Instagram Live with Amanda (@signingmomof2)

TRANSCRIPT:

Erica- Okay let’s get Amanda on. Hello, everybody popping on! Let’s see I sent the request. You’ll have to excuse my stuffy voice; I have been sick for a few days now. And there’s Amanda… Okay it says waiting for…ah there you are

Amanda- Hey! Hey

Erica- Hi! Okay do I sound as stuffy as I think I sound?

Amanda- Yeah… but it’s ok, it’ll be fine

Erica- Theraflu

Amanda- There you go

Erica- So there’s 13 people on right now

Amanda- Okay

Erica- Do we wanna give it a couple of minutes?

Amanda- Yeah maybe

Erica- Like a minute?

Amanda- Just maybe like a minute or two

Erica- Okay. Ooh I love your hair, you just did it,huh?

Amanda- Thank you, yeah, um, it’s like kind of purpley in the front. I hadn’t had my hair done in like, gosh, months

Erica- Well it looks good

Amanda- Thank you

Erica- Okay we’re up to 16

Amanda- Oh, see we’re gonna have some Deaf people joining

Erica- (signs and speaks) Uh, so you all know, we are not signing today. I’m really sorry.

Um, we don’t know all the words yet! But we are going to transcript later.

Amanda- (signs) Perfect

Erica- My fingerspelling is so slow, it’s like the thing I’ve been working on the most.

Amanda- (signs) Same. (speaks) I know. And then my receptive, like, watching you know fingerspelling, phew!

Erica- It’s just so fast!

Amanda- I know

Erica- Okay, well, I guess we’ll get started.

Amanda- Alright! So my name is Amanda and I am the parent to Cason. Cason now is 7 years old. Umm, when he was identified deaf he was 3. So we have taken this long journey. Umm, I’m gonna be like pretty brief; like I’m gonna skip all the hassle in the beginning I think and just kind of jump right into like when we first found out, you know?

Erica- Okay

Amanda- And I guess I just wanna say like when he was, when it happened, when they came back with the identification that he was deaf, umm, my whole world went silent. As ironic as that sounds. Umm, I didn’t hear anything that was being said to me from the doctor’s standpoint and after it was all like you know transcribed to me I was like “so can my kid hear?”

Erica- Right

Amanda- And they were like “no”. Umm, Cason also has Auditory Neuropathy Sensory Disorder so his has a lot to do with like where the nerves don’t make the connection to your brain, so along with being profoundly deaf he has the ANSD on top of it. Umm, we did move fairly quickly and got hearing aids super fast and then we, umm, we then went and started talking about cochlear implants. Umm, he got his first cochlear implant when he was… he was, he was still 3 so it would’ve been in February. That was his first one. Then he got his second one in September. And Cason still had moderate hearing loss with his CIs. So along with that immediately like jumped right in and started using sign language, even though we were told not to, you know that was something that’s not typical that you do. And I had already missed 3 years of my kid’s life…

Erica- Right

Amanda- So at that point, you know I realized you know, we have to, we can’t have this barrier any longer.

Erica- Right

Amanda- And so it was very hard finding, you know, information like on how to even, like where to start, where to access this wonderful language, you know? Um, and so I had gotten in touch with the Deaf Ed teacher at the high school that I went to as a, you know, growing up

Erica- Oh, wow

Amanda- And she come to our house on Saturdays and she would teach us and help me communicate with my kid. And Cason started school at 3, umm they had like a Deaf Education program that he would attend. Umm, he only went for a couple hours a day when he was 3 years old. And then but at first he was placed incorrectly with just other children who just had severe delays or other diagnosis. So he wasn’t placed in the right spot until we had found out his diagnosis. And then they transferred the schools they made it more inclusive and they had all the Deaf kids going to one school but he was still mainstreamed. So we just started to see that that just really wasn’t working for him and he needed the interpreter so he had the interpreter the entire time he was at school. And we started, we started looking into Deaf schools; it was probably like last year sometime, umm, and so we then also started to like, we took away the Cis like at school because he wasn’t wearing them at home. We were signing at home, he wasn’t wearing them at home… and so I think when he was going to school he was having like just this huge disconnection. He was trying to pay attention I think to all the sounds that were going on versus, you know, what he was supposed to be paying attention to. And I mean, any 5 year old watching an interpreter-that’s hard. That’s like a learn, you know behavior.

