S.E.E -- a weekend of Sign Language!

I spent this entire weekend at a workshop put on at Children's Hospital called S.E.E SkillShop.

S.E.E = Signing Exact English

Our ILY pens :) 

I took 2 years of ASL in High School, so it was very interesting to learn the differences between the two. Since ASL was my first signing language, I was a little skeptical at first, but S.E.E definitely won me over. It is such an amazing language for Hearing Impaired and Deaf kids to learn.

Our nephew, Nate (Tristan's BFF) has hearing loss and just got hearing aids this last summer so he is in a program that helps him get adjusted to the hearing aids and get started with the sign language, and they check his progress and all that on a weekly basis.

S.E.E is so awesome, I really can't tell you how amazing it is. The difference between ASL and S.E.E is that S.E.E is compatible with the hearing world, public schools, communities, etc. while ASL is an amazing language as well, it is an entirely different language. It is not English. When signing in ASL, the sentence structure is completely different; for example: " I went to the store" would be signed " Store I go to -- with a sign for in the past" (It's been awhile since I took ASL so don't judge too harshly if my structure is off--but you get the idea,right?) whereas, in S.E.E you literally sign " I went to the store". This type of signing allows kids to excel in public schools, be able to write an English paper, graduate high school, go to college, move out of their parents home and hold a job, ETC. The list go on. It opens up an entirely new world.

The ASL culture is right for some people and not for others. Since Nate is not deaf, he has hearing loss and wears hearing aids I think that S.E.E is such a great thing for him. He can have the best of both worlds, and I am so excited to be a part of this. I've been signing the ABC's to Tristan every day and I hope that both my boys will embrace this language as well. I think it will be great for them since Nate is such a big part of our lives to communicate with him on a level that he will feel comfortable and be exposed to signing at an early age. It really is a win win for all of us.

The SkillShop consisted of 3 days- Fri evening, Saturday, and Sunday. We missed Fri evening (hard to find someone to watch 6 kids) which turned out okay since we already knew the basics of signing (Alphabet, colors, the 5 W's,etc).  Saturday, Eric watch ALL SIX kids (Ages 6mo- 10 years). Did I mention my husband is amazing? He even made them pancakes for breakfast (Even though we specifically bought Lucky Charms for St. Patrick's Day to make it easy on him...hmm, oh well), all the kids were showered and dressed...oh, and alive. That's important.

It was just like being back in school...made me miss LEARNING. Never thought I'd say that....anyway, we learned so much this weekend-- probably a total of 200 words. We played lots of learning games (I get a little competitive when candy is the prize) and both JayC and I won a book out of the drawing! We ended the weekend with some songs signed to us by a group of kids that attend the Northwest School. Unfortunately, I was too busy trying not to cry that I didn't get a picture of those adorable kids but I got a picture of the instructors signing us another emotional song. Seriously, we mothers just become suckers. I never used to cry but these days, I'm turning into my mother ;)