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Thumbs up for Deaf Culture and New Zealand Sign Language Week!

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Did you know that New Zealand has, along with English and te reo Māori, a third official language? Actually, it’s been that way since 2006!

Engaging television, online and print advertisements may have recently caught your eye and alerted you to the fact that 8 – 15 May is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week in 2017. This may have even spurred you on to learn some signs yourself, or plan to do so together with your students. You may have decided to learn greetings and maybe some signed songs — and perhaps even incorporate sign and gesture into your daily teaching practices. Ka pai! It’s fun and worthwhile. But what if we dig a little deeper? What other opportunities does NZSL Week offer us? What do we know of Deaf culture — or even that ‘it’s a thing’?

The TKI Thumbs Up! website describes some of the distinct cultural characteristics of the NZ Deaf community that you may not be aware of:
“Deaf culture is not based on family culture or ethnicity. There are some multi-generational Deaf families, but not all the people in families with Deaf members are deaf themselves. For this reason, many hearing people also belong to the Deaf community, use NZSL for communication with Deaf people, and identify with the Deaf community.

Only about ten percent of Deaf children have Deaf parents. This is why NZSL users ask about, or identify, family members as Deaf or hearing.

Māori Deaf have a unique dual identity. They belong to both the Māori community and the Deaf community. There is no separate Māori sign language, but there are Māori signs, for Māori concepts. Both Māori and Pākehā Deaf use NZSL as a common community language. Māori Deaf people have developed and continue to develop signs to express concepts relating to Māori culture in New Zealand.

Ethnicity is important in how Deaf people identify and describe people in NZSL, along with descriptions of other distinguishing features that a person may have. This helps to build a picture of the person in a way that helps others to recall them more easily, especially when the person who is being discussed is not present. Visual descriptions are so important that they are often used as permanent sign names, much as nicknames in other cultures, for example SHORT-HAIR, BIG-MOUSTACHE, and SKINNY. Physical descriptions rarely cause offence in the Deaf community. It is generally acceptable to describe someone as fat because this uses a visual feature in a way that creates a more friendly and relaxed connection with the person. However, excessive or overly exaggerated signs can cause offence.”

For schools, centres, and kura, new educational e-resources are being created to support Deaf learners in culturally-responsive ways. For example, as stated on the TKI Literacy Online site, “the Ministry of Education collaborated with Deaf Aotearoa to develop selected Ready-to-Read titles as e-books. These apps are targeted resources intended to support effective guided and shared reading instruction for NZSL users. They are available through iTunes or GooglePlay and are free to download.”

Another recent special development is an exciting new quad-lingual e-book:

“Rūaumoko — The Rumbling Voice, is an interactive educational digital book narrated by Deaf Māori students in Te Reo Turi and New Zealand Sign Language. It tells the story of Rūaumoko, The Māori God of Earthquakes, and looks at the relationship of this deity to Deaf Māori people.

Produced as an educational resource, this digital book was developed over an intensive five-day workshop held in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, Kelston Deaf Education Centre, CORE Education Ltd, and KIWA Digital.” (KIWA)

ruaumoko - the rumbling voice

So, have you ever thought about:

  • The difference between being deaf and being capital-d Deaf, which indicates people who are members of the ‘historical and cultural community of deaf people and who use a natural sign language’ (Marschark, 2007)?
  • How NZSL initially emerged from and through an ‘underground’ movement of culture (as did overseas natural sign languages)?
  • The role that gesture and facial expression play as part of signing?
  • How you can appropriately get the attention of a Deaf person?
  • The fatigue that comes through the constant visual load that deaf/Deaf people process?
  • The differences involved in language acquisition and use for those who are deaf from birth, compared to those who are deafened later in life?
  • The special cultural connections that our relatively small NZ Deaf community has developed via Van Asch and Kelston Deaf Education Centres, and local Deaf Clubs?
  • Ways of communicating with Deaf people in a world set up for the hearing, compared to ways that Deaf people integrate language and culture when interacting with each other in everyday situations?
  • The importance of open visual spaces and light placement, and absence of ‘busy’ clothing patterns, so that signers can see messages clearly?
  • What communication supports need to be in place for Deaf people and their families during emergencies?
  • The range of levels of hearing impairment and deafness that may need to catered for in our learning and teaching environments (for students, staff, and whanau/community)?

NZSL Week is a great opportunity to highlight these, and many other ways, that we can learn to be culturally responsive to Aotearoa’s Deaf community. Difference, not deficit or disability, is the key focus. So, let’s explore the websites, games, and challenges that Deaf Aotearoa have provided. Watch the inspiring Hearing Hands YouTube clip. Dip into the official New Zealand Sign Language in the Curriculum document. Talk to our PLD facilitators about ideas for making learning communities more inclusive for New Zealanders who have our third official language as their first language. Seek and reach out to members of the Deaf community who cross paths and journey through life with us. And, if you missed out on the free NZSL taster classes this year, make sure that you get in quickly in 2018!

 

References

Online:

Print:

  • McKee, R. (2001) People of the Eye. Bridget Williams Books: Wellington.
  • Marschark, M. (2007) Raising and Educating a Deaf Child (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press: New York.

Image Credits

Thumbs up image CC0 on Pixabay
Rūaumoko — The Rumbling Voice cover images: used by permission from KIWA

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student sensitivity to devices

Personalising student devices

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Developers are working hard to make devices easier to use and more accessible, but most people don’t even scratch the surface when it comes to using all the features their device offers.

The inbuilt options are not just for those with specific disabilities. Just as we would adjust a car seat to suit our individual needs, our devices can be personalised for a best fit with an individual profile as unique as a fingerprint. A device can be personalised by the user themselves and/or set up for them by someone who knows them well and is aware of the options available.