Erica- Right, right

Amanda- Umm, so yeah, that was umm, the hard part for us. He stopped wearing them and it was just like BAM! He stopped acting out. It was great. You know we had this smooth transfer from there to home.

Erica- Ooh I got the chills!

Amanda- What’s that?

Erica- I got the chills

Amanda- I mean, it was, it was amazing. And so they like immediately noticed a difference in him. So we started looking into Deaf schools and we moved to Florida for my kid! My fiancée said, “My job can transfer.” We toured the school, we feel in love with it. It was amazing. And he has, gosh, just, I mean he has already advanced a reading level. Umm, I’ve posted recently like his scores, how the improvement he’s gotten from being in a totally inclusive environment, which sadly he wasn’t before, but he is now and you know, some children just thrive differently and mine thrives being in a signing environment, so umm, that’s kind of like my story- his story I should say. Super shortened.

Erica- I love it.

Amanda- Yeah, yeah so…

Erica- If we said every detail…

Amanda- Yes, we’d be here all night!

Erica- I know, really

Amanda- Yeah

Erica- Okay, so Avery passed her newborn hearing, let me explain Avery did not pass her first newborn screen and so she went for her second one and she passed it but it took a really long time for her to pass, and then sound tech or whatever it is called, physician was really really young. And I remember thinking at the time and I had no idea at all that she would not pass and I figured that she would. I knew that fluid in the newborns ears was normal. I remember thinking I don’t know what this girl is doing and she did pass her and so we didn’t know for a really long time that Avery could not hear us well. She was about a year old and she was not talking and about a year and half and she was really not talking and we went to the pediatrician and we said hey we think something is up she’s not talking and they said everything is fine she’s just a late bloomer. I said I don’t know, I don’t think that’s what it is, but the pediatrician did not listen. They did not listen. And so, all the way up to two years old we continued to ask and I would kinda home test (claps hands) you know clapping can she hear me? There would be sometimes where she could, and sometimes where she couldn’t. For me it was like really emotional. I didn’t know what to think, I didn’t know what was wrong, I had no idea. And so, finally we moved from central Texas, this little town Temple Texas to northern Texas, north of Dallas, so we had more resources and we went straight the pediatrician told them this is what is happening and he directed to the audiologist and from there they identified moderate to severe in one ear and severe in the other so she was hard of hearing. She was just two and few months, we could not communicate with her, she was acting out a lot just like you said Cason was, she was crying a lot screaming a lot, I did not like going out in public because like to the market because she was that kid in the grocery aisle that was screaming on the floor and I couldn’t and I didn’t know what was wrong and I didn’t know how to help her. So when they told me, they did not say that she was hard of hearing, they did not say that she was partially deaf, they said you baby has hearing loss and she is going to need hearing aids. And I think like initially I just had this big lump and I didn’t know what this meant, and I remember asking this question and I feel really stupid for asking it now, because it didn’t make any sense, but will she have to wear them forever? It was like glasses, I couldn’t even comprehend what was going on. At no point did they say your baby is hard of hearing this is what we can do, this that, nothing, it was always back to the hearing aids. Then I definitely jumped on that hearing aid bandwagon, quick you know and thought that was the solution. So then we connected with ECI soon after that, she got her hearing aids and we started in home therapy with ECI. The only reason we were introduced to sign language was because our parent teacher for the Deaf happened to be a deaf woman, so if that was not the case, I don’t think we would have ever been introduced to sign language at that age. She started teaching us sign and by the time Avery started learning her first three signs, she was a completely different child. She was always using them, even if it didn’t make sense she was using them. She knew something, she had some language and she could communicate with us and from then on I was just stuck. This is the way. This is for us. This is what she needs. It was frustrating for us because at no time her audiologist, the ENT, mentioned teaching sign language. They didn’t discourage it but no one ever even mentioned it. It was never a solution. Then on weve been signing, signing, signing. She’s in a deaf program. She’s doing really well now. She is 5 years old. Shes thriving. Her deaf program is good, its not my favorite place, its not like where I would want to be forever, but for now and if I advocate really hard for her, it’s doing well. She’s good, she’s really happy, she’s surpassed all the other students in her class. She has language she communicates well and we just don’t push the technology because we she prefers not to. Sometimes she wants to wear them, most of the time she doesn’t, and I’m totally okay with that because she has access to language and that’s the most important part. So that initial kinda punch in the gut when I felt when she was identified thankfully has quickly gone away because of sign language. If it were not for sign language it would have took me probably more than a year several years maybe as well as I can communicate with Avery right now had we focused on speech and listening skills and not did any sign language.

