Fridays at CSD

I have said before how lucky I am to live within an hour of so many great resources for Peter. The California School for the Deaf, in Fremont, is one of those great resources, and I have really been enjoying my visits there. The people who work at CSD are great, and I feel like I have already learned a lot. My girls have been welcomed, too, and have enjoyed playing with the the deaf kids, and some hearing siblings of deaf children.

One Friday the parents had a workshop on ASL reading techniques. I was one of two hearing parents there. The speaker discussed how to embrace/ communicate both the language of the author and ASL. Finger spelling was really emphasized as a tool for kids learning to read.  Also using the ASL sign, showing the written word, fingerspelling the word, and explaining in ASL- using all of these tools together were suggested.  Changing signing size/space taken up is used as a technique to make things "louder" or "quieter"- e.g. signing BEAR from above your shoulders all the way to your waist could be the character in the book shouting "Bear!"

My ASL is not great, but working with one of the teachers to translate a storybook into ASL was so much fun! We did a book called "Thud!", and in just a few minutes I learned 5-10 signs.  I wish we had had more time to finish the story. The way you use your kinesthetic mind and your eyes with ASL is such a great Yin to spoken English's Yang- I wish more hearing kids were taught ASL. I think kids who are very visual or who need to move to learn might really be helped by including ASL in "regular " schools.  By the way, Peter was rolling around on a blanket screeching happily during this reading time- and no one was bothered ;)

Last Friday there was a special storytime at CSD, signed by the Superintendant of the school.  We were a little late and missed most of the stories. Note to self: leave on time next week. Then there was Playtime and snack in the preschool class. I saw my girls get a little frustrated with 2-year-olds taking their food or crashing their buildings, but I was actually happy that they didn't find anything unusual about the little kids. We did work on the signs for SHARE, YOUR TURN, MY TURN afterwards.

My girls really like the teachers at CSD. I really like the teachers, too, and the whole energy of the preschool. They have really interesting art all over and fun projects and interactive posters for the kids in the preschool. It is bright and cheerful and comfortable. I don't know if we could put Peter there for some Preschool, and an Oral environment for part-time as well....we will see in a couple years what makes the most sense. For now we are just going with what seems to be the best for Peter at this point.  Peter was happiest checking everyone out, of course. Lots of people signed to Peter. He loved it.  I even managed to have a couple conversations in ASL with no interpreter.  Maybe what I took away is not exactly what was said, but I tried;) Even better, I met a couple moms who want to set up play dates, and have offered to help me with my ASL!

My hope is that Peter gets a strong foundation for language with ASL, and that he enjoys ASL enough to continue using it as he grows up. I hope having peers, mentors, and positive experiences now will encourage the ASL use long-term, even if his hearing and speech are great. CSD is like a small private school, but it is public and free (for deaf students). It could be a good alternative to our local public schools if  the classes there keep getting bigger and the money keeps getting siphoned off by the state. But that is a ways off ;)