Tomorrow is a networking day in Winnipeg at Manitoba School for the Deaf for deaf students and their teachers. What a great idea! We have a deaf student at our school, but there are no other students who speak ASL, so, unless there is an interpreter or computer nearby, he doesn't have anyone to communicate with. He is so excited about being able to talk with is peers.
I am looking forward to the day because one of the teacher sessions deals with technology for deaf/hard of hearing students. Being so far removed from a large deaf community, I don't know that much about what technologies are available. I recently was given a closed captioning program to have teachers use in their classrooms to help this student be able to read what they are saying, but do not really know what else is out there.
When I think about social media in terms of working with the deaf population, I think of how something as simple as texting has helped open up a world of communication for people who otherwise had no way of communicating to the world. I hope to learn a lot tomorrow that will help me open up a new ways of communication for this student to those who do not know or speak ASL.
How exciting new technology is for deaf individuals. I had a very dear friend who was deaf and was so excited when he heard that I had taken some ASL training in the early 90's. It was a painful conversation but I tried my best b/c he looked so happy to talk to someone!!!
ReplyDeleteHe passed away quite some time ago (addiction got the best of him and he was so closed off). I wish he could see and "hear" what this technology has to offer.