Amanda- I feel like we wasted an entire year of Cason’s life going to all these speech therapies, AVT therapies and I just remember this one time going to one of them and I just started crying because I was watching him to the one thing he could not do and that was speak, well besides hearing but it was absolutely terrible, and that was the day I decided we are not doing this anymore, and well continue your OT, and speech for the purpose of learning sign language but no longer going to force you to be oral when that’s not who he is. And it works for some and some it doesn’t and ours just happens to be the one that doesn’t. That’s not who he is and I’m not going to force it upon it. You know I want my focus to be on language and not be on you know trying to make him hear something that’s not there.

Erica- Right. You know like the times that Avery does want to wear her hearing aids, Oh let me be clear I forgot to tell you all, by the time she turned 4 years old both of her ears moved to severe level moving towards profound so she is no longer the severe/moderate. She will probably most likely, we don’t know for sure, lose all of her hearing. So that’s another reason why the hearing aids are not that big of a deal for us right now because eventually they are going to be of no use. So I am not going to rely on this piece of technology that is going to eventually you know not be used and then her feel like I’m stuck. I relied on these things, that’s not what I want to her to rely on, I want her identity, her language, sign language, I want her to feel empowered by it and not feel like Oh my gosh, hearing aids don’t work anymore. She’s only 5 years old, that was really fast for them to move so maybe by 6 or 7 she will be completely profoundly deaf, so it’s okay with me and when the time comes we’re prepared.

Amanda- right, and so is she.

Erica- Yeah, so is she that’s the most important part.

Amanda- I know that we needed to probably touch base on how we like because I didn’t go into that deepness of when he was identified. I said my world went silent but I wanted to say I didn’t know what to do with myself. I went through denial. I grieved. I mean I look back now and I'm like how silly was that? He’s PERFECT! (laughing)

Erica- I know! (laughing)

Amanda- He’s this perfect little human being, and I just think that the parents that are here that are just now going through it, that is okay to feel that way. That is not your normal. That is not what you are used to. But it gets so much better and that feeling it completely goes away. Like Erica said earlier, you just really have to advocate really really hard for you child and if you are strong advocate for your child you will be fine.

Erica- Yep, it’s true. You know you don’t know, I think It’s perfectly normal to go through that grief stage. You just don’t know anything about it the majority of the time. It’s very rare that someone is like Oh that’s okay I have a ton of deaf friends, my kids deaf I know exactly what to do. It just doesn’t, maybe I don’t know maybe someone.

Amanda- I didn’t know one single deaf person prior to my kiddo, and it has opened so many doors for my family and I have so many people that I was missing on, and he’s brought all these new people into my life and I am so thankful for it.

Erica- Right, I know it’s so true. I see a comment that says I so wish they had sources of information when they give you the news. I always say this. I always say why couldn’t they have said your daughter is hard of hearing but it’s okay. She can live a very successful and happy life. Here’s the resources for the local deaf community, deaf mentor and some sign language classes for you. You know all the positives that we had to figure out for ourselves. Why don’t they give us that when we find out?

