A few weeks after my latest episode of hearing loss happened, I was online doing research and one of the things I checked out was American Sign Language (ASL) classes in our area.  I found an instructor who goes on site to teach Easy Signing classes and I was able to set up a class at our church building.  It will be one night a week in August and I’m really excited about it.  I don’t know if there will be a time when I will need to communicate with sign language all of the time, but I decided it would be a great tool for me to have in my “tool belt” as I go on this journey toward deafness.

Most of my immediate family will be taking it (my daughter just started a new job and doesn’t know yet if she will be able to, but we’re hoping it will work out for her, too) and at this time there are 22 total signed up for the class, which means there are quite a few of my church family who want to learn and will be able to communicate with me in this way!

Last night Chet and I met with the instructor.  I thought she was mostly wanting to see what the set up was for the class and talk about that, but it turned out to be mainly an interview with us.  She had a list of questions she asked me and basically wanted to know my story and assess where I am with my hearing ability as well as how I’m doing emotionally and mentally with the changes this has brought and how I feel it is impacting my life.  She also asked Chet some questions about how he is doing with all the changes.  I wasn’t expecting that, but I thought it was really good.  She video taped the interview (I might have primped a little beforehand if I had know about that!) and showed me a couple of video clips of past students of hers.  It was amazing to see the progress those students had made.  I even learned a couple of signs during the interview.  It took me several times to realize that she was wanting me to mimic her, but eventually I caught on! 🙂  She shared a little about herself, as well, and overall it made me feel quite comfortable with her.  This class is different than a traditional class would be.  It’s geared to be very interactive (and she tells me lots of fun!) and it is also tailored to some extent to specific interests/needs…in our case since we’re a church group there will be some vocabulary for that and part of the registration info asked what our favorite scriptures and hymns are, so I think that will be included in some way.  I am very excited about this and can’t wait to get started.  I think it’s a positive step in increasing my ability to function and I think that Debbie, the instructor, will be able to give me a lot of information about other resources available to help me as well.

I feel so blessed to have so many people who are here for me and giving me so much love and support and who want to be able to communicate with me, whatever happens!  I know there are many who aren’t able to participate in this class but are so very supportive and make so much effort to include me and help me all along the way!  Thank you for your prayers, your love (your hugs!) and your encouragement, and all of the extra effort you put forth (and it IS a lot of effort sometimes!) to keep me included and help me out when I have to rely on others to know or understand what’s going on!  I also so appreciate my hubby and kids who patiently repeat things to me sometimes several times before I get what they are saying, but they keep doing it and don’t just say “nevermind” and I really appreciate that!