When Sam Found Language

I will never forget the day that I met Sam. He came into my room cautiously and sat quietly. I greeted him and he smiled tentatively in return. Sam came to me like most of my other students—severely language deprived. He was 8 years old, with bilateral cochlear implants, unable to speak, sign, read or write. Although he was a typical child developmentally and cognitively, he used tantrums to communicate. I asked him how he was doing. He smiled again. I pointed to myself and signed my sign name. “Kim.” Then I pointed to him and gestured for him to introduce himself. “Eh,” he said. “How old are you?” I signed. He stared at me. I signed, “You. Age?” Another blank stare. I tried again: “Seven? Eight? Nine?” Sam squinted, confused. I wrote the numbers down, gesturing for him to point to one. He shrugged. Audiologists bring specific knowledge to teams working on auditory skill development in children who use sign language. 11 Tips to Improve a Child’s Communication Using Signs Amidst renewed debate about teaching signed versus spoken language to children who are deaf, professionals call for emphasizing all forms of early language access. I needed to connect with him. When Sam looked away, I noticed that his cochlear implants had New York Yankees stickers on them. “Do you like baseball?” Again, a blank stare. I grabbed my iPad and Google-image searched pictures of the New York Yankees. When he saw them, his eyes lit up. He grinned and jumped out of hi...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Audiology Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Apraxia of Speech Augmentative Alternative Communication hearing loss Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs