American Sign Language

Sign language...hmmm...another way of communicating for many people, not only for people who are hearing impaired but for many children/people who are non verbal, some people who have autism use American Sign Language, others who have C.P. have found it helpful and so many others.
Hailey uses her Dynavox V at school to help her communicate and they are also teaching her a bit of sign language as well. Last year my husband and I decided to have someone come to the house once a week to teach us sign language so that we would be could keep up with Hailey. This year for Christmas we got our family an IPAD so that Hailey could use the proloquo2go app. Some people in the special needs world are referring to this app as “a miracle device.” I think it is important for us to have many different ways of communicating with Hailey if not with words.
Because we did not actually use the sign language steadily and regularly, I have already forgotten some of my signs. :( A couple of months ago my local library had the Program Director of the ASL Academy come in and teach some basic signs, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to take a refresher course. I attended this workshop and struck up a conversation with The Director about the Academy. He told me a bit about his program and also offers a course on line. For so many families out there, finding the time to commit to a class seems nearly impossible. Taking the online class may be the answer for your family. I hope you find this helpful.

The American Sign Language Academy offers classes in American Sign Language in Pawtucket, RI, with over 90 students attending regularly. In addition, to accommodate those who would like to take classes but may be too far away or have scheduling conflicts, ASLA will be offering an on-line course starting in April.

The course utilizes 21st century technology with the benefit of teacher feedback. The idea is called the Blended Classroom. The cost for level 1 on-line is $125.00.

After registering for the course, students will be sent their course materials. They will go to the website and use are a password for the first of nine weekly lessons. They will see a video with detailed instruction. At the end of the lesson, students will need to set aside time to practice. After seven weeks, students will meet with the teacher (Manuel Martin) via webcam and do their first presentation. They will receive feedback from the teacher. In the ninth week, they will do their second presentation. After the teacher indicates the two presentations are successful, students will be mailed a certificate of completion and they will be eligible to go on to level 2.

Students will be able to access each lesson for the assigned week. If they miss a week, they will be allowed to go back to that lesson as a make up. Only one lesson may be repeated in this way during the course.

More than one student may use the course. However, each additional student will be charged $25.00 if they want to do their presentations for the teacher, receive feedback and receive a certificate at the end of the course.

In a few weeks, when the program is ready to be launched, information will be posted on the website. Contact us with any questions you may have.

Manuel Martin
ASL Academy
401 722 1022
http://www.aslacademy.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Sign-Language-Academy/219507895413

A small dose of the " Medicine of Music"

After playing with balloons at a physical therapy session with my mom recently, I thought...what a great way to get Hailey to move her arms more, so this weekend I had a long overdue sleepover with Hailey. We had so much fun, we always do. I bought a couple of latex balloons at the iparty store and we started hitting them across the table. What a cheap, fun exercise, just listen to Hailey’s laughter in the second video, this does not seem like therapy at all and it is a great way to keep her moving.
If you listen carefully to the first video, you can hear a song playing in the back ground. It is a song I sent away for some time ago and was personalized for Hailey. It is from the songs of love foundation. This incredible foundation writes songs for children who face severe medical challenges. If you have a child who qualifies for this program, she will receive a cd in the mail within 4 weeks. Hailey absolutely loves this song, she loves that she hears her name in it over and over again. She cannot ask for it verbally, but in her ever so special way she asks for it every time she comes over. She smiles and gracefully extends her arm in the direction of my outdated cd player that sits on the kitchen counter. If for some reason we miss what she is pointing to, she will begin to sway and dance in her chair until I say “Oh, I know what you want” (insert Hailey’s smile here) you want to hear your song.
The mission of the Songs of Love Foundation is to bring healing music to chronically and terminally ill children across the country. The foundation is a national non profit organization. To date, Songs of Love has written more then 19,000 songs for children in more than 500 hospitals across the country and throughout the world. The pool of artists has grown to more then 350 songwriters, lyricists, instrumentalists and vocalists who have experienced the excitement of being able to give back with the talents they were given.

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
-Victor Hugo

"I never knew"

I never expected to feel this way. I mean, of course I knew that I would love my grandchildren when the day came. After all, I am a very loving, nurturing person. I knew when the day came for me to have a grandchild that I would be blessed and that I would feel elated. But I never expected to feel a love as deep and as strong as I do for Hailey.
That being said, the day that Hailey was born, and with the level of complications that she had, emotions were overflowing, questions surpassed the highest mountains and uncertainty scared the hell out of me.
After awhile, and one heck of a roller coaster ride, reality and acceptance sets in and love and admiration grows even deeper than you ever thought possible. Hailey is an amazing little girl who has taught our whole family how to live a brand new life, a life that we never new existed. She brings us to new places and gives us a new perspective on what is most important, she has shown us how to be better people and more accepting and aware of others. Things that we never thought we had the time to do. Well, suddenly I have time, because for me the world seems to have come to a standstill and all of the things that we thought were so important are now insignificant. I have learned that we take things for granted everyday. I never realized that we are the fortunate ones just by being able to do everyday simple tasks like being able to walk, or talk, or by being able to feed ourselves. Well Hailey has opened my eyes to the fact that those things that we take for granted everyday are not simple tasks, they are not simple at all for many people. Who knew? I’ve heard about people having disabilities, but really I closed my eyes to it all. I had no idea how large of a community it really is. Now, that is not to say that people who cannot do these tasks cannot grow up to be great people, who can teach us so much about life, real life. On the contrary, people with disabilities are by far the strongest and most determined people that I know. Kind of funny yet contradictory that we perceive them as people who are weak. They will endure more in their lifetime than many of us will even begin to endure. (And we think we have it tough. See, it’s that perspective thing kicking in again) I challenge everyone reading this, to start the New Year off with a new perspective, a new outlook on life and new found respect for people who have a disability. I never knew that such a world existed, and I never knew that I could love someone so deeply as I love my granddaughter Hailey, but it is true, I do...who knew?


God doesn't give children with disabilities to strong people: He gives them to ordinary, everyday people, then He helps the parents to grow stronger through the journey. Raising a child with special needs doesn't TAKE a special family, it MAKES a special family. Author Unknown