusively on the perspectives of European Americans and does not include information from the works or perspectives of people of color One of the most important ways in which the teaching of ASL reflects the perspective of European Americans is found in the use and teaching of sign language Most ASL curricula recognize European signed languages and they should also highlight the rich signed languages of deaf people of color Deaf 45 ODYSSEY FNDC 15 Winter 2019

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Reprinted with Permission Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University identities social roles and expectations and our own biases PHOTO CREDIT MATTHEW VITA 3 EQUITY PEDAGOGY students should be able to learn about these languages too how they developed what they consist of and how they are used today For example they should be able to develop a sophisticated understanding and appreciation of Black American Sign Language Mexican Sign Language Kenyan Sign Language and other signed languages In the process of learning about these languages marginalized deaf and hard of hearing students of color could experience an intensified pride in their cultural identities 2 KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION Knowledge construction is something each of us does every day and constructed knowledge rather than knowledge itself is what we find in textbooks and this of course is heavily influenced by culture Teachers need to be aware of this and help students to understand investigate and determine how cultural assumptions have influenced our frames of reference and perspectives within each discipline This means that teachers should help students understand how knowledge is created and how it is influenced by the 46 FNDC 16 ODYSSEY Winter 2019 attributes of race ethnicity gender and class Understanding the role of cultural bias helps students become skilled critical thinkers and allows them to develop independence in their analysis and thought For example years ago when I was working in the elementary department at a deaf school a male student entered my classroom wearing a pink shirt A female student scolded him telling him that pink is for girls and blue is for boys He was wrong she said for wearing pink This was a perfect opportunity for me as an educator to have an in depth discussion with my students on gender stereotypes I approached the discussion on a concrete level in deference to my students ages I explained that the female student was not wrong this expectation of boys stemmed from what she had seen in society which is full of gendered expectations and standards I pointed out that we see these gendered stereotypes everywhere in movies in books on the Internet and on TV I used The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch a book that addresses gender stereotypes through the eyes of a prince who is not pleased with a princess s appearance We talked about gender Equity pedagogy is when teachers use techniques and strategies that facilitate the academic achievement of students from marginalized groups I have seen deaf and hard of hearing students from marginalized cultures benefit for example from the use of role playing and cooperative learning Using equity pedagogy requires that we understand how students perceive social interactions with their teachers and their peers We need to get to know our students especially the marginalized students and to find ways to include them in our classroom We need to allow students to share their backgrounds likes and dislikes favorite hobbies and other aspects of their lives When students share this information they develop a sense of belonging They are more likely to feel that you the educator appreciate their presence When I was a teacher some students had access to language and others did not Students with language accessibility would raise their hands to answer questions without giving those with delayed language access a chance to answer Wanting to create a classroom in which all my students had a chance to respond to my questions I decided to employ strategies that would allow equity of the participants Each time I asked a question I would ask the students who typically raised their hands first to wait for others who were still processing their thoughts Another strategy I came up with was having a can and filling it with students names written on popsicle sticks I told students they would be given an opportunity to respond when the popsicle stick with their name was drawn from the can I also empowered the students with less access to language to ask their classmates for help In the process all students benefited these strategies helped raise everyone s selfesteem 2018

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Reprinted with Permission Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University 4 PREJUDICE REDUCTION Prejudice reduction entails actively working to reduce students prejudice against marginalized groups Students in early childhood education are at a critical period both for acquiring language and for learning and internalizing prejudice towards others The people and events they witness every day result in development of attitudes ideologies and perceptions Preschoolers are concrete thinkers They internalize the feelings of adults who may be demonstrating prejudice toward others or experiencing prejudice from others They witness demonstrate and experience shame They recognize physical characteristics such as race gender and physical disabilities and they can connect these to the events of shame that they experience or witness Teachers may respond by providing positive verbal and nonverbal reinforcements for the students of color and by involving students from all racial and ethnic groups in cooperative learning activities that prompt them to develop and identify what is right or wrong from a social justice standpoint Educators should be careful to provide accurate materials discussing what is fair and unfair and helping students to engage in social activism They can design interventions to encourage students to acquire positive feelings towards marginalized groups 5 EMPOWER SCHOOL CULTURE School culture must be structured to empower students from marginalized groups Schools should be inclusive and considerate of the struggles and circumstances of marginalized families Certain activities such as grouping and labeling practices the prominence and sometimes overemphasis on achievement through sports and the interaction of the staff and the students across ethnic and racial linear should be examined 2018 As educators we need to recognize that ethnicity language and gender are contributing factors in how students receive their education Questions we should ask ourselves include Who are our students Who are our teachers Who are our leaders Are diverse ethnic groups represented in our leadership Is a zero tolerance policy for bullying especially bullying due to racial religious or other identities established Does the school welcome students teachers and staff members from different cultures Responding to these questions can help educators establish a school environment that is equitable and accessible If the student body of the school is predominately white teachers may focus on how to make members from nonwhite groups feel welcome and safe If the school has large numbers of children from deaf families teachers may want to consider how best to include students from hearing families who are still learning about the Deaf community and its culture Sometimes competition in the classroom or school can hurt an inclusive atmosphere For example one of the competitive events that I witnessed that negatively affected equality in the classroom was the seemingly benign spelling bee As I watched a spelling bee unfold I saw that the students who had the luxury of practicing the words at home were spelling one word after another successfully However the students with less language accessibility at home or who had parents or guardians who worked multiple shifts and were not home in the evening or who were sleepdeprived due to having to be up all night to tend to their younger siblings struggled I realized that spelling bees do not empower deaf and hard of hearing students who come from nonsigning or unstable home environments At the Center of Success Dialogue I believe one word is key to social justice in the classroom dialogue Dialogue allows understanding and the building of trust Educators need to create a safe space in which they encourage students to ask questions and become active listeners Educators should also be 47 ODYSSEY FNDC 17 Winter 2019

