Structure of the book
Each lesson is organized around a routine that is common in most young children’s days, to learn during a single home visit or center-based class, or they might be stretched over several visits. Depending on the structure of the early intervention program, visits may take place daily, weekly, monthly, or at some other frequency.
Each lesson contains:
Vocabulary
Fingerspelling
Phrase practice
Receptive practice
Language enrichment lesson
Deaf cultural wealth lesson
The need for this curriculum
The vast majority – 90-95% – of deaf and hard of hearing are born to hearing parents. Many families choose to offer their child multiple languages and modalities as they grow, in order to optimize language access and acquisition. However, for those who want their child to acquire ASL but do not already know the language themselves, the task before them (i.e., learning a new language) can seem daunting. While there are many resources available for learning ASL, few serve the hearing family of a young deaf child. Some of the resources already in existence include community-based in-person classes, in-person and online college-level classes, online self-driven programs for parents, in-person and online deaf mentoring sessions, one-time learning events, and more. We developed this book to fill some of the gaps left behind by the current opportunities available.
