Cassie Riding
My name is Cassie. Melissa, and I work for USDB in the Parent-Infant Program in early intervention.
Melissa Julien
We are very best friends, and we work together. It's great.
Cassie Riding
My job is a parent advisor, and Melissa is our deaf mentor. 95% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and often these hearing parents have never met a deaf person before. They're unsure, they don't know what the future holds for their children. They're nervous. And we just help them realize, "Your kid's gonna do everything."
Melissa Julien
One family that I'm thinking of, the parents, they didn't want to have a deaf mentor. Remember that, Cassie?
Cassie Riding
Oh yeah! Their first impression was like "No". A lot of times they've had, sadly, misinformed individuals or professionals who've told them, "Oh, don't sign with your child or they'll never talk." Such a myth, such a falsehood.
Melissa Julien
And soon as we met with a child — so fascinated with the signing. And the parents, they saw what was happening between me and the child, and they're like, "Oh." They could see that the barriers were all torn down.
Cassie Riding
And they thought, "Oh my gosh, my kid has so much to say!" You're like a role model. You use this language so beautifully, and you just give them this peace of mind. And I love watching this wave of relief come over the parents.
Melissa Julien
And that's really my goal is because I'm an advocate there for that deaf child, you know. I didn't have language in my own home.
Melissa Julien
The American Disabilities Act was 1990 You said you graduated in '87.
Melissa Julien
And until 1970s, really ASL was taboo prior to then. I really didn't have the opportunity to learn sign language until I was 13. So, can you imagine all those years I missed language? But that didn't stop me. I went to school where there were hearing children and some deaf children. I had to really work hard to read lips. It was really a challenge, and I had speech therapy. And then, when you go outside and play for recess, the girls would kind of mumble, and I was like, "ugh!" I would just go and play with the boys.
Cassie Riding
That's why you are such a good athlete.
Melissa Julien
And now I play all kinds of sports. I played for college.
Cassie Riding
You've coached it all.
Melissa Julien
Yes, yes, I've coached.
Cassie Riding
You're such an amazing example to me of perseverance, and you know we have a variety of children, like those with cochlear implants, those with hearing aids, who are going on a listening / spoken language path. Anatomically, they can sign before they can talk, and so they gained confidence in communicating. All of a sudden, their auditory and spoken language followed suit.
Melissa Julien
And you could see their personalities.
Cassie Riding
We have a little gal who's almost two, and she communicates far more with sign language, and she has major food aversions. And so our occupational therapist came to help her work through, like experiencing food, like even before tasting and trying. Things, like being willing to look at it, to touch it or, play with it, or smell it. And that was so fun, teaching signs for peeling and chopping the banana. So the occupational therapist put peanut butter on her nose, so she wouldn't be afraid of it. We tasted it, we modeled, and then she did. At the end of that visit, she tried banana. She totally overcame some food aversion.
Melissa Julien
And there was one family where the baby was a newborn, and they wanted the baby to talk. We said, "I fully get it." We'd like you to sign as their first language, and let's just see. I was deaf, and her parents are hearing, and the child was only like two, and that they can do that switching, they know when to sign, they know when to speak.
Cassie Riding
They've probably seen you do that.
Melissa Julien
And they're really just brilliant.
Melissa Julien
Children, learn sign by playing, so when we play and we bring in games and stories and books -- just hands on? You don't have to just sit down and sign.
Cassie Riding
Flashcards is not effective.
Melissa Julien
What do I call it?
Cassie Riding
Living room method.
Melissa Julien
That doesn't work.
Cassie Riding
Yeah, when we first start coming, it's like the living room's spotless, and that's where we stay. And then when you finally hit the day where they're like, "Oh, he's playing trains in the bedroom. Come on, let's go", and we're like, "We graduated past the living room!" And it's like such an exciting milestone for us, it's beautiful.