Personalisation can help to make the experience of using technology more enjoyable and efficient. It can affect a student’s emotional state by reducing stress and addressing access and learning barriers. These, in turn, can make a big difference to productivity and behaviour.

Standard devices now include options that mean that they work well for many more users than they did in the past. People who would have traditionally needed quite specialised devices can now use the inbuilt features in standard devices to work alongside their peers.

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FASD student

FASD – An invisible disability

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“FASD may often be an invisible disability…yet has very visible consequences.”
Jacqueline Pei & Tracy Mastrangelo, Professionals without parachutes presentation 2015

What is FASD?

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a preventable, lifelong disability, resulting from prenatal exposure to alcohol, that has no cure. It is a brain injury, done to a developing brain. It is not a behavioural issue, therefore must be treated differently.

Students with FASD often find school a difficult place where they do not experience success. As more students are being diagnosed with FASD the prevalence of this disability is beginning to emerge.

FASD student
Image source: Flickr – Lily Monster under CC

This blog post aims to provide you with an awareness of FASD and a starting point for your own investigation.

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Hello! My name is special needs

The impact of the language we use in education

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Hello! My name is special needs

“If we do not change our language to match changes in thinking, we perpetuate what always was.” Timoti Harris

In education, certain words and phrases have become the currency of our organisational systems and processes. We have ORS students, and “gifted and talented”, and TAs, and SEG grants, priority learners, and target students. We use the terms, in good faith, to define roles and responsibilities, determine funding needs, and allocate resourcing.

However, our actions raise some questions:

  • What is the hidden impact of those words on the wellbeing and learning of students and on the expectations and actions of teachers?
  • Is there an alternative approach?
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Supporting students who have dyslexia

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With new technologies we can provide immediate and tangible support for students who have dyslexia. The support can be provided at the same time as we work with them to overcome their specific difficulties and build literacy skills. By providing options using standard technologies, students can learn and show what they know, rather than being continually defined by their specific difficulties.

“Dyslexia is not a disease to have and to be cured of, but a way of thinking and learning. Often it’s a gifted mind waiting to be found and taught.” –Girard Sagmiller, “Dyslexia My Life”

Clarify your learning Intention

To provide options and support for any curriculum activity, teachers must first be clear to their students about the specific learning intention.

For example, if we ask a student to read material that is above their current reading ability, what do we discover? We may confuse the ability to learn with the ability to read.

For example, what do we find out if we ask a student with writing difficulties to show what they know by writing about it? We find out that the student is not very good at writing rather than discovering what they know or have learnt.

As students move up the school, more of the curriculum content and assessment material is in written format. This means that the impact of a reading or writing difficulty can limit access to content and the ability of a student to show what they know.

This is why it is important to identify the learning intention, and be sure that the MEANS of learning is not confused with the learning intention. Is reading and writing a critical part of the learning intention, or is it just a way of doing the task?

Example of a learning intention with reading and writing as part of the task:
Students will read a book and write about the key techniques used to communicate ideas to readers.

Alternative example of learning intention without reading and writing as part of the task:
The students will:

  • identify the key ideas in the story
  • identify the techniques used to communicate key ideas to readers
  • use one of these formats (e.g., written/image/poster/video …) to demonstrate what they have learned.

Once the learning intention is clear, both teachers and students can understand what options are appropriate for a particular lesson. If the intention is not about reading and writing, then support using technology or other options is usually appropriate.

Technology support

Some key technologies to support students with dyslexia are outlined below:

1. Digitise content

Handouts, workbooks, and writing on whiteboards are some of the least accessible options for students who find reading a challenge. In contrast, when content is digitised, students can use their personal preferences to access material:

  • using dyslexia fonts
  • changing colours, size, style and spacing
  • having text read by the computer (text-to-speech).

If you are using Google Apps for Education or Microsoft it is very easy to digitise content. Simply take a photo or scan of the page (or PDF document) and upload it into your Google Drive or OneNote. Then right click and open it with Google Docs or Word. You can then make the page accessible (see the Blind foundation’s page here) and modernise your content for today’s lessons.

2. Text-to-Speech

I dream of a time when every device used by a student has text-to-speech enabled. This software reads text aloud, so gives students access to text above their current reading age, and supports comprehension. It is also a great option for editing, multitasking, or for when you just feel like listening rather than reading.

For more information about the free options available on all the main operating systems, see my VLN text-to-speech blog.

3. Voice typing (speech recognition)

Voice typing (also called speech recognition) allows you to speak aloud to your device and have words typed as you speak. The software has improved so significantly in the last few years that it is now a real option for text entry. For more information about the free options see my VLN Voice typing blog.

Voice typing gives students the opportunity to show what they know rather than repeatedly being defining by their writing difficulties.

4. Word Prediction

Word prediction provides more in-depth support for spelling, reading, and editing. The software predicts a required word as a student writes, producing a list of words beginning with the letter sequence typed.

Predicted words, and all writing, can be read aloud, and each programme has additional supports — e.g., example sentences, definitions, and custom dictionaries.

There are no free products in this range that predict as well (or even nearly as well) as the commercial products that I have tested. See VLN posts for iPad, computer and Google.

 

Let us support students to be successful learners regardless of their specific profile of talents and challenges.

For more information about using technology to provide whole-school support for students with dyslexia, contact the Connected Learning Advisory.

For more information see:
Inclusive Education — dyslexia guide
Literacy Online dyslexia page (& Ministry of Education teacher resource)
Ministry website — how to support a child with dyslexia
Resource for teachers by the British Dyslexia Association
Movincog Report — Auckland University analysis of interventions for dyslexia

 

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