Documentation of Electives

Electives Documentation

     I fulfilled my elective requirement for graduation, many years ago while attending Mineral Area College in Park Hills, Missouri, by taking American Sign Language. I chose this class because I felt that my career could benefit from what I would learn through it. The skills gained in this class has helped me communicate, not just with my def and hard of hearing students and families but gave me a platform to communicate with children and families that speak other languages. I use this knowledge on a daily basis to help with verbal acquisition programs with my autistic clients and to teach basic communication skills to typically developing infants and toddlers. I believe that teaching children to use sign language helps language acquisition and prevents stress that occurs when children are unable to communicate their needs.

     My work with preschoolers gave my classmates, at the time, a new perspective to think about when learning sign language. Most of my classmates thought only of using it as a service to churches and assemblies and none had thought of the implications of using it with young children. The instructor taught us to thoroughly think through what we wanted to communicate before signing it, so that we weren't using a lot of unnecessary signs that might confuse a def person, and to use our whole body, not just our hands. This class taught me the importance of body language in any conversation, but especially in conversations with those who don't speak the same language as ourselves, or hear it in the case of a def or hard of hearing individual. I feel that, that particular instruction has been very instrumental in the way I communicate with the children and families I work with and in every day life. It causes me to speak concisely without extra words so that I don't confuse families where English is not the first language, as well as when I speak to any person where I need to make my statement understood. While I may not use actual sign language in every day life, I do use the principal of choosing my words carefully. I want to be sure that I make the children and families I work with are comfortable and never feel like they are being talked down to, or spoken at, but being talked with. I achieve this every day because of my elective choice.