I couldn't agree more.
PowerPoint should be banned from all school computers and most business computers, probably the most misused software ever written. We need to learn to communicate in complete sentences, paragraphs, and perhaps even longer forms. Bullet points communicate fragments, not complete ideas.
We need to teach math and sciences starting with the basic computing tools; fingers, toes, blocks, marks on paper... Things that work during a blackout.
Computers can be introduced in middle school or later. Which brings me to my other pet peeve, children with video games and mp3 players when out with family. Bring the children into the family and learn how to relate without the junk.
You are correct in some ways here, as a parent of a now adult deaf daughter, her mom and I worked very hard to give her skills in both ASL and English. I agree that success in life is based on communication skills in the language of the land. The "third grade" reading bump among the deaf is real and is hard to describe. My daughter with every advantage, good schools, parents that encouraged her to read and learn English and so on, still did not get past the third grade reading level until the 5th grade.
I wish that it were better but there are some real barriers that we just don't completely understand. Along with your correctly identified cultural bias on communication style, the deaf many times struggle to communicate and there is so much misunderstanding even among the deaf community.
I must say however, that Closed Captioning has been a positive effect on the reading skills among the deaf since they are exposed to the written word, generally in context.
Sorenson is the best service. My daughter can use the interpreters to contact me anywhere I am via my cellphone, or I have downloaded their interface and can with my webcam talk to her directly from home. You are very correct, my daughter was raised in Texas, her husband grew up in Michigan and went to school at Rochester Institute for the Deaf. At first I really struggled with his "yankee" signs and he thought we all signed with a drawl. The interpreters at Sorenson are the very best, and really do their best to faithfully interpret including description of whats in the image from the other end. Tell your friends that their work is appreciated.
As the father of a now adult deaf daughter I have seen the quantum leap of communication over the past 30 years. When my daughter was growing up the TTY was the only tool available to the deaf for communication. Each person needed to have a TTY and the speed was a blazing 48 baud using the old Western Union standard. Text pagers came along and relay services allowed the deaf to reach outside of the limits that existed. However, would you want to have an interpreter in the middle of every conversation you had with your teenager on the phone. Interpreters are intrusive no matter how hard they try not to be, I can't imagine the things they must see and hear during a regular day.
These new tools really allow the deaf and hard of hearing a better chance of having a more normal life. Texting is shorthand and leaves out any emotion at a real level.
Direct face to face communication is always better for everyone both hearing and deaf. The ability to see the other person adds so much to the complete communication experience.
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I couldn't agree more. PowerPoint should be banned from all school computers and most business computers, probably the most misused software ever written. We need to learn to communicate in complete sentences, paragraphs, and perhaps even longer forms. Bullet points communicate fragments, not complete ideas. We need to teach math and sciences starting with the basic computing tools; fingers, toes, blocks, marks on paper... Things that work during a blackout. Computers can be introduced in middle school or later. Which brings me to my other pet peeve, children with video games and mp3 players when out with family. Bring the children into the family and learn how to relate without the junk.
You are correct in some ways here, as a parent of a now adult deaf daughter, her mom and I worked very hard to give her skills in both ASL and English. I agree that success in life is based on communication skills in the language of the land. The "third grade" reading bump among the deaf is real and is hard to describe. My daughter with every advantage, good schools, parents that encouraged her to read and learn English and so on, still did not get past the third grade reading level until the 5th grade. I wish that it were better but there are some real barriers that we just don't completely understand. Along with your correctly identified cultural bias on communication style, the deaf many times struggle to communicate and there is so much misunderstanding even among the deaf community. I must say however, that Closed Captioning has been a positive effect on the reading skills among the deaf since they are exposed to the written word, generally in context.
Sorenson is the best service. My daughter can use the interpreters to contact me anywhere I am via my cellphone, or I have downloaded their interface and can with my webcam talk to her directly from home. You are very correct, my daughter was raised in Texas, her husband grew up in Michigan and went to school at Rochester Institute for the Deaf. At first I really struggled with his "yankee" signs and he thought we all signed with a drawl. The interpreters at Sorenson are the very best, and really do their best to faithfully interpret including description of whats in the image from the other end. Tell your friends that their work is appreciated.
As the father of a now adult deaf daughter I have seen the quantum leap of communication over the past 30 years. When my daughter was growing up the TTY was the only tool available to the deaf for communication. Each person needed to have a TTY and the speed was a blazing 48 baud using the old Western Union standard. Text pagers came along and relay services allowed the deaf to reach outside of the limits that existed. However, would you want to have an interpreter in the middle of every conversation you had with your teenager on the phone. Interpreters are intrusive no matter how hard they try not to be, I can't imagine the things they must see and hear during a regular day. These new tools really allow the deaf and hard of hearing a better chance of having a more normal life. Texting is shorthand and leaves out any emotion at a real level. Direct face to face communication is always better for everyone both hearing and deaf. The ability to see the other person adds so much to the complete communication experience.