Amanda- I remember that day, I specifically asked do you have any information to give me because I remember not taking any of it in. And I was told I’m sorry, but I don’t. I went home with nothing. Nothing.

Erica- It’s very frustrating.

Amanda- Yeah. Alright, can we go back and look at these comments to see if there is any questions? Are you on your compute, because I’m on my phone.

Erica- I’m on my phone.

Amanda- Sorry all I’m all up in your face.

Erica: I do see some deaf friends that are still on, I just want you to know that later we will type it all out. Right now we are not signing because we are not fluent enough, but later we’ll type it. If you have any questions, please ask.

Amanda- Umm, so do you see the… alright so, I do know that somebody had asked about like, how do you deal, like does your whole… ok- so like your husband, does he sign?

Erica- My husband signs to the best of his ability, yes

Amanda- Okay but like what about your, umm, extended family? Do they?

Erica- So, umm, we moved to Texas away from our whole family, but my mom and my stepdad moved here as well so they sign. They have been taking some free ASL classes at a local church that has a Deaf ministry. And so they try, they’re really trying. I have to give them… I have to be thankful. They are really trying. Umm, and then my older daughter she also signs. Umm, we spent a year learning SEE first because that’s what the preschool was teaching at first, umm, that kind of hindered us because we could’ve spent all that time starting to learn ASL- which is an actual language unlike SEE. But either way, even if they’re still stuck on a little bit of SEE signing, they do sign and that’s the most important part.

Amanda- Okay, umm, so I see a question right there so I’ll go ahead and say well how I feel about that is… so I’m in the same kind of boat. My fiancée does to is best. I feel like we’re like the ones, like we’re Moms, we just you know, like dig in and that’s what we did.

Erica- Right

Amanda- And I’m a stay at home mom so I have a lot more, you know, of that free time to like, really… My son’s school actually offers free classes, courses, for us too. So I’ve been taking those

Erica- Oh, awesome

Amanda- Yeah, which is really nice. Umm, as far as like extended family, I feel like we’re in the same boat. Grandparents are, they try. Back in South Carolina where I came from, it’s really hard to find resources and stuff so that’s not really something that’s like to their ability you have to be like to get into most classes to beginnings and stuff, you have to be the actual parents, you know?

Erica- Right

Amanda- And then, so usually when we’re all together my kiddos love their grandparents and so like, they just have that… I don’t know, they get it. You know? Like Cason doesn’t realize that they’re not signing with him all the time like I would be. And a lot of the times they are going “what’s he saying?” and so I’m just like, the interpreter, you know? I just tell them what he wants and we go from there

Erica- Right

Amanda- So that’s kind of how we handle it as far as the family. Now when it’s like him playing with other kids who don’t sign or whatever I am super, like involved. And I’m like, “this is what he’s asking you” and I’ll translate to them just because I don’t ever want him to feel like he’s different from those children, you know?

Erica- Sure

Amanda- So he’s super included with stuff like that, umm, and then I saw there’s a comment here like about- talk about their siblings- are they learning? And you mentioned that… and yes, so Corbin, who is gonna be 3 in January, he’s hearing… umm he has not gotten to the point- it’s the cutest thing. When he is telling me, like something happened, like if Cason hits him, he like completely voice off and he comes up to me and he starts doing this like gibberish stuff with his hands. And he’s like (motions pointing away, pointing to his won shoulder, Cason’s sign name) you know?

Erica- Awwww! He’s trying!

Amanda- He is so trying and like he knows your real basic signs but like, he is super involved and I have made it very clear to Corbin that Cason does not hear you.

Erica- Yeah

Amanda- And I mean I say it to him- I probably say it to him ten times a day. I’m like “Sign, he does not hear you. You have to go tap him on the shoulder.” Like I want him to really understand that his brother is Deaf.

