May 8, 2008
My Deaf film review: Beyond the World (Dietro il Mondo)
For more information about the film, check at LightKitchen
1 Comment »December 17, 2007
ASL sessions, ASL coaching, ASL skills enhancement, health insurance pays!
Kevin Gamache, ASLPride raised an excellent point about ASL Modifiers . I created a vlog last night in response to his suggestion and thinking more already, I wanted to redo but decided to leave it as it is. A lot can be discussed.Here are pointers:
- Actual terms used for ASL modifiers are like ASL coaching, ASL skills enhancement, ASL sessions, similar as voice coaching, accent reduction, speech sessions, speech language therapy.
- Vloggers fluent in ASL can help with feedback although with limit. Areas in ASL that are still developmental have two main things: Weakness - errors can be fixed right away and other types need more time for acquisition. ASL teachers with at least few years of teaching experience and those who already studied ASL structures can point out more clearly which are worth concentrating on and those best left to improve with time.
- Anyone with speech language problems can have their own health insurance pay for speech/language assessment and sessions with speech audiologist to help with improving their speech and language skills. So anyone deprived of ASL input in their childhood CAN try to negotiate with their health insurance to have this coverage for ASL skills coaching.One time I did get approval for treatment not specifically stated in the policy. I insisted acupuncture treatments to treat chronic headache problems because no medicine worked. My insurance had an underwriter to approve 10 sessions, twice for a year and these 20 sessions did work.
- I am not too crazy about the word “therapy”, it is in a way detrimental. I choose this term coaching just like movie stars from other countries just hire their own voice coaching to smoothen out their accent and odd wordings in English as second language. However for getting insurance coverage, insurers would use a more medical term “therapy”, that is the way how they can underwrite. Let them say it so that you can get coverage and you still tell your friends that you got an ASL coach!
There is another option - negotiate with your work administrator to include ASL skills enhancement for professional development. I tutored numberless signers to improve their ASL skills for their employment, tenure, and promotion. At the most of time it was covered by their employment benefit.
See links about voice coaching, catering services with fees. My Voice Coach, Your Voice Coach, Broadcast Voice Specialist, Stress Reduction Counselor, Voice Power Studios
Standard fee for speech language service an hour is around $75 and it can go as high as $150 an hour. See fees at a speech language center, this center does include ASL service - scroll down to see that. ADHEARENCE, LLC
I did look for information about health insurance coverage for services in Spanish and bilingualism but I have not came across anything relevant yet.
Having a full cognitive language experience is not a privilege, it is your right and
a human right.
Comments OffDecember 9, 2007
Deaf and hearing families together at holiday gatherings
We have a wonderful hearing family friend with a 6 year old Deaf son living near us. We get together on Christmas eve and also on other occasions with interpreters. This is how we do.
November 28, 2007
Julie Rems Smario DeafHope on CNN: One of 18 CNN Heroes finalists
We are soooo ferociously proud of our friend Julie Rems Smario and her family. Julie is one of 18 CNN heroes finalists, see here! Out of 7,000 heroes around the world, only 18 finalists were nominated. On Thursday Dec 6th, 6 winners will be announced, one for each category, championing children, community crusader, defending the planet, fighting for justice, medical marvel, and young wonder. Julie is one of three finalists in community crusader, each finalists receive $10,000 and 6 winners will receive another $25,000 that will go toward their cause.
Kate Kovacs Board Chair’s note about DeafHope being on CNN and clarification
Kate Kovacs
DeafHope Board Chair
Check us out at DeafHope website
Here is the DeafHope’s link to all Deaf domestic violence survivors programs across U.S.A.
No Comments »November 26, 2007
Deaf family against Deaf family after many years
Now is a heightened time for families especially when moments of remembrance and holiday gathering occur. This is a story I learned from an elder from one of these two Deaf families living in the same area for many years.
This is one beautiful story about how a Deaf family welcomed a Deaf roomate with nearly full blown HIV and contagious hepatitis B disease for two years. This roomate is a sweet and funny guy in his 50’s rejected by his own family because of being Deaf.
November 14, 2007
It’s our Deaf Noam now 10 months old.
He is sitting on his dad’s first Devia chair. Developmentally he is growing nicely, now finally sitting upright on his own. He is also standing on both feet with help of his both hands on something. He constantly hand babbles yet to form a sign word. He should be coming up with a sign word anytime. He is now wearing high ended digital aids (worth $5,000 fully paid by the state of Colorado) for short interventions daily, he loves music that he does actually dance to music and with 95 db loss in both ears, he can localize where sounds come from. He receives three time weekly speech auditory training. We do not yet know how good his speech auditory perception is, we will just go as to this point, no more than that.
No Comments »November 13, 2007
Devia oak chair by Uzi Buzgalo 2006
Here’s an oddity, we found this oak chair at a garage sale. Uzi saw out figures of hands and smoothened them, it is the very first Devia chair, one out of three seats here in our house. See the next posting above with our Deaf Noam sitting on it.
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