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Reprinted with Permission Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University References Banks J 1999 An introduction to multicultural education 2nd ed Needham Heights MA Viacom Company Banks J A Banks C A M Eds 2004 Multicultural education Issues and perspectives 5th ed Hoboken NJ John Wiley Sons able to answer a student s questions with appropriate and accurate information We need to encourage students to express their thoughts and feelings through conversations writing drawing creating dramatic plays and the use of arts music and movement However an educated dialogue entails use of language Therefore language acquisition avoiding language deprivation in the early years is critical This means intense use and study of ASL in the earliest years of education while teachers and administrators reconstruct education so that deaf and hard of hearing students from all ethnic racial gender and social class groups have an equal opportunity to learn This means introducing appropriate content and supporting students in understanding how knowledge is constructed It means implementing prejudice reduction strategies so all deaf and hard of hearing students develop the knowledge attitudes and skills needed to function in a diverse tense and problem ridden world It means working to build sustain and empower school cultures Banks notes that because of the enormous problems within our nation and world education cannot be neutral As educators we need to recognize that ethnicity language and 48 FNDC 18 ODYSSEY Winter 2019 Above Educators should encourage students to express their thoughts and feelings in a multitude of ways gender are contributing factors in how students receive their education We can establish a multicultural approach to education in our classroom We can honor the ethnicities of all our students and ensure each of them acquires language These are enormous goals and it is up to us to achieve them Lynch M 2017 April 16 4 reasons why classrooms need diversity education The Edvocate retrieved from http www theed advocate org 4reasons classrooms need diversityeducation Nieto J Johnson J 2018 Truly inclusive Disability and deaf experience in multicultural education Retrieved from https www researchgate net publi cation 242117828_Truly_Inclusi ve_Disability_and_Deaf_Experie nce_in_Multicultural_Education 2018

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Dal s Poke Restaurant a local young Deaf man is the Restaurant Owner Chef FNDC Editor s Note Dalong Houang attended Deaf Children s Society Pre school the BC School for the Deaf was a Deaf Youth Today Camper Submitted by Kim Paul Sanderson Paul and I have had the pleasure of visiting Dal s Poke restaurant twice since it opened It is fabulous The food is extremely fresh super delicious and healthy plus its beautifully presented We have known Dalong since he was a young child Seeing him excel in the restaurant field and the pride in his welcome when we entered the restaurant was heart warming If you are a parent of a young deaf child as a parent of an adult Deaf man I encourage you to take your child and your family to Dal s Place Show them thru example that deaf children grow up and can follow any of their dreams no matter what they are all doors can be open to them If you haven t supported the restaurant please make your way to Langley and check it out go once and you ll go back often I m sure One of the bonuses is your chances of seeing another signing person when there is very high We have run into other deaf while visiting and that makes it an even better experience It is so nice to have a family run deaf restaurant in Greater Vancouver It is great to be able to walk into a signing friendly healthy delicious restaurant I hope everyone in our community supports this again and again FNDC 19 Winter 2019

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Family and Community Services FCS Provincial Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services PDHHS For families who have school aged deaf hard of hearing and deafblind children Winter 2019 FCS offers a full range of programs and services Family and Parent Support Children and Youth Services and Language Development We provide services in individualized or group settings Our programs vary every season however if any of the programs below do not work for you and your family please contact FCS Contact FCS at 778 817 0489 fcsregistration gov bc ca to register for programs or general inquiries REGISTRATION DEADLINE is JANUARY 11 ASL CLASSES 4334 Victory Street Burnaby Registration Deadline January 11 2019 Conversational ASL Wednesdays at 9 30 to 10 30 am January 23 March 6 Beginner II and Intermediate II Siblings ASL ages 11 14 Parents and TOT Babies Thursdays at 6 30 pm to 7 30 pm January 24 March 7 Children s Program Thursdays at 6 30 pm to 7 30 pm January 24 March 7 Minimum 4 to offer class Thursdays 11 00 to 12 00 pm January 24 March 7 TOT and Baby Program Online ASL Classes Registration Deadline January 11 2019 Introductory ASL Beginner III Intermediate I Mondays 6 30 pm to 7 30 pm January 21 March 11 Wednesdays 1 00 to 2 00 pm January 23 March 13 Tuesdays at 1 00 pm to 2 00 pm January 22 March 5 Wednesdays 6 30 pm to 7 30 pm January 23 March 6 Intermediate II Intermediate II Beginner II Mondays 5 00 to 6 00 pm and 8 00 to 9 00 pm January 21 March 11 Fridays 12 00 1 00 pm January 23 March 13 Tuesdays 7 00 pm to 8 00 pm January 22 March 5 Families Learning Together ASL Wednesdays 8 00 pm to 9 00 pm January 23 March 6 Registration Deadline January 11 2019 This is an opportunity for families to learn together in a language rich environment and where parents connect and children play and socialize with their peers Bear Creek Elementary School 13780 80 Ave Surrey Tuesdays at 4 30 pm to 5 30 pm February 5 26 SUMMER IMMERSION DETAILS COMING SOON MID JANUARY E fcsregistration gov bc ca T 778 817 0489 RELAY SERVICE FNDC 20 Winter Provincial 2019 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services www gov bc ca deafandhardofhearing