Erica- Yeah, yeah. I mean my other one is 12 years old so she’s kind of at this point just waiting to hit high school because high school offers sign language as a second language here. So if she gets to take ASL in a couple years, she’ll kind of already be ahead but also she does need that work, umm, because I keep telling her, you know, “you’re hearing, umm, your sister is Deaf, if you don’t learn to sign, that bond, most likely, I hate to tell you this will not continue into adulthood because she’s not gonna be able to communicate well with you and if you can’t communicate well with someone, you can’t have a good relationship with somebody.” So, umm, she knows, you know? Ultimately I can’t force her- she does try her best and I think she’s doing really well so far but will she continue? You know, that’s up to her and what kind of relationship she wants for her sister and I think that that’s what you kinda have to say to your family members. You know, whether they’re distant or nearby, if you want a relationship with this kid that is your flesh and blood, your family member, you have to put the effort in. You know? I think it’s probably our job to provide those resources- “Hey, this is where the classes are, this is the YouTube station, umm, SignedWithHeart is a great resource, Bill Vicars is a good resource.” You know, you can give them all the resources but if they still choose not to learn…

Amanda- That’s on them

Erica- It’s on them. What can we do?

Amanda- I feel like that’s them missing out, you know, on our children. Like we’ve done everything we can do.

Erica- It is.

Amanda- There was a comment here that said something, “What do you suggest I do? My son has some hearing in one ear and no hearing in the other but he uses hearing aids, goes to Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, he signs and I sign a little. He gets speech therapy but I feel like he struggles. What should I do?”

Erica- I wonder how long that he’s been signing for… but if he’s in a School for the Deaf, no matter how long, he’s going to catch on, probably awesomely. So I would say just, whether he has hearing or not, jump on board with that. Like you can’t go wrong by learning ASL.

Amanda- Right

Erica- He’s in a Deaf school, he’s going to pick it up so you should get on board with that as well as much as you possibly can. If it’s new, it make take some time but it’s worth it.

Amanda- Yeah, and then I just think like the biggest thing for our children is carryover. You know? Like you’re saying. Like having it at home, umm, and making sure that you are… I mean and I would look into their school and see if their school offers any sign language classes. I mean, because most Deaf schools do and it’s free for like, you know for parents to the Deaf children.

Erica- Right

Amanda- So that’s a good avenue too if you’re like struggling on where to learn and I don’t know what you’re… like you said he does speech therapy. Is the speech for speech? Or is it to learn ASL? Because the way that we have our speech signed up at FSDB, is it is, I mean he doesn’t wear anything obviously, so it’s for language. It has nothing to do with being verbal, oral, any of that.

Erica- And she said, “he picks up signing very quickly but struggles with speech therapy.”

Amanda- Well there you go

Erica- Yeah so I never force speech, we don’t do speech therapy. It’s not our choice. Umm, they do have a speech pathologist at the school but she signs while she talks because she, thankfully, is very on-board with the fact that Avery’s primary language is sign language. And that she can do, say all the little sounds that she wants to, but force her to do it, and mom’s gonna step in because that’s just not what our way. And so she’s actually really respectful towards that which I really appreciate. Umm, I just don’t think that speech matters. I think that language should be the ultimate priority, you know? It doesn’t matter if you can say a sound when you can speak a sentence in sign language, you know? There’s no comparison. Sign language will always win.

Amanda- Exactly, and I mean, I have full belief, like even if you’re child is doing great with their hearing aids and Cis or whatever, you know, I still believe they should have sign language as well. No matter what, your child is Deaf

Erica- Right

Amanda- There native language is ASL. They should not be denied of their language. It’s technology, it could fail at any time, you know? Umm, and that’s a personal choice on my end, so…

Erica- And I agree, and that’s something I even kind of have to battle in Avery’s IEP at school because, like I said, they were teaching SEE and SEE is not a language, it’s like a method. And even though I’m in school full time for ASL and Interpreting- I’m getting my degree, I’m not yet fluent and so when she’s at home I give her my absolute best, but I’m not fluent, and so I feel that if the Deaf Education system has a teacher that’s fluent in ASL that that’s where that ASL needs to come from. And so I had to fight for ASL to be put into her IEP and I know that’s not the case at Deaf schools, it’s just kind of an automatic and so I don’t understand why Deaf programs are different, but either way I fought tooth and nail and now she has ASL in her IEP. But umm, you know, I just don’t understand how people don’t understand that all Deaf children deserve and have the right to access to sign language, to ASL.

