One of the Joys in My Job

When I first started working as an itinerant teacher of the deaf, I was assigned 9-12 students ranging from kindergarten to high school. Some of them are consult only, and they do not need any direct services. Some of them need a few minutes of direct services, while others need more.

One of them has touched my heart. When I first met her, she had very minimal language. She gestured and made unintelligible utterances. She threw temper tantrums when she didn’t get her way. She parroted people whenever she is paying attention. When I tried to gather information to see how much she knew, she wasn’t able to tell me much. Just a word here and there, when she knew the sign. Needless to say, she’s a tough case.

I work with her as much my schedule would allow, and now she’s signing and speaking in one or two word utterances. She’s naming people by their proper names. She’s making requests when prompted. Recently, when she saw me come in the room, she ran to me saying and signing “Beth!” We work on several things: learning the alphabet in sequence, reading primary books, and learning conceptual knowledge such as colors, animals, food, and clothing. Today, we reviewed the ABC story book with sign language. She loves that book, and would recall what we’ve discussed whenever we read it. Then, I showed her a ABC story in ASL on one of the DVDs. She was captivated and played it over and over. Then she tried to parrot the ABC story. She smiles. That’s the highlight of my week.