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In Loving Memory of Luce Victoria LeBlanc May 1 1986 October 15 2018 Written by Claire LeBlanc FNDC Editor s Note Thank you Claire for sharing your journey with us Claire s daughter Victoria Luce was a Deaf Youth Today camper and staff working as a DYT Team Leader Victoria had a passionate for advocacy and was a wonderful role model to deaf children She will be greatly missed My life has changed irrevocably since my precious Deaf daughter died from rare lung diseases on October 15 2018 in a hospital in Philadelphia I was by her side when she passed away and it was the hardest thing I have ever or will ever have to endure The poignancy of our goodbyes expressed in American Sign Language will be indelibly imprinted on my memory My faith allows me to be strong to be grateful for and to celebrate the time I had with my daughter She was born Victoria but Myself Luce at DCS Preschool Grad in the last years of her life she preferred to be called Luce meaning light so I am honoring her preference This article is supposed to be about Luce and the best way to pay tribute to her is by sharing the great impact she had on me as well as countless others My life was first changed irrevocably when Luce was born on May 1st 1986 in London England and it was changed irrevocably yet again when she was diagnosed as deaf in London on February 19th 1990 We had a very strong bond right from the beginning and we loved each other deeply She was my only child I was divorced and teaching in London After her diagnosis my daughter and I returned to my hometown of Vancouver in 1990 and we were introduced to Deaf Children s Society and to American Sign Language and the universe was altered for both of us When Luce was first diagnosed I did not have a background in deafness there were no outstanding family members that we knew of who were deaf and the clinic in London provided me with very little guidance or assistance They merely provided me with a glossary of terms associated with deafness and sign language was one of them There was little more they could do I was overwhelmed with feelings of sadness and despair As an English teacher I was saddened further to think that my daughter would not be able to appreciate Shakespeare and other great literary works I wondered if she would need to go to a special school There was so much I did not understand and so much for both of us to learn However Luce and I indeed learned so much when introduced to the Deaf community and to Deaf culture I will never forget the first time Roger Carver the Executive Director of Deaf Children s Society or DCS at the time came over to my place with an interpreter and used ASL with Luce for the first time She instantly understood everything they communicated to her and it was electric She had met her first Deaf person and she had been exposed to the Deaf community and American Sign Language for the first time She was elated to discover that she was not alone that there were others like her and that she was connected to a community with a unique and beautiful language and culture I was elated as well We embarked on a journey of learning and discovery and I have become a better mother a better and happier person and a better teacher because of my experience with the Deaf community Luce was a natural at the ASL and soaked it up like a sponge She loved the DCS preschool and she was energized by it and made such amazing progress every single day It was so wonderful to see her happy and FNDC 24 Winter 2019 thriving I was not as gifted at learning ASL but I was persistent and determined to become proficient I remember one time shortly after Luce began attending DCS preschool she was trying to communicate something to me with ASL and I was slow and didn t understand She became frustrated and hid under our dining room table I crawled underneath the table and sat with her She drew a photo of a hand that had eyes and a mouth There were tears falling from the eyes and there was a swirling symbol representing a voice emanating from the open plaintive mouth She was expressing her frustration with not being able to communicate I was deeply touched and I signed as well as I could at the time and I spoke as well and I told her in a serious tone that I was making a solemn vow that I would persist at learning ASL until I was good enough Picture drawn by Luce at Preschool to interpret for her I kept that promise I studied ASL became a regular Teacher On Call with the BC Provincial School for the Deaf and I ensured that both Luce and I regularly circulated with the Deaf community I was soon able to interpret for my daughter in any situation including while she was at church and at Girl Guides She loved the Deaf community from an early age and I made sure that she was able to participate in Deaf events and was able to have culturally Deaf experiences such as Deaf storytelling and so on Luce s previous frustrations at not being able to communicate diminished and she blossomed She was filled with a zest for life and learning her amazing wit and sense of humour were much appreciated She was nourished by a supportive network in the Deaf community who became like family to us It was because of the Deaf community that I was able to provide my daughter with the key to success and happiness American Sign Language I also learned that meaning is more important than form and that individual needs and preferences need to be respected Regarding the oral approach to Deafness an interpreter once explained an important concept to me that with lip reading it is possible for some Deaf people to catch some of the words but why should they not catch a hundred percent of the words by hearing them visually with American Sign Language This is a no brainer to me Moreover Deaf people need a language base so as to be able to learn other languages such as English Most importantly this beautiful language has the potential for creative expression and ASL can be powerful music for the eyes Like many Deaf people Luce cherished ASL and was proud to be Deaf When we moved to the Okanagan for a period of time Luce was mainstreamed with an interpreter for two years Finding a qualified interpreter was challenging and Luce was the only Deaf person at her high school Although Luce made friends in her grade eight and nine years she missed the Deaf

