Today we attended our first "Families to Families" event in Norfolk. It was great meeting and interacting with other families who have deaf/hard of hearing (D/HOH) children. We were pleasantly surprised at the number of people signing. Of course I loved that the event had a theme, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar!" All of the activities for the kids were connected to caterpillars and butterflies. There was face painting, play-doh fun, balloon art, and a caterpillar crawl tunnel. The parents got together and discussed strategies for reading to our D/HOH children (see below). The event concluded with a deaf mom signing the "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," while an interpreter read aloud.
One highlight of the event was talking to a 30-something woman. She was HOH until 14, when she lost all hearing. At 29, she received her first implant. At 31, she received her second implant. So, she was completely cut off from sound for 15 years before being implanted. Talking to this young woman reminded me of my need to learn and teach Sean more sign language. It's his second language/back-up language, if you think about it. :) Thanks to the internet there are SO many online resources for learning sign language.
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