Hi, Andy!  Recently you wrote in a message to Cindy Haglund:

AB>  I'll put my hand up to being a scared rabbit.


           Maybe it depends on the circumstances, but you don't come across
that way to me.  When your daughter needed to use signs to communicate you
didn't run away screaming... you learned to use signs & taught her to
do the same.

           Having a disability of one's own, or a disability among one's
nearest & dearest, doesn't confer instant wisdom... but it may increase
one's motivation to tackle a steep learning curve.  IMHO we're on the same
wavelength there.  :-)



AB>  My two-year-old daughter signs.  We started teaching
AB>  her when she was a baby because it was a convenient
AB>  way for her to communicate with us.  This was long
AB>  before we found out that she has a significant speech
AB>  delay.


           Yes.  There have been many times when I did the right thing,
although the "logical" reasons for it weren't completely clear to
me at the time....  :-)



AB>  There's a fairly intensive effort to teach her to speak,
AB>  which is as it should be.  That said, I want her to continue
AB>  signing and I think it would be helpful for her to play with
AB>  other signing children.


           Our daughter attended a toddler group where signing was used
together with oral speech.  Many of the kids in the group had low muscle
tone for various reasons & were unable to articulate speech sounds
clearly.  As time went by, her articulation improved & she depended
less on signing.  We found the signing very helpful in those early years,
however, and our only regret is that none of us is as fluent as we once
were because we have less opportunity for practice....  :-)



AB>  I know I need to take a proper ASL class too.


           My husband & I did that.  We took an introductory course
offered by a local association for people with developmental disabilities. 
Some years later, when our daughter was in hospital, the three of us also
took a course offered by the hospital.  Chances are the right course for
you is out there somewhere.  ;-)



AB>  I have no idea how people from local deaf community
AB>  will react to a hearing dad and daughter who try to
AB>  communicate in ASL.


           All the reactions I've had were very positive.  Even my crude
"Sesame Street" attempts... before we'd taken formal courses...
evoked a broad grin from a woman we met at the local community centre.  She
was tickled pink that someone else spoke her language, although I certainly
didn't speak it very well....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+