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community and the ease of communication Therefore she opted to attend the BC School for the Deaf for grades ten eleven and twelve She was a dorm student and flew home on the weekends Luce loved the dorm experience learned more about Deaf culture and made good friends there Although mostly mainstreamed with an interpreter at the high school level Luce was still a proud and loyal BCSD student and was happy to be re connected to her community where she and her talents were recognized and celebrated At age 19 Luce opted to have a cochlear implant as she was having trouble finding jobs She had read a great deal about cochlear implants and thought one could be useful in helping her to speech read better and to therefore find work and to alerting her to environmental sounds Shortly after having the implant Luce left for Gallaudet University While the implant did allow Luce to get some more information regarding environmental sounds it turned out that the implant did not help as much as she had hoped it would In order to benefit more Luce would have had to have regular training practice in using the implant but being a student at a university where everyone signed was not conducive to that so she didn t wear the processor and eventually stopped using it altogether I feel most fulfilled and proud when I think of the opportunities that I helped to open for my daughter especially when she was younger Luce loved to read from a very early age and she loved reading with me She was reading short story books and writing complete sentences before she was six I fed Luce s love for reading she was a voracious reader and never seemed to get enough She went to the library regularly and checked out large piles of books which she promptly finished It is not surprising then that Luce was also a gifted writer and wrote poetry stories blogs etc In fact I am in the process of gathering her writing as I intend to publish it Luce also studied ballet for many years and she was a Girl Guide and a Pathfinder She enjoyed fencing for several years and she was good at it She participated in Outward Bound DYT as a camper and as a counselor she worked for GVAD and she worked for Parks Canada for three summers in a row She was a talented artist and enjoyed sewing Luce had many interests and there is so much more I could mention but more importantly Luce was a loving and kind person she was an example to others and gave back to her community Luce was proud to have graduated from Gallaudet University in Washington D C which is a university for the Deaf that was founded in 1864 Luce graduated with a double major in English and Theatre and she was a very involved student She was president of her sorority Delta Epsilon she worked in the Alumni office tutored wrote for the newspaper was involved in Student Body Government just to name a few of the things that come to my mind She studied Shakespeare at Gallaudet and she played a memorable role in Hamlet It was at Gallaudet University that Luce truly came into her own she found her identity and made deep and lasting friendships there In fact the English and Theatre Departments at Gallaudet would like to honour Luce s memory by establishing a Memorial Scholarship in Luce s name Please visit the following link to read more about the scholarship and to make a donation that will help other like minded students have an opportunity to study at Gallaudet and Luce s legacy will keep paying it forward To donate to the scholarship fund in Luce s memory https www gofundme com manage memorial scholarship re luce After Luce graduated from Gallaudet University she moved to Seattle Washington where she worked for The Abused Deaf Women s Advocacy Services ADWAS and was involved in Deaf Theater as a stage manager and costume designer she had a part time job helping Deaf clients who lived in group homes Luce had a very full life of rich experiences and I couldn t come close to mentioning them all here Some highlights of her life I would say are her and I attending a Performing and Visual Arts camp in Sedona Arizona for three years in a row her working for Parks Canada three summers in a row her years at Gallaudet her participation in so many Deaf enterprises her travels to Europe and so on However I think Luce would say herself that her most fulfilling and enriching experiences were those connected with the Deaf and Deaf Blind community and with her social justice causes She was a fierce advocate for the Deaf and the oppressed and she served her office well Luce was of great service to the Deaf community and the larger community as well although the Deaf community had a special place in her heart The community reciprocated when Luce became ill by contributing to a GoFundMe campaign to assist her in getting urgent medical help from specialists located in Philadelphia who are experts in her disease When she passed away the Deaf community helped again by attending vigils in Seattle Washington Philadelphia Pennsylvania Washington D C they responded by planning and attending Luce s funeral and then her Celebration of Life they responded by expressing their sadness and sympathy in so many ways I was touched by the big turnout at the Seattle vigil which I attended Many people came up to me afterwards and they told me with tears in their eyes how much Luce had helped and inspired them The community helped again by setting up the Memorial Scholarship and contributing to it I was very touched to have recently received a sympathy card from one of the ASL interpreters who interpreted for Luce at the hospital in Philadelphia It reads Meeting your daughter has been one of the loveliest moments as an interpreter I met her at one if not the first of the first appointments you had at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Luce had a beautiful spirit While it was hard to see her suffer it was always a highlight for me to work with and see the lovely relationship you two had You are both an inspiration for what it means to be a loving family Thank you for the opportunity to meet Luce She will be missed by the Deaf community and the World I am so proud of the girl I raised and of the beautiful person she became Luce the champion of the oppressed Luce the young woman with the indomitable and loving spirit will be sorely missed by many Her ashes remain in an urn on my mantelpiece and the inscription reads As the sun rays fall on my face I feel you in my heart Your light will always fill my soul we ll never be apart FNDC 25 Winter 2019

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Broadway Across Canada presents COME FROM AWAY March 10 2019 Queen Elizabeth Theatre Sign Language Interpreted Performance The true story of the small town that welcomed the world Broadway s COME FROM AWAY has won Best Musical all across North America The New York Times Critics Pick takes you into the heart of the remarkable true story of 7 000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them Cultures clashed and nerves ran night but uneasiness turned into trust music soared into the night and gratitude grew into enduring friendships Don t miss this breathtaking new musical written by Tony nominees Irene Sankoff and David Hein and helmed by this year s Tony Awardwinning Best Director Christopher Ashley Newsweek cheers It takes you to a place you never want to leave On 9 11 the world stopped On 9 12 their stories moved us all Broadway Across Canada is pleased to provide Vancouver s deaf and hard of hearing community with the opportunity to enjoy this Broadway spectacle On March 10th at 7 30pm a limited number of tickets will be available for deaf and hard of hearing audience members in a designated seating area with professional American Sign Language English interpreters from Preferred Interpreting Services Photo by Matthew Murphy If you have any questions please feel free to contact Leanne Palmer by emailing lpalmer broadway com or calling toll free 1 800 889 8457 FNDC 26 Winter 2019 To reserve your seats visit this link before January 30th https vancouver broadway com interpretedperformance Enter Password NFLD

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From Swimming to Swan Lake Language and Learning Go Hand in Hand Posted by BC H V on August 23 2018 https www bchandsandvoices com post from swimming to swan lake language and learning go hand in hand By Brianne Braun tot class graduated to independent lessons Although we called Aurelia the barnacle when she first started swimming lessons because she often refused to let go of Dan or I her Saturday morning swimming lesson with her Deaf and hard of hearing friends is now one of the highlights of her week Whether your child is deaf hard of hearing or hearing chances are they will be involved in recreational programs at some point in their childhood For our American Sign Language ASL using kids we must ensure that they have access to those same opportunities by requesting and sometimes insisting that a Registered Sign Language Interpreter RSLI be provided Our oldest child Argyle is hearing We started parent tot swimming lessons with him when he was just a baby and he has been enrolled in various Recreation Surrey programs ever since When our daughter Aurelia came along our plan to sign her up for swimming lessons and other Recreation Surrey programs didn t change just because she happened to be born deaf So in early 2016 I asked our local pool to provide a RSLI for Aurelia s parent tot swimming lessons and also encouraged them to create a class specifically for Deaf and hard of hearing kids I was connected with one of the City of Surrey s Accessibility Inclusion workers and was thrilled to learn that the City of Surrey was willing to provide interpreting services as part of a new pilot program That was over two years ago now and our group has expanded as new families have joined and the kids in our original parent Aurelia also loves to dance Countless times I would grab my ear plugs then crank the music up for afternoon dance parties so I signed the two of us up for Creative Dance Moves a parent participation class offered by Recreation Surrey We did this for two seasons with me trying to juggle between the roles of both parent and interpreter When the lesson was over boys and girls would start arriving for the next class Ballet Level 1 which was not parent participation Aurelia always lingered to watch and when she started practicing ballet moves on her own at home I knew what to register her for next As ASL is Aurelia s first language she became accustomed to using interpreters from a young age but usually alongside her father who is also Deaf or like the swimming lessons as part of a larger group of Deaf and hard of hearing children This would be her first time being the only Deaf FNDC 27 Winter 2019

