My daughter knows a couple signs now, but it is still hard because she often doesn't realize I am identifying something. It should get easier soon, as her spoken language is taking off like a rocket now.
Your daughter is so cute. Love that first sign. Very clear. My daughter's first sign (that I recognized) when she was 12 months old was "light." I also remember her younger brother (who is hearing) at the age of two -- when I did not understand what he was saying (using his voice), I was able to understand him when he signed it. I wish you well on your journey learning ASL. Enjoy.
Precious!! I am hearing but I work with deaf kids, and I remember I was at a house once when I saw the little boy sign WHERE DADDY? I was SO excited. Enjoy!
I picked up my new hearing aids today and thought I would post my initial thoughts. First, let's take a little journey back in time to understand some of my history. I got my first set of ears 10 years ago. They were the Senso+ model in the CIC (completely-in-the-canal) size, made by Widex. They were almost invisible and functioned fairly well, but after four years they were no longer powerful enough to keep up with my progressive loss, so I got a new set. The new set were Phonak Claro ITE (in-the-ear) models, and were far more technologically advanced, and also far larger and more noticeable. I was able to control the volume and choose programs using my Phonak wristwatch. I have worn these for about five years now, but again my hearing loss has outgrown the volume possible with these models. Fast forward to present day. I recently bought a pair of Rexton Cobalt 16 (same as Siemens Pure 700) and a bluetooth remote control that Rexton calls an RCU (same as the Siemens Tek). The...
I went in today for a followup tuning of my new hearing aids. My main issues that I needed addressed: 1) There was heavy distortion on the main programs in loud environments, making speech very difficult to interpret 2) Certain types of loud sounds were overwhelming me in my normal programs 3) We forgot to add the programs for Bluetooth phone and Direct audio connections during the first fitting We took out most of the compression in the main program, removing all traces of distortion, but that still left the overwhelming sounds. We walked through various frequencies over the speakers and found that I had a huge peak at about 1000Hz, right in the middle of the speech range, so we knocked the gain down at that frequency and everything was PERFECT. My main program is really great now. Took a couple times to get the Bluetooth and Direct audio programs to sound right, and I think I will still need one more visit to get these a little better, but overall they sound pretty good. Hooked m...
So, having had to deal with the real possibility that our newborn son is deaf, all sorts of new questions have run through my head, and I don't have answers to all of them. Firstly, I think my wife and I are in a much better position to make an informed decision than most hearing parents of deaf children because I am already learning ASL and teaching my wife and daughter some as I go. That doesn't really help me understand how Deaf children are raised and educated, though. Let's just assume we decide not to get CI for him. Obviously we would start teaching him ASL as early as possible, but since our primary communication in the house is spoken English, we would need help. He would not be able to "acquire" ASL like a Deaf-of-Deaf child would. Who would help us before school age? Are there programs dedicated to this? Obviously we would need help, too, or he would surpass our signing skills sooner than later. Then what about school? Can a deaf child be proper...
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Mother of Bilingual Deaf and Hearing Children
Enjoy!