Later Diane

His village was washed away in the tsunami and another volunteer found him recently. It’s taken two months and a lot of headaches to get him to enroll in the deaf school I volunteer at, but hopefully he will finally start next Monday. I’ve been working so hard on getting Kasun into the deaf school that I didn’t realize what comes next…finally educating him.

Thank you for your insights. I think I’ll end up using most, if not all, of your ideas in helping him get started with his education (at long last). He’s clever and very sociable so hope it all goes well..!

I LOVE comic books! Absolutely love ‘em! They were a huge staple of my literary diet when I was a kid. And as a matter of fact, something cool that just happened on DeafRead.com… after Amy Cohen-Efron made that vlog about the postcard she received (regarding the SLCC building), not only did her vlog generate replies in other blogs and vlogs (two languages), it also generated this one: http://wardnyholm.blogspot.com/ A comic! And an awesome one, too! Excellent artistic interpretation of the issue! If I were putting together a classroom vlog/blog packet on this, I’d include that comic if I could. Excellent teaching tool. And yes, ALL students can benefit from this, not just deaf students.

Noelle, I agree with you, there’s not a lot of wiggle room under NCLB, but I’ve often found that the farther a kid has fallen through the cracks, the less attention that’s being paid to him ANYWAY, thus you can get away with innovative strategies if you try. It’s precisely the same reason that some teachers in other schools I’ve worked in can continue to neglect these types of kids without someone crying “Foul!”

Barb, I’ll check out the resources you mentioned! And yes, I did almost immediately come across Chuck Baird’s work. Cool stuff!

And Keri, I’m still figuring out all the tech involved in posting articles on DeafDC… obviously there’s a way to post pictures and graphics because they were in Vikki’s article above (regarding the Metro). I’m a tech newbie, heh. Once I figure it all out I’ll see if I can scan some of the materials and post pictures of them!

I really enjoyed reading this, thanks for sharing. I think that your lessons could have applied to other students with different needs, not just those who happen to be deaf.

One of the young students I work with had no language at all when he moved from the 3rd world. He’s eager and hungry for knowledge. I’ve noticed how drawing is a big deal to him and he expressed himself well through art while he is picking up the language from the models.

I will keep what you shared in mind as I continue to work with him. It definitely gave me a new outlook. Thanks!

Good for you Chris… We need more people thinking outside of the box!

After the diagnosis, it was decided to keep me at home, send me to the local public school, and set me up for speech therapy/auditory training at the Rehabilitation Center.

My speech therapist was a man who was himself something of an artist. He requested that my mother purchase this “scrapbook” sort of thing with large blank pages in it, which he would use for my lessons. Twice a week I would bring this book to my appointments, and he would draw small cartoon-type pictures of various items in it, along with their names. The items were grouped according to the sounds we were working on in that lesson - “sh” “ch” “t” “b” or whatever.

Through the magic of Mr. Hess’s artistry, I not only learned how to pronounce my letters, but to increase my vocabulary and develop my language skills. Those pictures had names, and those names were words, and those words could be put together to create sentences.

Over forty years later, I still remember those scrapbooks, and I thank Mr. Hess every time I write a comment here at DeafDC.

I applaud you, Chris…for utilizing art as a unique and innovative way of reaching out to this student and opening up a whole new world of language to him.

I suspect that forty years from now, he will look back and thank you.