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participant with no one except the interpreter knowing any ASL I have to admit I was a little apprehensive but I once again reached out to the Accessibility Inclusion folks at the City of Surrey and requested a RSLI for Aurelia s upcoming ballet class It was as simple as sending an email and receiving a prompt reply stating that an interpreting agency had been contacted and that I would receive confirmation soon On the first day of ballet Aurelia met the interpreter and then immediately told me to go sit on the bench with the other moms while she turned and joined her classmates To see that level of confidence in my three year old I can t tell you how proud I was in that moment Having access through the interpreter I watched her learn hone her dance skills and develop friendships with the other children Aurelia and I are both looking forward to this fall when she will resume ballet once again I would like to take this opportunity to thank the City of Surrey and Recreation Surrey for their ongoing commitment to ensuring that their programs and services are accessible to even the very youngest members of the Deaf community Whether ASL is your child s first language or if they prefer to use ASL for some or all of their communication in group settings challenging listening environments please consider requesting a RSLI for your child And if someone tells you that it can t be done don t take no for an answer For our Deaf and hard of hearing children having full language access makes a world of difference To request a Registered Sign Language Interpreter RSLI for your child s Recreation Surrey program please contact Ross MacDonald Community Services Assistant Phone 604 502 6321 Fax 604 502 6315 Email rmacdonald surrey ca If you need help with advocating for services in your local community please feel free to connect with Dan and I we are happy to offer our support Email bcdhhkids gmail com FNDC 28 Winter 2019

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Learn to Fish 2018 Submitted by Rhys McCormick Jen Gow Nevertheless a great time was had by all and a number of fish were caught during the day The highlight of the day was the door prize giveaway of a four hour sturgeon fishing trip for four people complete with registered sign language interpreter and professional fishing guide Mark Wilken from Big Valley Sportfishing Adventures https www facebook com bigvalleysportfishing https www bigvalleysportfishing com The FNDC DYT Learn to Fish event was born in 2015 The idea was created as part of a Masters project and a desire to support better access to the great outdoors in beautiful British Columbia for Deaf and hard of hearing individuals I love the outdoors and fishing is something I love to do with my friends and family I am fortunate enough to have learned from a number of good anglers in my life starting with my father many years ago I also learn a lot from friends and acquaintances while out on the river Deaf and hard of hearing people don t always have the opportunity to access these activities or learn how to do them using their first language The goal of the Learn to Fish event is to expose as many individuals as possible to the joy of fishing and to do it in an accessible manner with registered sign language interpreters The Family Network for Deaf Children FNDC and Deaf Youth Today DYT have been great supporters of the event since its inception and September 7 2018 was no different This was the third opportunity for Deaf and hard of hearing individuals and their families to gather at the Fraser Valley trout hatchery for the chance to learn about local fish species fish life cycles and habitat They even had the chance to try and catch a trout in one of the hatcheries stocked fishing ponds This year over fifty individuals registered and attended the event in Abbotsford including two families that travelled all the way from North Vancouver for the event The Fraser Valley trout hatchery provided their typical learn to fish event and the programming was interpreted into American Sign Language ASL by two registered sign language interpreters This year it was not as easy as in years past for participants to catch fish in the stocked ponds It is rumored that a family of fish eating otters may have moved into the area recently and taken to snacking on the easily targeted fish It seems the Fraser Valley may have been the originator of the otter vs fish events before the Teamotter vs Teamkoi situation showed up in Vancouver As a great supporter of the event Mark donated his time his boat and his expertise to provide the opportunity of a lifetime for one of the participants for the third consecutive year The winner this year was the Gow family from North Vancouver 2018 was another successful event and I look forward to supporting this fun family event in the future FNDC 29 Winter 2019

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Our Family Experience Fishing Submitted by Jen Gow Next thing I know a huge sturgeon exploded out of the water before landing a huge cannonball on the surface and disappearing back to the depths I couldn t believe my eyes Mark estimated it was about 7ft long and I wondered what the heck we were going to do with this prehistoric beast when it was near our boat In the end I needn t have worried this one got away after the line snagged That one got our adrenaline going and over the course of the day we caught several other sturgeon with everyone having a turn on the line It was great to see the range of sizes indicating a healthy population of these extremely long lived fish Mark s expertise not only helped us land these beauties but his knowledge of the river and its fish really enriched our day and Rhys skills made sure that it was all fully accessible to our daughter too We went along to the FNDC Fishing Day in September at the Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery in Abbotsford It was a bit of a trek for us as we live on the North Shore but it s well worth the effort to join FNDC events It gives my daughter the chance to get together with her D deaf and hard of hearing DHH peers and for the rest of us to meet friends old and new These are especially valuable opportunities for us since our daughter isn t around DHH friends at our local school Run by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC the hatchery is a great place to visit As well as the functioning hatchery itself they have a large indoor facility The staff taught us about some local BC fish in the auditorium before we toured the fish exhibits and got to see the fish in the flesh in the aquaria Thank you FNDC Rhys and Mark After lunch we were instructed on how to fish before we headed over to the stocked fish ponds on site for some hands on catch and release fishing There was fishing gear galore and plenty of space around the ponds so that every child could try their hand and not have to wait The fish weren t leaping onto our lines that day was it the temperature the clouds the recent otter raid but we caught enough for the kids to gather round the buckets to get a close up look and feel of the trout It was a great family day out an event that was accessible and fun for all The day finished with some door prizes Much to our amazement and delight we held the winning ticket for the top prize a family day out on a guided fishing trip for sturgeon We couldn t believe it we had won the fish lottery Fast forward to the end of October and the four of us joined Mark from Big Valley Sportfishing Adventures on his boat with Rhys the event organizer We headed up the Fraser River to a top sturgeon fishing spot of Mark s While he was busy setting up four rods off the back of the boat Rhys explained everything to us It wasn t too long till we had our first bite Mark passed the rod to me and I suddenly found myself at the end of what felt like a massive tug of war FNDC 30 Winter 2019 As we told our girls it was an opportunity of a lifetime and one that we won t forget Of course the trophy photo helps with that

