Date Submitted: 04/2022
Contact Information:
Director of Family and Early Childhood Services
Petra Gatzemeyer
580-622-4900
Oklahoma School for the Deaf, 1100, E. Oklahoma Ave., Sulphur, Oklahoma 73086
Rating Category: Innovative Idea
Focus Area: Child Development
Focus Population: Caregivers, Guardians, Parents, Siblings and other family members in the home
Goals and Outcomes: To increase visual language skills of young deaf children and their families. Establish meaningful relationships between families and Deaf adult role models across the state of Oklahoma. To increase knowledge on the perspective of a deaf or hard of hearing person. Provide positive role models for deaf children and families.
Brief Summary:
The positive impact that Deaf adults can have on the lives of deaf children and their family members is incalculable. They have the unique ability to express the child’s needs and desires when no one else seems to understand. Also, as deaf children interact with Deaf adults, they are able to “witness the capabilities of Deaf people from diverse backgrounds succeeding in relationships, education, work, and beyond. This may be even more important for some deaf children than the adult simply being deaf” (Golos D.B., et al. 2018).
Family involvement is crucial in early language acquisition. Deaf adults show families appropriate modeling techniques as their deaf child continues to acquire language. As families work with a Deaf adult, they are able to witness that their child has complete language access as they communicate with each other in ASL. The development of spoken language also seems to coincide with ASL as the child signs with the Deaf adult in daily interactions. The more the parents and other family members interact with a Deaf adult, the more the child will learn how to communicate and be able to engage in critical thinking skills which is central to their overall well-being.
Hands & Voices (2020). D/HH mentor/guide/role model programs: Guidelines for establishing and maintaining D/HH mentor/guide/role model programs. http://www.handsandvoices.org/fl3/topics/dhhinvolvement/programs.html
Golos, D. B., Moses, A. M., Roemen, B. R., & Cregan, G. E. (2018). Cultural and linguistic role models: a survey of early childhood educators of the deaf. Sign Language Studies 19(1), 40-74. doi:10.1353/sls.2018.0025. Hamilton, B., & Clark, M. (2020). The deaf mentor program:benefits to families. Psychology, 11, 713-736. doi:10.4236/psych.2020.115049.
Snodden, K., & Underwood, K. (2017). Deaf time in the twenty-first century: Considering rights frameworks and the social relational model of deaf childhood. Disability & Society, 32(9),1400-1415. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2017.1320269