Signs of Life : The Brownie Chronicles

It was not easy for me to send my boys off to school when they were 3 and 4.  It wasn't much easier this year when they were 4 and 5, but what added to my mommy anxiety was having them ride the big, yellow school bus home every day. The boys loved seeing the busses at school and wanted to ride. Having them driven to our front door was a huge benefit to our homeschool schedule as well, so we decided to put them on the bus for the first time this year. We have been very fortunate to have an amazing bus driver who truly cares for the kids she's transporting.  She's Deaf.  That fact may worry some hearing people.  I forget that it's not common knowledge that Deaf people are perfectly capable (even better) of driving. I'm reminded when hearing people ask me if my husband can drive. (I must add that I haven't heard that question once since we've lived in Austin.)  When I did Deaf culture training with police in Oklahoma, half of the officers weren't sure a...

Last week, Master ASL! posted a fun video teaching the signs of various popular superheroes.  Their staff member, Travis, did an amazing job. I couldn't wait to show the boys, and, sure enough, the loved it!   (If you haven't seen it, it's imbedded below.) Yesterday, a second installment was posted and was equally fun to see.  This video included two of my Travis' favorite superheroes: Power Rangers and Iron Man.  Click the video at the bottom of the blog to view Part 2. My Travis gets very excited, animated, and "talkative" when the topic is one of his favorite superheroes.  (This excited his parents because his expressive language is what is lagging right now.) Over the past two years, he has made up his own signs for these characters; I'm always impressed with what he creates.  Watching Master ASL's Travis sign "Power Rangers" and seeing him talk about how he, too, loved them when he was younger, made me think of Travis and why he ch...

I wanted to comment on Dr. White's TedxTalk video " Establishing a Sound Foundation for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard Of Hearing" .  With my permission, he used video of our boys signing in the car with their dad.   I will comment in order of the lecture, so you may want to watch the first several minutes to get a context: First, Karl White says, "If not identified early, the deaf child fails to develop language, has a difficult time in school, is socially isolated, and will have a menial or no job later in life."  The entire opening is a typical scare tactic used on hearing parents.  The opening line of this TedTalk begins with a negative view of being deaf. Let me enthusiastically state that I support early identification! It WILL increase the child’s chances for success IF the parents begin pouring language into their child right away. But, even if it is not discovered that the child is deaf until later, the child CAN succeed and doesn’t have to be beh...

Last night, as we were finishing up dinner, I noticed Ken and Travis visiting about some of the China photos they were viewing. This map, along with another map showing us flying east to China, was one of the photos they were looking at.  I started recording the video when Ken was explaining who flew TO China, then who all flew back to the USA. In the first segment of the video, Travis is mimicking everything Ken signs which, in this case, is each of our names.  Hearing kids do this same type of mimicking when they learn to converse. (At this point, Travis knows all of our names and can identify each of us by name.  He can also identify a number of other people by name or title.) After scrolling through a few more photos, then returning to the map again, Travis points at the map and happily states, "Travis!" Travis was on this flight!  Ken corrects him.  I love the look on his face....

A while back, I blogged  about the differences in rearing a Deaf child compared to a hearing child.  Something else came to mind this week as we were playing and being silly with the boys. In the past, when my kids were toddlers and were upset about something, I could often soothe them by singing a song with their name in it.  Other times, when we were dancing or being silly, I would have them follow me while I marched and chanted their name.  They would always look a little stunned, then grin from ear-to-ear and even get a little shy at the sound of their name expressed in such a fun way. Not long after getting back to the states with the boys, we were marching around the couch, playing follow-the-leader.  The kids and I started chanting Tian's name over and over again while clapping in unison and he loved it!  He reacted just like my older kids had when they were...

This time, I added voiceover.  I hope you can't tell by looking/listening how horrible my allergies are right now.  I can't wait to get to the allergy doctor this week! Below the video, I added a few links to resources I've used to learn more about adoption and attachment.  Enjoy! Attaching in Adoption   Great book about attachment Toddler Adoption: The Weaver's Craft   Another attachment book specifically for toddlers http://www.a4everfamily.org/  Website with some excellent articles Other families!  Find other families who have adopted and learn from them. I want to add that I hope that some of the stories don't scare you away from considering adoption.  It's a beautiful thing! Much like marriage or rearing children or going to school, it's tough, but oh, so worth it! Since you are adopting a child for life, it's crucial to enter the process with "eyes wide open."