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How deaf researchers are reinventing science communication From The verge Dec 11 2018 at https https www theverge com science 2018 12 11 18133033 science asl american sign language jargon communication FNDC Editor s Note Lorne Farovitch attended Deaf Children s Society home training program in the 1990 s then his family moved to the United States Lorne is involved in a couple of ambitious projects called ASLCORE and ASL Clear each aimed at creating new ASL signs for the STEM disciplines science technology engineering and math It s urgent work for the deaf community without access to the right terms discussing say mitochondria means spelling out M I T O C H O N D R I A in sign language an often tedious process known as fingerspelling With the right ASL terms on the other hand science comes alive for deaf students in a way that it couldn t possibly in English What do synapses actually look like Or macrophages the cleanup crew of the bloodstream Can you picture the process of metastasis the spread of cancerous cells through the body Science can feel pretty abstract in English the words themselves don t teach you much about the concepts they describe They re just necessary bits of jargon to be memorized But some researchers are finding ways to translate this complex language and make it more accessible Lorne Farovitch is a graduate student in translational biomedical sciences at the University of Rochester a jargon y sounding program if ever there was one and he s working to turn science jargon on its head Lorne is deaf his first language is American Sign Language or ASL For deaf scientists like Lorne ASL has the power to turn abstract jargon laden concepts into rich visual representations The ASL sign for DNA for example could be the three letters D N and A in quick succession or it could be this Verge Science visited Lorne at his lab in Rochester New York and got a firsthand look at some of the new science sign language in circulation THANK YOU to the Electronic Recycling Association FNDC sends a huge thank you to the Electronic Recycling Association for their recent donation to us a laptop and projector Our Deaf Youth Today summer program will benefit greatly from this during staff training and for our Hornby Island Deaf Kids Camp The Electronic Recycling Association The Electronic Recycling Association ERA is a nonprofit organization that has been reducing unnecessary electronic waste since 2004 We reduce adverse environmental contribution through electronic recycling re purposing and through the donation of electronics and other IT Equipment With a number of drop off locations around Canada based primarily out of Calgary Edmonton Vancouver Saskatoon Toronto Montreal and Winnipeg and an electronic pickup service the ERA provides a meaningful way for organizations and individuals to deal with their old computer equipment in a safe and secure manner that matches or exceeds government standards FNDC 32 Winter 2019

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Reprinted with Permission Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University MEETING CONSULTING NEEDS IN GENERAL EDUCATION SETTINGS Brittany Dorn MEd is a doctoral student studying deaf education at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley She taught deaf and hard of hearing students for Clarke Mainstream Services in Northampton Massachusetts and general education second graders in Hartford Connecticut Now a third year doctoral student her research interest is effective consultation between teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing and teachers in general education Dorn welcomes questions and comments about this article at brittany l dorn gmail com Five Strategies for Itinerant Teachers of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students By Brittany Dorn Teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing find consultation increasingly part of the job due to the national trend toward inclusion The push toward inclusion has been accelerated by implementation of universal newborn hearing screening and advances in technology that have included digital hearing aids cochlear implants and hearing assistive technology systems Berndsen Luckner 2012 As a result deaf and hard of hearing students are increasingly educated by general education teachers and these teachers may lack knowledge of what it means to be deaf or hard of hearing While teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students continue to offer direct services to students with 87 percent of these students spending at least part of their day in a mainstream classroom U S Department of Education 2013 consultation with teachers and support staff is increasingly important According to Miller 2008 a variety of service delivery models are available to support students who are deaf or hard of hearing but the itinerant teaching model is the predominant model nationally even internationally This means extensive collaboration which sometimes involves working with resistant professionals who may be less than thrilled about having an outsider in their classrooms In a 2013 survey of 365 itinerant teachers consultation with professionals and parents was rated as the second most important job responsibility the first was working with students The majority of teachers responded that their undergraduate and graduate programs did not adequately prepare them to work as itinerant teachers When itinerant teachers were asked to suggest professional development topics they cited consultation and effective collaboration Luckner Ayantoye 2013 Very little research exists on consultation in deaf education but other fields offer research and suggestions that may be applied to this area These suggestions include setting and focusing on shared goals using objective measures not emotion to justify accommodations listening being careful with language and emphasizing why not just how students need services and accommodations Photos courtesy of Brittany Dorn 16 FNDC 40 ODYSSEY Winter 2019 2018

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Reprinted with Permission Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University Left The author center with staff from Clarke Mainstream Services As more students who are deaf or hard of hearing are educated in neighborhood schools the need for itinerant teachers of the deaf and mainstream services grows Forced into consulting by changes in how deaf and hard of hearing students are educated teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing can use research from other fields to learn how to become effective consultants They must master skills implicit in the role of consulting so that they can do this in a collaborative way that acknowledges shared responsibility for problem solving and solution monitoring with classroom teachers and other school professionals Becoming effective consultants not only makes the work easier but also ensures swifter and more effective accommodations for the deaf and hard of hearing students The following five strategies have been developed for fields such as business and psychology but they may also be effective for teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students who find themselves working with general education teachers 2018 Strategy 1 Work to Set Up Shared Goals Sometimes teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students may feel that they have opposing goals from those of the classroom teacher administrators and special education director within the school district While a teacher of a deaf or hard of hearing student focuses on that individual student the classroom teacher focuses on the achievement of the class as a whole Similarly teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students may struggle to ask the special education director about purchasing technology for one student when the special education director is focusing on saving money to allocate across the entire district However each of these professionals shares one overarching goal to help students be successful The principal may have a more general focus on the student body the special education director may be thinking about all the students with disabilities in the district and the teacher of a deaf or hard of hearing student may be working with one profoundly deaf third grader However when these professionals gather to discuss this third grader the student becomes the common denominator for all three professionals Many people are unfamiliar with the idea of mutual gain and this unfamiliarity presents a major obstacle to effective collaboration Feinberg Beyer Moses 2002 Mutual gain is the idea that both parties can benefit from the decision made Too often people feel that they are in a win lose situation Discussions focused on mutual gain and shared interest naturally position all players on the same team and lead to increased buy in Fisher Ury Patton 2011 How does this apply to deaf education Teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students should remind other teachers 17 ODYSSEY FNDC 41 Winter 2019

