Deaf Bilingual Coalition

www.dbcusa.org

DBC and Mentorship: How We All Can Make A Difference...The Deaf Bilingual Coalition received this “plea for help” in an email from a very loving Grandmother who is taking care of her deaf grandson: (Sept. 2008)“I have a deaf 20 month old grandson now in my care, I have very limited signing knowledge and I need HELP! He is often angry because he has not been taught to sign (in his early intervention program). I am just getting started with him. He is a very smart little boy who picks up signs quickly (faster than I do) and I want to do this right. We live in rural northwest Georgia and I have found almost no help here, I love him and want the best for him.

I have ordered some books and a DVD to help us here, I want him (and the rest of our family and friends) to learn to sign, I can see from the little I have learned and taught him that it is for sure the way to go. He is so much more calm when he can communicate his wants or needs.

After DBC received this email, DBC personally contacted this Grandmother and helped link her up with the Outreach Dept. of the Alabama and Georgia Schools for the Deaf. We also mentored her on how to approach the Early Intervention Program and ask for what she needs in the way of services.

(January 28, 2009)

Hello wonderful people,

I hope you remember my grandson Luke because I wanted to give you an update on his progress. Luke is signing everything these days, he picks up ASL signs faster than I do and he signs naturally in ASL format. Luke just had his second birthday and has a vocabulary of over 200 signs now, all the tantrums over not being understood have ended and he is such a happy child. We have a fantastic deaf mentor who has made a huge difference in our lives, she is a mother herself so she understands both his deafness and his two year old "I want to do it myself" way of life.

It all started with my first letter to you, without your help I might still be the woman who was giving Luke ten baths a day because it was almost all he could sign and running to google to learn individual signs and try and teach them to this smart little boy. You gave me help as well as hope and now we are living with the results, in only six months Luke has gone from no signs to a huge vocabulary for a 2 year old. He has language! He uses that language (as does his older sisters and cousins) and he communicates with his family.

I will never be able to thank you enough. Because of you, Luke has received ASL DVD's that he Loves, books and most of all a way to communicate with the people in his world.

Love you, Angie Albright, GA