I read newspapers, not lips...

Communication is a hard thing when you are dealing with someone who can't speak. Tuesday, we went over to the School for the Deaf and Blind again to consult with someone who is far more experienced than we are in navigating the twisting roads of sensory deprivation. Once again, our meeting proved to be worth every minute of our time spent there.

When we first arrived, we sat down in an office with our gracious contact, Kristin Milner. We first discussed the safety aspects of deafness: what we should look out for, what Stephyn could expect when walking around, etc. Of course our conversation was slow and a bit tedious as neither Stephyn or I can sign. We had earlier devised a small dry erase board from a sheet protector and a white sheet of paper, so we used that as needed. From there we went on a short tour of the school to have a look at how deaf students go about learning. The hardest thing to deal with, apparently, is discipline. Deaf children have a hard time communicating their thoughts and wishes. Many can't speak because they have never heard how to form the sounds. Those that can speak have a bit easier of a time. All children who go to the school learn sign, however, so that helps a bit. Unfortunately, not all the parents of deaf children know how to sign.

Soapbox: That is really crap if you have a deaf child and you don't take the time to learn sign. I wouldn't imagine the classes to be expensive, or even to cost anything. It is part of a parent's responsibility to communicated effectively with his/her child, and not doing so is entirely unacceptable.

Sorry about that, but when I heard that there were parents of deaf children that didn't know how to sign I almost asked for their numbers...

In any case, the child who can't communicate can't express their needs and wants. Because they have not learned an alternative, they resort to the behavior they learned as babies: crying. The difference is that they have more mobility and control over their body so they use tantrums as opposed to simple crying. Throwing things, pounding the ground, hitting, and various other things are common. Of course our society expects that children in school ought to behave better, so we have methods of disciplining them. The school employs what seem to be very patient methods of calming the child down and discovering the problem. I didn't see any episodes on our short tour, but I can imagine that the teachers are quite patient.

After our visit, we really spent the rest of the day learning how to communicate with each other. Since we don't really know sign language--we asked Ms. Milner how to do a few words like Science, Building, Go, Sign, I do/don't know, etc.--we had to invent several words as we needed them in conversation. It is still sign language, but it is not codified or recorded anywhere but our brains. It's a bit like having a secret language like I used to do when I was little. I have to admit: I get the same rush out of signing with my invented language as I did in years past.

The only thing I need to do now is figure out how to quickly sign "I know you are but what am I?"