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Reprinted with Permission Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University Left Often the job of the itinerant teacher involves working in any available school space including the staircase and hallways Here the author conducts a listening check on a student s hearing aid in the hallway of a public school and administrators of the shared goal and use the word we whenever possible When faced with an obstacle for example the teacher of a deaf or hard of hearing student can ask the team How can we best deal with this challenge and What can be done to help us reach our goal Whenever possible the teacher of the deaf or hard of hearing student should physically sit beside the classroom teachers Fisher et al 2011 as they discuss or face a challenge together While the teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students works with team members to establish goals the team members should determine the best way to meet those goals Although tempting teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students should avoid the urge to try to provide every step toward the solution of a problem Solutions must fit the context of the school and school professionals know this context better than an itinerant consultant For example in the case of helping a student access the announcements made over a loudspeaker multiple solutions exist The announcements could be typed printed and delivered to the student or they could be projected on a television or computer screen There is no best solution there is only the solution that works within the context of the school On teamwork with school staff Fisher et al 2011 caution If they are not involved in the process they are unlikely to approve the product It is that simple When other professionals feel ownership of a solution they are more invested in its success and work harder to try to accomplish it Additionally there are often ways to meet individual student goals in a way that improves the environment for all students For example high expectations for speaking and listening may lead to higher level classroom discussions Amplification such as a pass around microphone and corresponding Soundfield system which allows all students not just those who are deaf or hard of hearing to hear amplified sound projects important information to the whole class The transmitter of a personal FM system can be used as a talking stick to remind students to take turns when speaking thus increasing expectations for all students in the room Strategy 2 Use Objective Measures Not Emotions to Persuade The job of an itinerant teacher can be emotionally taxing and isolating It is common for a district to employ a single teacher for students who are deaf and hard of hearing and to task that teacher Right Whenever possible position the work or obstacles across from you and your collaborative partner as you work together on a solution 18 FNDC 42 ODYSSEY Winter 2019 2018

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Reprinted with Permission Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University with advocating for every deaf or hard of hearing student in the district This teacher may observe students in difficult situations in a classroom where the videos are not captioned in the lunchroom where the student is socially isolated or with a teacher who despite instruction addresses the interpreter rather than the student Further the classroom teacher and other educational professionals may not understand deafness may downplay its educational significance or may listen intently to suggestions but then fail to implement them According to Wrightslaw www wrightslaw com an advocacy resource for parents intense emotions can become an Achilles heel during the negotiation process Wright 2008 It may be tempting to appeal emotionally to the school staff to plead with the general education teacher to incorporate the deaf or hard of hearing student into the classroom in the manner that the teacher of deaf or hard of hearing students knows is best However this is not an effective course of action According to Wright 2008 You must transform your emotions into energy As much as possible this energy should transform into suggestions and recommendations presented through statistics data and objective measures According to Fisher et al 2011 The more you bring standards of fairness efficiency or scientific merit to bear on your particular problem the more likely you are to produce a final package that is wise and fair Further basing arguments on objective data decreases the likelihood of a battle of wills or feelings Fisher et al 2011 For example teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students may be tempted to state what they think or feel about the need for a student to receive increased service time by saying I can tell he needs more time working with me because he s struggling in his classes and he seems lonely at school This appeal is largely emotional and it can be easily disputed A general education teacher 2018 might reply Well he s doing fine in my class and I ve seen him smiling in the hallway I think he s fine A better course of action is to seek out and use data that adds credibility to suggestions For example a teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students who believes it necessary to increase the amount of time a student spends with her might report Out of the six classes in which he is enrolled this student currently has three Fs and three Cs Additionally I observed him in the cafeteria on five separate occasions and four of the five times he sat alone and engaged with fewer than two peers during each 35minute lunch block Assessments and checklists sometimes available for free through websites can structure and add credibility to data For example using the Hearing Itinerant Service Rubric which is available for free downloading https successforkidswithhearingloss com can help teachers develop and present data that shows whether a student s service time should be increased Similarly when advocating for equipment such as the FM system the numerical results of the student s functional listening evaluation which measures how well a student can hear at different distances and with different levels of background noise should be emphasized Not only does data persuade more effectively than emotions it is harder to dispute Strategy 3 Listen In his book Just Listen Goulston 2010 explains that in the same way new knowledge builds on prior knowledge initial judgments about people e g this teacher doesn t want extra work form a filter through which we interact In order to really hear people Goulston explains that we need to remove this filter Open your own mind and look for the reasons behind the behavior and you ll take the first step toward breaking down barriers if you want to open the lines of communication open your own mind first Certain behaviors such as eye contact nodding and rephrasing help people know you are listening In a study of effective early childhood consultants resource consultants actively listened showed empathy reflected on feelings and asked clarifying questions that led to more effective teamwork Frankel 2006 When people feel heard they are more open to your message according to Goulston In addition to helping people feel heard active listening helps solve the problem As explained in the book Getting to Yes Fisher et al 2011 Right Requesting listening breaks from the student s perspective in addition to the rationale of the teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students is more meaningful 19 ODYSSEY FNDC 43 Winter 2019

