Moot Thoughts & Musings

he is so cute and smie I dont see 4 years old hearing kid sign ASL. Thank you for sharing!

As soon as Maddie saw him start to sign, she goes, "Eeee" and signing for Ellis. THen she said, "Net." I thought it was pretty cute. But I had to explain that other little boys besides Ellis sign.

Jeannette,

This is very important blog entry with a videoclip. Very important than you ever realize. This needs to be shared national-wide.

It shows that American Sign Language can be learned among very young toddlers and children who can hear, and with this opportunity, the communication barriers between hearing and deaf children WILL BE GONE!

This is what the Deaf Community desire for long, long time that everyone (deaf and hearing) are willing to sign and communicate to each other.

I am sitting down with tears flowing on my face knowing that Ellis have a wonderful friend, Gid, who knows American Sign Language. Both boys will be growing up bilingual and will form a very special friendship/bond together.

This is the most important example that everyone needs to see it. Including people who are so narrow minded who really believes that Deaf children must work harder to fit into hearing world. Only if we have one million boys like Gid, our lives (deaf and hearing) will be so enriched.

For over 125 years, since 1880's at Milan when the 'congress' of international educators for the deaf voted that oralism was a primary mean of instruction for deaf children. In result of this, we were forced to assimilate ourselves learning how to listen and talk, for the purpose to fit into the "society", thus retarding our language enrichment and self expression. We end up much isolated because we are able to be understood by the society (based on our speech skills of very FEW of us) BUT unable to understand the society because we still cannot hear them. The communication barriers were up for long time.

Until, I saw this videoclip of Gid... a three year old young boy who just wanted to sign this videoclip for Ellis. Gid is happy to show off his language skills!

This is the first time for me to see this videoclip as an evidence that the society CAN meet half-way for Deaf people. Deaf people will be motivated to communicate with them in sign language and maybe, to speak too.

Jeannette and Lynn - G-d bless you, and I have utmost respect for you as the most progressive parents of the most precious sons.

Wipin' my tears now...

Amy Cohen Efron

How Funny!! I made a video of my hearing son just a couple of months ago and it's almost the same!!
Yeah for signing kids!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5fAKQ4KCNqA

Amy, that's exactly my wish - for my children and I to be proactive in friendships. I wish Ellis/Jeannette weren't 3000 miles from us so we could play together but that does give us the opportunity to make fun videos where we wouldn't otherwise. :) All three of my boys love the Signing Time videos. With the rising popularity of these videos and in teaching hearing kids ASL I have hope closing the gap b/twn deaf and hearing cultures will become easier in the years to come. I've looked into deaf/hoh playgroups in our area and all have said things like, "Any families with deaf children are welcome." I've felt very nervous about taking my entire hearing family (3 boys) where we'd be intruders. Your response to this video has encouraged me to go ahead and put ourselves in the uncomfortable position of outsiders and trust they will embrace us.

And yay, Jess! Your son signs so well! What a cutie.

I encourage every new parent to sign with their babies! It reduces frustration on both ends, parent and child. Tonight I experienced something with ASL that I never dreamed would happen...lying in bed with my 3-year-old son, we sign our ABC's and I tell him what each letter sounds like. Tonight, for the FIRST time he sounded out the letters and was actually reading!! CAT, HAT, DOG. I'm crying right now!! THANK YOU ASL!!!

On another note...we will interview for him to be in a deaf/hard of hearing preschool program this Monday. The teacher will use both English and ASL in the classroom, and Andrew will be "reverse mainstream", assuming he is accepted. I believe this would be a wonderful opportunity for him to continue to learn ASL and use it with his peers. Afterall, they say that the best time to introduce language is before the age of 5!

Some of my friends don't understand why I use sign language with my hearing child. A simple solution to ease tension between parent and infant has grown in to a new love for a language and culture different from my own! I'm glad to have found a place where there are others who understand and support my decision!
Now if we could only get parents of DEAF babies to do the same!

what a wonderful video! Thanks for sharing Jeannette! and way to go Gid!

Hi - so wonderful!! I signed with my hearing son (now 16) often in his early years and really never went through the 'terrible twos, or threes or fours'! The frustration at not being able to communicate when young was just not there!

Now he is taking ASL and his high school is accepting it as a 'foreign' language credit.

And along with the fact that he is learning a new language - he is learning about Deaf culture and making so many new friends!

Wonderful to see more parents signing with their hearing children!

Grace