Story Time: Encouragement & ASL
(Adapted from one of my Facebook posts.)
So I started teaching myself American Sign Language in order to try to communicate with one of my nonverbal students. This kid wouldn’t speak at school no matter what. Her mom was angry about this because apparently she was very vocal at home, but at school many people had never heard her voice. Anyway, I would teach myself some signs and then teach them to her and her group (so she wouldn’t be singled out). She seemed very visibly happy about the lessons the first day, and then she decided that she didn’t like me again and quit paying attention. She later was moved over to a different tutor. I was pretty bummed about this because I thought I finally had a breakthrough. I later noticed that her new tutor was keeping up with the signing for her and she started being a bit more vocal. I just chalked it up that some students learn better from others.
Fast forward to yesterday: The sign lessons stuck with another student in my group than it was originally intended for. This student told me about how she tried using ASL in a real life situation. She stumbled across a room full of deaf and hard-of-hearing children while visiting family at a hospital. She signed to one of the girls in the room, “hello, how are you.” The other girl was shocked and signed back, “Do you sign.” Unfortunately, my student was flustered and overwhelmed at the thought of trying to have a full conversation with her limited knowledge of ASL, and so instead of answering she just ran away. I wish she had stayed because it could have been a great learning opportunity for her, but this 11-year-old can be shy at times. I just hope that she will continue to nurture the seeds that I planted and go on to learn more ASL. I also plan to keep learning.