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ASL classes

NVRC is planning to offer a free, online 4 week intro to sign language class for parents starting in mid-February. We would like your input into what should be covered.

Please fill out our short survey to provide input.

Thank you.

RECORDED - Saturday, October 30, 2021

Speaker:  JaQuese Hawkins, MSW

Join us for a virtual presentation by JaQuese Hawkins who will be addressing the ongoing needs for access for deaf and hard of hearing children with hearing parents whose primary language is not English.  Learn about the impact on the students' emotional and mental well-being as they get older.

JaQuese is a social worker in the FCPS Deaf and  Hard of Hearing Program. She was born and raised in Inkster, Michigan. She graduated in 2012 from Oakwood University, Huntsville, AL with a Bachelor’s degree in social work and received her Master’s in social work from Gallaudet University in 2015.  She has always had a passion for working with children and advocating for them and their families in some capacity. Her passion to understand how to be an ally for deaf and hard of hearing individuals both in and outside of her profession span over 12 years. She seeks to constantly improve her understanding of Deaf culture and bridge the supports that are still needed.

 

 

Outreach Services, VSDB Wednesday Webinar
Sept. 28, 2016, 4:00- 5:00 PM EDT

Working Memory, Part II: Strategies for Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Presenter:Johnett Scogin, M.Ed. 

Please register for Working Memory, Part II: Strategies for Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing webinar at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6728744357838753538

Presenter:  Johnett Scogin has worked in the field of Deaf Education for many years as a teacher and reading specialist.   She is currently working at the Texas School for the Deaf as Supervisor of Curriculum.

No prerequisites for this webinar: This webinar follows the Spring, 2016 webinar in which Dr. Daniel Koo of Gallaudet University presented his research on working memory of children who are deaf or hard of hearing.  Attendance at Dr. Koo’s webinar is not a prerequisite for this webinar.

Webinar Description:  Evidence suggests that challenged working memory skills create a high risk factor for educational underachievement, and that working memory impacts all areas of learning and thinking.  Ms. Scogin will briefly review the function of working memory in daily life and academics, and discuss how one might identify children with challenges in this area.  She will then share ideas for setting up the learning environment to support working memory, and strategies to help facilitate and accommodate working memory performance.

Target Audience: Teachers and related service providers working with students who are deaf or hard of hearing; family members.

This Webinar is sponsored by Outreach Services, Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Staunton, through grant funding from the Virginia Department of Education.  Questions should be directed to Dr. Debbie Pfeiffer at : Debbie.pfeiffer@vsdb.k12.va.us

After registering, you will receive an email confirmation with connection information for joining the webinar.

 

 

Healthy Hearing
Contributed by Lisa Packer, staff writer, Healthy Hearing
Thursday, August 18th, 2016

Since the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) in 1975, the number of children mainstreamed into public schools with hearing loss has increased dramatically. About 75 percent of children with hearing loss are now mainstreamed into public schools, and about half of those children spend the majority of the day in a “hearing” classroom.

When it comes to meeting the educational needs of a child who is deaf or has hearing loss, there are many different professionals who play a part in their success.

Read more  . . . teamwork

 

 

Join us in The Anne M. and Theodore N. Lerner Family Theatre on 

Sunday, July 10 at 4:00 p.m.

ASL Interpreters: Aaron Halleck and Barbie Doty

Imagination Stage
4908 Auburn Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

About the Show:
 In this world premiere, faithful re-telling of the Hans Christian Andersen original, the Little Mermaid falls in love with a human Prince, and longs to join him in his world above the waves. Despite the warnings of her Mer-family, the Little Mermaid seeks out the Enchantress who trades her pair of legs for the mermaid’s beautiful singing voice. A follow-up to the highly acclaimed The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (2012), this collaboration between Imagination Stage and The Washington Ballet features dance, puppets, music, and singing in a highly theatrical and epic style of performance. Best for Ages 5 To purchase tickets, please visit us  online, or call our box office at 301-280-1660. Please note that our staff is trained to receive calls through relay and VRS.

 

Imagination Stage offers discounted rates for groups of 10 or more. For more information, call group sales at 301-280-1664.

 

 

Washington Post
By Joe Heim
May 24, 2016

As he walked out of his elementary school last week, fifth-grader Neil Maes heard the clapping from his fellow students lining both sides of the hallways. He heard them cheer and yell his name, and he heard them wish him luck as he headed off to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which starts Wednesday morning at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.

That the shy 11-year-old from Belton, S.C., can hear anything at all is a testament to technology, to a never-quit attitude and to faith, say his parents, Christy, a preschool teacher, and Peter, an aircraft mechanic.

The Maeses, who found out their son was severely hearing-impaired just days after he was born, have been working nonstop since then to help him have hearing that’s as close to normal as possible.

When the couple learned that their son couldn’t hear, they were in shock.

Read more  . . . Spelling Bee

 

 

The invention of cochlear implants and other technologies have given many deaf and hard-of-hearing adults and children the option to hear. What, then, becomes of sign language?

When the world gets too loud—because of fireworks, or just to take a quiet break on the weekends—8-year-old Sophie knows what to do.

"When it's really loud, I just take the magnet off," she says.

She's deaf and has had a cochlear implant that's helped her hear since she was a year old. But she knows by moving that magnet she can stop the device from bringing her sound.

More than 1 in 500 children in the United States is born deaf or hard of hearing, making it the most common congenital sensory problem in the country. Technological advances, like Sophie's cochlear implants, now give many children the ability to hear and communicate with spoken English from the time they are babies.

Sitting next to her on the couch in their living room, Sophie's mom Samantha Zawislak says getting her daughter a cochlear implant, which requires surgery, was a difficult decision.

Read more  . . . . Sign?

 

"Children with cochlear implants are more likely to be educated orally and without access to sign language. Some deaf activists have labeled the widespread implantation of children, as cultural genocide.  Others call the criticism alarming and inaccurate."

WTTV • CBS INDIANAPOLIS
BY DEBBY KNOX
MARCH 17, 2016

March 16, 2016)- Close to 325,000 people around the world have had cochlear implants surgically implanted.  In the US about 58,000 adults and 38,000 children have been recipients. In Indiana, cochlear implants have been available to profoundly deaf adults since the 1980’s

Cochlear implants are surgically implanted electronic devices which bypass the normal hearing process. A microphone is used and some electronics are placed outside the skin behind the ear.  Together the device transmits a signal to an array of electrodes in the cochlea, which stimulates the cochlear nerve.

Read more  . . . Cochlear Implants