This event is jointly hosted by BC Hands & Voices, CHHA-BC Parents’ Branch, and Family Network for Deaf Children.

Crash Crawlys invitation & registration

Spontaneous drawing contributes to 1) mental growth  2) intellectual development  3) emotional health  4) enhanced learning  5) literacy  6) parent/child bonding. It does not require teaching, only motivation. You don’t have to be a teacher or an artist to motivate children to draw! A language emerges and develops through practice.

The Drawing Network distributes pamphlets to help parents establish a “daily draw” routine and teachers to integrate drawing into the school curriculum as an auxiliary language, kindergarten through middle and secondary school. There is no charge for pamphlets but small donations for printing and mailing are welcome.

Visit our website at http://drawnet.duetsoftware.net/

Bob Steele, for the Drawing Network, is an Associate Professor (Emeritus UBC)

The Burnaby school district launched North America’s first online American Sign Language course last month.

“It’s about access, it’s about bridging cultures, all cultures of the world,” said Karen Taylor, the administrator for the Provincial Outreach Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The comments came as Taylor was speaking and signing to the trustees and district staff at the Feb. 23 school board meeting.

The new course means deaf and hard-of-hearing students can get equal access to a language their hearing counterparts can, Taylor said.”I believe it’s going to be a wonderful success, not only for the district but also for the province,” she said.

Any B.C. student can take the course and get credits for a second language. Adults and international students can also sign up. The course could be useful for anyone who needs to learn American Sign Language, including special-education assistants or bank employees, for example. American Sign Language is the third most commonly used language in North America.

There are instructor videos, entirely in American Sign Language, that teach students signing and finger spelling. There are also live video chats so students can get help from an instructor or practice with each other on split screens. The course instructor, Jo-Anne Robinson, connects and signs with students around the province via webcam, Skype or IChat.

“Nobody else is doing that,” Taylor said. “It’s cutting edge.”

Students can go at their own pace, but the course must be completed in 10 months.

The course is free, but there is a $100 deposit for materials. International students pay $730 for the course.

Thanks to the Family Network for Deaf Children for forwarding the information of the online ASL courses to us. Details about these courses from BC Provincial Outreach Program for Deaf and Hard of hearing Students is also posted at http://www.fndc.ca.

To register, please first go to Burnaby Online Website.

Click on ‘Courses’, look under ‘Modern Languages’, then click on ‘Intro ASL 11’ to read the course descriptions for info about how a student is assessed throughout the course as well as prerequisites.

When a student is ready to register, click on ‘Register Now’

Reprinted with permission from Burnaby Now, March 17, 2010

children – they wanted to get away from the historical divide between the “signing camp” and the “oral camp,” and bring everyone together.  This original group, Colorado Families for Hands & Voices, received a lot of attention, and grew very quickly.  Soon new chapters of Hands & Voices began popping up across the country, and there are now more than 30 chapters.

BC Hands & Voices is the first international chapter of Hands & Voices.  Our group came into being in January of 2008.  Twelve people came together for our first meeting, and we’ve been meeting monthly ever since.  We are a mixed group, including parents of kids who are deaf or hard of hearing, professionals working with kids who are deaf or hard of hearing, and deaf & hard of hearing adults.  We are from various backgrounds and cultures  - our common goal is to support families in achieving successful outcomes for their children.

BC Hands & Voices started up in order to address a specific need for families in B.C.  With the recent implementation of newborn hearing screening (part of the BC Early Hearing Program), there is a need for support and social networking for these newly diagnosed families across the province.  That is the focus of B.C. Hands & Voices.   B.C. Hands & Voices is not the only parent-run group in B.C. that offers support to families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing.  Family Network for Deaf Children and Canadian Hard of Hearing Association of B.C. Parents’ Branch are wonderful groups that have been providing information, support, advocacy, social opportunities, programs, and parent networking for many years.  However, neither of these groups focuses on families of young, newly diagnosed children.

It has been a busy year for B.C. Hands and Voices – we are now registered as a non-profit society, and the next step is to complete the application for charitable status.  We have a bank account, membership forms, a website, and now our first newsletter.  We are busy planning our second family event, and have lots of ideas for the future.  If you are interested in joining us and helping out, please contact us – the more the merrier!