Amanda- (claps)

Erica- They have the right to know other Deaf people, they have the right to know their culture and we as hearing parents don’t know that to begin with and so we have the responsibility to go out and figure it out because it’s for our children

Amanda- Right

Erica- I hear all these stories about Deaf adults, Deaf friends, that did not get introduced to the Deaf community until they were young adults or maybe teenagers, you know because they went to college and took an ASL class or , you know, decided to go to a Deaf college, maybe Gallaudet, whatever. You know, it’s just like they didn’t have that in their childhood and I can’t do that to my child.

Amanda- Same

Erica- Like someone asked if we take our kids to Deaf events… We go to all of them!

Amanda- Yeah, well so we used to back home but now we’ve only been here for like 4 months.

Erica- Right

Amanda- But I’ve joined all the Facebook groups and I see them all. But we go to all of FSDB’s events and stuff. Like he got to see his first Signing Santa there so that was nice.

Erica- Awesome

Amanda- Yeah and he was like (shakes head in confusion) it was so funny because he was like “I want nothing” (laughs) But I mean you know? Just stuff like that. So we, yeah, were very involved back home with our Deaf community as well and you have to be because they have to see that.

Erica- Yeah, and I will say it’s a little daunting at first, you know?

Amanda- Oh yeah!

Erica- Being like this hearing person, not fluent in ASL, coming in and trying to be like, “This is me! This is my Deaf child!” you know? (laughs) It’s like they’re the “in” for you.

Amanda- Yeah, I remember it was like the very first time, it was like, “why are you here?” and you’re like, “oh, him!”

Erica- Yes! Exactly.

Amanda- You know? Like, “sorry, I’m just trying to be involved”

Erica- Yeah

Amanda- And then they’re like, once they find that out they’re just, “Oh yes!” They are so excited you’re there.

Erica- It’s true. They are so supportive and I think that there’s a really bad , and I don’t know how it was created, but some like bad perception that like, you know, the Deaf community doesn’t want you. But I have felt nothing but an amazing amount of support, you know, just from the very intro. But you have to be respectful to the community and the culture as well. I will say that. Going in you have to. You know, if they tell you something, don’t take it, like, don’t put your wall up! You know, that’s their experience. That’s the Deaf experience. That’s their perspective and you have to respect it.

Amanda- Yeah, absolutely. I agree with that too. And, I mean, I love when I get corrected even because I’m like, I just want to do it right!

Erica- Yes!

Amanda- Like because one of my biggest fears- and this hasn’t been a question- but like I’m always worried that I’m gonna, you know because carryover comes at home, when we’re reading or something and I’m like, “am I signing this right??”

Erica- Right

Amanda- You know? I mean I’m doing my best. I’m hearing, it’s not my language but I’m trying to provide it to him. And so that’s really, like school stuff for me is super hard as far as when it comes to like math and reading and science and social studies. I mean, I’m already not good in like social studies and stuff so it’s like whooo (motions flying overhead)

Erica- Yeah (laughs) tell me about it. That was me this past semester. I had one class that pertained to my degree. And then I had to go back and take a couple classes that I never took when I was younger- College Algebra and Intro to Ethics- and I was like (motions flying overhead and blows raspberries). But it’s worth it! It’s worth it!

Amanda- Someone keeps asking, “Vlog on YouTube?”

Erica- We are not gonna do that. (both laugh) I’m really sorry. I don’t think we have time for that.

Amanda- Yeah, we really don’t. Like we’ll help out as much as we can on Instagram but like, we are two busy moms. Very.

Erica- Yes, we have been talking about doing this for a while and it’s taken a while because we’ve been busy

Amanda- Like over a month! Yeah. (both laughing) I know, but I’m glad that we finally got to do it.

Erica- Me too, well anymore last minute questions?