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Reprinted with Permission Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University the school context within which we are doing the requesting Above Using the words of the deaf or hard of hearing student is often a more powerful way to show the why than any advice the teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students could give understanding the other person s perspective does not simply help with the negotiation it is the negotiation As teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students we find that some classroom teachers immediately understand and implement our suggestions in other classes it is two months into the school year and despite our constant reminders the closed captions are still not turned on or the FM system is misused or the teacher still gives direction to the interpreter and not the student As we learn to effectively consult we realize that who is being asked and in what context is as important as what is being asked To ensure our students receive the accommodations they need we the consultants need to focus not only on the request but on the individual teacher to whom the request is addressed and on 20 FNDC 44 ODYSSEY Winter 2019 Strategy 4 Be Deliberate with Language Language matters This is especially true in deaf education in which the stakes are high the situation is personal and the teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing is often working with classroom teachers who are overwhelmed and at times defensive In this environment the words that the teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing uses to deliver a message may often be as important as the message itself In his book Schools That Learn Senge et al 2012 provide sentence starters for effectively providing information and asking for clarification in other words balancing inquiry and advocacy For example when explaining the reasoning behind a decision a teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students might say I am proposing this accommodation or modification because it is indicated by this data assessment or observation Is this a fair conclusion Senge et al 2012 Teachers who consistently use data to support their points can expect the same from others When following up on a point made by someone else the teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students might ask What leads you to say that or Would you please help me understand your thinking as a way to probe for objective data adapted from Senge et al 2012 The Region 13 Education Service Center a Texas based resource that offers ideas on collaborating to benefit students suggests in its videos that teachers pay attention to the type of question asked Consultants should avoid questions in which the wording is leading i e questions in which the wording hints at the answer closed i e questions that require only a yes or no answer or negative i e questions in which a student or situation is portrayed in a negative way Although the speaker may not realize he or she is asking these types of questions the listener may subconsciously shut down or become defensive as a result of the language that constitutes these types of questions Strategy 5 Emphasize Why Not What Simon Sinek 2009 in a popular and powerful TED talk introduces a visual to represent the way people communicate ideas It is an illustration made up of three concentric circles the largest outer circle labeled what the next largest circle labeled how and the smallest inner circle labeled why According to Sinek most people ineffectively make requests by moving from the outer to the inner circle explaining what they are asking then how to accomplish it and finally why they are making their request He suggests reversing the strategy beginning with the rationale the why of the request and then moving to the how and finally stating the what For the teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students this means addressing the why might be more effective than putting in successive requests for the what Through in service and follow up meetings using simulations of hearing loss and incorporating hands on activities the teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students can help the classroom teacher understand the meaning and purpose of inclusion the educational implications of deafness and how compromised accessibility means compromised learning The teacher of 2018

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Reprinted with Permission Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Gallaudet University deaf and hard of hearing students can help others understand what it is like to be deaf or hard of hearing in a typical classroom and the importance of making accommodations Working Together for Student Success Teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students have the important role of bringing awareness of individual students needs for accessibility and modifications to classroom teachers and working with those teachers to identify ways to assist the student in the context of the individual school setting As consultants dedicated to the educational success of students who are deaf or hard of hearing our success comes more easily when we help classroom teachers understand the rationale for accommodations Once this happens teachers do not need to be told of every single accommodation Instead they Below Equipment reminders are stronger when they are written by the students themselves This sign was created by a fourth grader to remind her classmates and teacher of the signal lights on the Soundfield tower start to independently assess the student s environment and look for ways to support the student The role of the teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students is to act as a problem solving partner throughout this process References Berndsen M Luckner J 2012 Supporting students who are deaf or hard of hearing in general education classrooms A Washington State case study Communication Disorders Quarterly 33 2 111 118 doi 10 1177 1525740110384398 Feinberg E Beyer J Moses P 2002 Beyond mediation Strategies for appropriate early dispute resolution in special education The Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education U S Office of Special Programs Fisher R Ury W Patton B 2011 Getting to yes Negotiating agreement without giving in 3rd ed New York Penguin Group Frankel E B 2006 The knowledge skills and personal qualities of early childhood resource consultants as agents of change Exceptionality Education Canada 16 2 35 58 Goulston M 2010 Just listen Discover the secret to getting through to absolutely anyone New York AMACOM Luckner J L Ayantoye C 2013 Itinerant teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing Practices and preparation Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 18 3 409 423 doi 10 1093 deafed ent015 Miller K J 2008 Closing a resource room for students who are deaf or hard of hearing Communication Disorders Quarterly 29 4 211 218 Region 13 Education Service Center n d Videos for parents and professionals Using effective communication skills Retrieved from http www4 esc13 net fiep resources facilitating ieps Senge P M Cambron McCabe N Lucas T Smith B Dutton J Kleiner A 2012 Schools that learn updated and revised A fifth discipline fieldbook for educators parents and everyone who cares about education New York Crown Business Sinek S 2009 How great leaders inspire action TED talk Retrieved from https www ted com Success for Kids with Hearing Loss n d Hearing itinerant services rubric Retrieved from https successforkidswithhearingloss com U S Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics 2016 Digest of education statistics 2015 NCES 2016 014 Retrieved from https nces ed gov Wright P 2008 November 22 From emotions to advocacy The parents journey Website Retrieved from http www wrightslaw com advoc articles Emotions html 2018 21 ODYSSEY FNDC 45 Winter 2019

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What is FNDC all about Family Network for Deaf Children FNDC is a parent run non profit 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 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 Directors Hester Hussey Mentor Advisor Colleen Peterson Board President colleen fndc ca Nicki Horton Director Karen Jackson Director Charlie Coyle Director Joy Santos Director Gwen Wong Director Laura Batista Director Leigh Chan Director Dan Braun Director Bobbi Taylor Director Pauline Anderson Director The Board of Directors are parents of deaf children FNDC Staff Cecelia Klassen Executive Director cecelia fndc ca Bella Poato Executive Assistant accounting fndc ca Scott Jeffery Info Tech Manager FNDC DYT scott fndc ca Jason Berube Newsletter Tech IT Support webmaster fndc ca FNDC General Inquiry fndc fndc ca DYT Staff DYT Hornby Island Coordinator Terry Maloney terry fndc ca DYT General Inquiries dyt fndc ca Membership Paid Membership 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 E Mail List for free 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 updates Contact Us Contact us below and be added to our email list or to request a membership form Family Network for Deaf Children P O Box 50075 South Slope RPO Burnaby BC V5J 5G3 604 684 1860 voice text message www fndc ca website fndc fndc ca e mail FNDC is a non profit 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