Montana's LEAD-K bill was signed into law on my birthday!
So that was a nice present for me, and for all the deaf babies in this state.
Meanwhile, one of the ASL-support projects I'm doing on is working on English literacy with a deaf 7-year-old. He's from a deaf/signing family and doesn't use any hearing devices, so he is learning English as a second language through reading and writing.
Right now we're developing a play based on the story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" (and specifically, Motion Light Lab's storybook app of the same name) that we are going to make his family act out. There will probably be a public post of the video someday, so stay tuned for that! His 4-year-old sister has been cast as The Wolf.
We've been learning about story structure, characters, settings, and theater terms. Today's task was making a list of the props that will be needed. In our version, they boy does not CRY "wolf" (this is an ASL story! Who would hear him?)- he texts it. So we need to find 5 phones. Plus some other things.
Next we need to make a list of costumes, and figure out where to get 3 sheep.
I am doing a TERRIBLE job of posting posts, here or Patreon or anywhere else, but it's because I have been doing a reasonably good job of juggling many other tasks and (so far) keeping all the balls in the air.
1. Montana Family ASL launched, albeit in a rough-and-ready, work-in-progress sort of way. The pilot session
is going well! I expect an expanded, improved, polished-up version to open in April. (If you're in Montana and have a deaf/hh/nonverbal child, you can sign up now. I'll use your waitlist information for scheduling.)
2. The Montana Lead-K
bill* is due for a first committee hearing next week. I think we have a
strong roster of proponents ready to testify, with a deep bench and all
of the relevant facts on our side. Fingers crossed!
*(It's
not a really real, full, LEAD-K bill. It's a tiny incremental
beginning, which is the only thing realistically feasible given the
current state of Montana's legislature and early intervention setup. But
it's a start!)
3. My ASL Kindergarten project-slash-curriculum is growing, and
has been collecting an increasingly fancy & well-known set of
admirers. Shout-out from Hands Land! Woo hoo!
4. Kids and families I am working with individually are making lots of progress and telling me lots of compliments. Including:
“My
kids are thrilled to spend time with Cecily as she empowers them with
the building blocks of American Sign Language. I love to see them
having so much fun playing with handshapes while they are developing a
deeper grasp of their language”
“As
a social entrepreneur, I am delighted by Cecily’s work to increase
access and empowerment through American Sign Language. As a parent, I
am over-joyed to have her knowledge imparted to my children. Our
community is greatly enriched by her efforts!"
“What a fun and wonderful time of language learning for my deaf kids! We love our sessions with Cecily!”
"Ahoy,
Captain Marvel! We are so grateful for the blessing of
knowing you, the generosity of your heart as you share your passion
with us, and the possibilities that are ahead of us."
"I talked to [other mom] yesterday and we don't know what we would do if you are not here for advice. Thank you!"
So that's very nice for me. (I fished very directly for these compliments by saying to people "hey, please compliment me", but I think they are still sincere.)
5. As a result of the Holiday Season, I am now in possession of an iPad, an Apple Pencil, and the Procreate app. I spend all of my spare time fiddling with brushes and learning how to export movies, instead of writing blog posts.
Some of us are very interested in knights and dragons, and specifically in Tomie dePaola's The Knight and the Dragon. I am also very interested in all of these things, particularly in the librarian princess who saves those other poor saps from lives of incompetent combat while providing delicious barbecue meals for the entire realm.
Some of us are very interested in ASL handshapes, and the ways they behave in signs.
(This one is the least complicated but by far the most actually useful thing I've made so far.)