Amanda- (reading a question—mumbling)

Erica- I feel like I am in a constant race with my daughter, now that I am in school full time, I’m learning at pretty rapid pace, I feel like I’m learning at a rapid pace. More than when I was trying do the free local classes at church an stuff. But she did surpass me in the beginning. When she first started school she was signing like a mile a minute and I was like milk, you know like water? It was really heartbreaking to be honest and it kinda fueled my fire, this is not working what can I do to do better? And that’s when I started looking up you know stuff on YouTube and trying to buy ASL dictionaries and really trying to study, taking my own time study, because I knew oh my gosh this kid is going to pass me and now I feel like I am in constant race. I am always trying to teach her a new word and she’s always trying to teach me a new word.

Amanda- So you know my kiddo is in first grade now. That is another huge fear of mine. So because Cason was identified really late, which by the way he also passed his new born hearing screen which is why it was like never, I just didn’t know. And we started raising concerns.

Erica- sorry my cold

Amanda- You’re fine. So the thing that Cason is super good at is fingerspelling. I’m talking like super fast. So sometimes were like slow down! (both laughing) He’s super super fast at fingerspelling. So I still have a little time, which is why I take the classes that im taking so that, I mean there will be a time where he will surpass me, and I know that because you know. But his teachers are super informative and helpful and I ask questions every single day. Like everyday Im asking what they did in class so that I can look it up at home or however I need to. I go to my Instagram you know Deaf friends and I ask questions all the time. I don’t think you should ever be afraid to ask questions, so that’s another thing that I think is truly helpful.

Erica- Yeah, and it’s true. You just have to continue, your kids going to pass you no matter what, that’s their native, natural language, it’s not ours so they will surpass you. You’re right it will happen. Maybe they’re 10 or 16 years old and they’ve got full attitude. You know, learn all the bad words so that you know when they are using them against you, so you know and you will be fine! (laughing)

Amanda- I know. Right. Yeah, we just have to. You know, it’s their language.

Erica- Did someone ask for the best resources, or websites something like that? Like I said on YouTube I use Bill Vickers, he is AMAZING. His YouTube videos are really easy to follow even if you are a beginner, I’ve learned a lot. @signedwithheart is my favorite Instagram recommendation. Ashley is so awesome at teaching sign. Even if you just learned a couple a day and started learning from there. Introduce it to your children it can take off really quickly. What else, we have the oh gosh now I forget the name of it. The Gallaudet children’s ASL dictionary. I’m sure if you google it, it will come up. It’s really beautiful and colorful. All the pictures are kids signing, it comes with the DVD that has a table of contents that you can click on the letter and it will show you the video of how it is actually signed. So sometimes when you look at the picture of a sign it’s kinda like hard to understand, you don’t really know what the motion of the size is but the video will make that clear.

Amanda- I do think that videos are way better than a book but Cason’s school did send this book home for us and I really recommend it. There’s different versions, but what I like about it, it kinda gives you the word for instance, like over for instance can be in a sentence like 5 different ways, right?

Erica- Right.

Amanda- So you can find it in here and it will show you how to sign it with that sentence if that makes sense. So I really really like that. I’m sure you won’t really be able to see this but if you look right here. Its really cool.

Erica- I see it backwards, but I get it. (laughing)

Amanda- So anyway, It’s a really cool book and I like it, and I thought that was a really nice thing that they sent home for us as a welcome, you know? So I refer to this book a lot. What other, there are several. (son talking to mom)

Erica- And they asked if you could post a picture of that book later.

Amanda- Oh, sure absolutely. I have a lot of other stuff that I use to. For first learning, they have like alphabet little tile like things that I liked for Cason. I have puzzle ones that the sign of the letter or actual animal on one side and the letter on the other so its matching game, which was pretty cool. But as far as from learning from, I’m like you.

Erica- I do use Signing Savvy pretty regularly. Lifeprint.

Amanda- Lifeprint, you can go and do the lessons along with it.

Erica- Yeah.

Amanda- and they have a kid version of it too.

Erica- Right, right.

Amanda- So I think that’s pretty helpful as well.

Erica: And I think Ashley has some courses as well, right?

Amanda- Yeah, I signed up for one in the very beginning stages. It’s like mainly like just doing the alphabet but if you’re a beginner its still super helpful.

Erica- So, when Avery was 2 years old, we had just started signing. I had bought just a regular set of flash cards for kids, a little pack and it was just like random pictures of a duck, a house, a ball, you know things like that, and we would look up about 5 signs and day. And we would just do those 5 over and over and we would practice what those were. And then we added more and added more and pretty soon we knew 50 signs. Even if it’s something simple like that, make your own resources. If you have trouble finding resources, make your own resources. I couldn’t teach her what duck was before. I had to look it up, figure it out, get the card (signs duck), you just have to put two and two together for what makes sense for your kid.

Amanda- Right, and you know our deaf children are extremely visual. So when they are learning things always have a picture. I can tell you something else we did in the very beginning. I labeled everything in my house entire house.

Erica- Oh, yeah.

Amanda: They eventually all came down, because he would pull them down. But like that was like my microwave was labeled, my refrigerator was labeled, the toilet was labeled, the mirror was labeled. I mean everything was labeled. Because that’s super important for them too.

Erica- Someone just recommended that to me recently. I had posted something about teaching Avery to read. Even though she is not in kinder yet, she’s in her last year of preschool, but she’s already ahead of the game and so I want to continue this momentum. So yeah someone suggested about labeling and I think that’s what we’re going to be too, because just having that visual word up is just like a sight word like someone said, you’ll just know it.

Amanda- And he’s gotten to the point now where if there is anything spelled he fingerspells because at his school they do fingerspelling to reading. It’s a really cool concept so if they see the word they spell it, then sign it and after finger spell it again, and so it just reiterates it. So once you fingerspell it you’re like, Oh I know that word, you know?

Erica- Oh, yeah.

Amanda- And so then he can sign it for me.

Erica- Oh, that’s awesome.

Amanda- Yeah, so they have that program.

Erica- So, daily blog deaf family on YouTube. I have no idea.

Amanda- Yeah, me either?

Erica- The only deaf family I know on YouTube is the Garcia family, featured on Deaf Out Loud, I don’t know if that’s who you are talking about (referring to a question) but I think it’s called Zade’s World Z-A-D-E, Zade’s World, if I’m not mistaken. And they are a combo Deaf and hearing family that do vlogs. Alright well if there are no other questions are here. Let’s see if there’s anything added now. I wish there was live captioning too. We talked about that before. That would be amazing.

Amanda- I know I asked her earlier “is there anyway we can do live captioning?”.

Erica- I wish I could have. I wish I was fluent enough to have signed the conversation

(Amanda nodding head agreeing)

Amanda- I know, I know, Same. Plus when I’m talking and signing, it gets all (gestures mind blown) it’s hard for me.

Erica- (wiping nose) excuse me.

Amanda- Oh you’re fine. So if there’s not anymore questions I guess we’ll sign off and y’all could always ask us later, or..

Erica- Yeah, definitely. Will you ladies be doing this again? (shrugs) maybe??

Amanda- Yeah, if there’s enough interest, I’m down.

Erica- Just know that both of us have found an amazing amount of support in the Deaf community. Be open to that. Sign language has been amazing! Its helped our children thrive. So we always always be opened to more questions. So if you need help with resources or getting connected we’ll do the best we can. I totally would, I’m all about trying to support other hearing parents with deaf children because I did not have that support myself.

Amanda- Absolutely, I think, I think that’s like the biggest thing is like, you know 4 years ago when this all happened I wish that I would’ve had this, you know, and I didn’t and it’s so nice to be involved with other families now, you know? And even if we just helped one family, that’s all that matters to me.

Erica- For sure, for sure.

Amanda- So, you guys are very welcome!

Erica- Thank you!

Amanda- Alright

Erica- Okay, you guys have a goodnight

Amanda- Bye, you too. Hope you feel better

Erica- Thank you

Amanda- Alright, bye

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