Deaf Niches

Interview with a Mainstreamed Deaf Child
Deaf Niches Click on the title "Interview with a Mainstreamed Deaf Child" above to take you directly to the video.Jay has a copycat now! :-) Hey, mimicking is the highest form of flattery.I decided to have a short, sweet, simple interview with my son David about his experiences with mainstreaming so far.Enjoy!
Mon, Mar 26 2007

Deaf Child's Writing and Reading
Deaf Niches Click on Deaf Child's Writing and Reading above to take you directly to the video.I just want to share my daughter's (Elizabeth) learning process in Bi-Bi approach and get an idea of how ISD (Indiana School for the Deaf) kindergarten teachers implement Bi-Bi philosophy in the classes. It is a delight for me to observe Elizabeth's progress in reading COMPREHENSION [...]
Mon, Mar 26 2007

Hearing Critiques on "Through Deaf Eyes"
Deaf Niches So far, DeafRead.com has published the critiques from deaf bloggers, but it seems to me none from hearing bloggers or commenters (could be there are very FEW hearing readers.) I asked for the permissions from two hearing people who watched "Through Deaf Eyes" so that you'd have a good idea of what the hearing said about it. I am sure we need to have some idea of [...]
Fri, Mar 23 2007

ASL to Written Language of Poetry for Deaf Children
Deaf Niches Check out this link for vlog:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sfXas_aChcI was asked to be a judge (there were several judges as well) for ISD's Hands Alive Contest, in the written poetry section. I spent two days reading the poems, written by the Elementary, Middle, and High schools at ISD and I was blown away from the students' grasp of poetry. Something bugged me, [...]
Wed, Mar 21 2007

To ABC... Memories of speech therapy...
Deaf Niches I did post to ABC's blog, sharing experiences about speech therapy at ABC's request. And then I thought it would be cool to post it to DeafRead, to get a few chuckles over the speech therapy...I really need to figure out how to get the YouTube on my postings instead of typing URL on them! [link]
Sun, Mar 18 2007

Deaf Kindergartener's ASL poetic expression of 1 to 5
Deaf Niches My daugher... kindergartener... starting ASLing the number 1 to 5 and then started making up sings as she went along :) It is always good to encourage deaf children to create songs with budding ASL signs, as part of helping building up the confidence as a bilingual deaf child.Enjoy! [link]
Fri, Mar 16 2007

Deaf Mother's View of Mainstreamed Deaf Child
Deaf Niches Check out: [link] is my first attempt at vlog... huh, I'd need to dye my graying hair back to its glorious golden brown, need to work on improving my ASL signs, etc... it is very obvious that I am a heavy SimCom signer... gripes. I will work on getting better vlogs!Anyway, enjoy! I am talking about my experiences with [...]
Fri, Mar 16 2007

Unrealistic Expectations of Politicians of Deaf Education
Deaf Niches Hmmm... one day I will set up a vlog... but I am not "photogenic" so I "hide" behind the blogs :)Anyway, I have been reading several blogspots, discussing the topics with people, reading books/articles, especially about second languages and how English is taught as a L2 (second language) to the immigrants here in America. Let's take a look at Hispanic immigrants. The [...]
Fri, Mar 16 2007

ASL Standards for Academics
Deaf Niches This blog might be of some interest to the teachers and any who inspire to become a teacher for the deaf children.Today I had a wonderful meeting with a cirrculum director at a deaf school and learned many new things, as well as having read a few books/articles on bilingualism. There are MANY factors involved in the process of teaching deaf children... the majority [...]
Thu, Mar 15 2007

Deaf Stewards of Earth
Deaf Niches I have been watching and reading the vlogs and the blogs, and at the same time reading the newspapers, Washington Post, CNN.com, etc. Check out this link: --- is a dire warning to all of us humans (not only deaf, but hearing, blind, blacks, whites, etc.) In a century, ASL and the fight for deaf [...]
Sun, Mar 11 2007

Definition of "thinking outside the box"
Deaf Niches From the comments I have gotten, I realized that the people don't know what "thinking outside the box" mean. What it means is one has to think differently, come up with a solution that is unique, potential, and possible that it would work, instead of being trapped in the same old thing again and again. I am not saying let's talk about different things that is not [...]
Mon, Feb 26 2007

Unable to Think Outside of DEAF Box??
Deaf Niches Well, yes, I seem to notice one thing that most deaf bloggers have in common... an ability to think ONLY inside of DEAF box, not outside of it. I get an impression that the deaf bloggers feel threatened by hearing world, so they talk mostly about deaf issues (ASL, deaf education, etc. ) which hearing world has nothing to do with. It is RARE that I read a post by a [...]
Mon, Feb 26 2007

Nepotism common among Deaf schools?
Deaf Niches I looked up www.dictionary.com for the definition of nepotism and found several. I liked the one that states "favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power (as by giving them jobs)"... I have seen/heard it happening at the deaf schools, especially when their child/children attend those schools. One deaf school out in the east has a policy that [...]
Sat, Feb 24 2007

Calling for Successful Mainstreamed Deaf People....
Deaf Niches I am wondering if there are any "successful" mainstreamed deaf people out there, uncomfortable to come out and admit that mainstreaming was not bad for them. Lately I have been reading a lot about why ASL should be the mainstream of every deaf person's life and I have to let you know that I do not always agree with it. I agree with it as an educational tool to reach [...]
Thu, Feb 22 2007

A Short Description of Mayes life
Deaf Niches Born in West Virginia in the year of 1965, my family settled down in St. Louis, Missouri after living in Kentucky for a year. St. Louis was an ideal place at that time, for one particular oral deaf school for me to go to. Upon completing the oral deaf education, I was mainstreamed during the high school years and college years (studied anthropology at Westminster [...]
Thu, Feb 22 2007