Deaf/HH Infusion

My Journey as a Deaf Nanny

By Claudine Bastien

I was born in Haiti, and when I was two years old, my family moved to Brooklyn, New York. My whole family is hearing. My parents’ first language is Creole, and they learned English after moving to the U.S. Growing up, I had hearing aids, and used an FM unit in school, but these did not give me full access to English. I went to a mainstream school with a deaf program with about 20 deaf students. Sometimes my teachers signed, and sometimes I had an interpreter. When I was in middle school, my older sister started learning to sign, so I finally had someone I could communicate with at home.

I earned a bachelor’s degree in Family Child Studies from Gallaudet University. I worked as a lead teacher in a childcare center and as a long-term substitute teacher at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES) in Washington, D.C for 11 years. I am most passionate about working with deaf children because I can relate to their experiences. Deaf children must overcome many barriers to communicate effectively. Deaf children who don’t have accessible language are not able to express their feelings and get very frustrated. I can remember having a tantrum at age three or four, rolling around on the floor, frustrated that I couldn’t get my mom to understand what I wanted. When I was older, at the dinner table, I would try to lipread. However, there were so many people talking that it was totally overwhelming. I felt lost and isolated. 

Deaf children without access to language also miss out on current events and general world knowledge. I think it is critical for families to be able to explain everything to their deaf children, whether it’s political news, safety, relationship advice, moral values or religious beliefs. In my experience, technology did not give me full access to spoken language. That’s why it has always been my dream to work with hearing families that have deaf babies so that I could help them learn ASL, but the communication barrier can make these positions hard to find.

Finally, I got an opportunity to interview with Amanda and her husband, Tom, and to meet their beautiful four-month-old named J. His parents knew a little ASL. Baby J was crying when I started reading a book in ASL, but he stopped, becoming more interested in watching me sign. When I learned that I was hired, I was so thrilled that I cried!

Promoting Early Literacy

In the year since I started, baby J, now 16 months old, expresses over 100 words in ASL and his parents can communicate with him effectively. He tries to fingerspell when he sees big letters on a box of crackers or a toy. He imitates the way I count the number of items on a page. He can’t form all the handshapes for numbers yet, so he taps a five hand on each item.

I recommend The 15 Principles for Reading to Deaf Children by D. R. Schleper. I apply those principles in promoting literacy with J. We surround J with books he finds interesting and several times a day, I encourage J to pick up a book and we read them together with these principles.

1. Translating the story concepts into ASL. I make clear ideas that are implicit, but not shown on the page or text. In Good Night, Gorilla, the zookeeper’s wife leads the animals back to the zoo, and implies that she locks them back in their cages. I explain what is happening “off the page.”
2. I point to illustrations on each page to encourage J to focus on the signs and pictures. In some books, the text, pictures and concept of the story are closely linked. For other books, such as I Like Myself, I can tell a different story by focusing primarily on the pictures.
3. I make the characters more engaging through acting. I sign LION, but also show how the lion moves and roars.
4. I fingerspell English words on the page.
5. I expand on the book through games. For The Very Hungry Caterpillar, I made paper cut outs of each stage of the caterpillar’s life cycle. We used the props to tell the story, and I made a cardboard figure of the caterpillar for J to “feed”.
6. Repeating the same book many times with different approaches helps J absorb the plot and learn the primary signs.

Keeping a Baby’s Attention

I alternate between shared gaze (looking at the pictures together) and eye contact while I am signing. I let him turn the pages, even if he sometimes goes too fast or turns the pages backward. I lift the book up near my face so he gazes at me. I vary my signing location, signing on the book, on J, or in the typical sign space. As is common in deaf culture, I lightly tap J’s shoulder to recapture his attention. Now he taps me on my shoulder or leg to get MY attention.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is J’s current favorite. Now, he signs HUNGRY CATERPILLAR, MOON, EGG, SUN, APPLE, EAT. ORANGE, ICE CREAM, CHEESE, FAT, SLEEP, and BUTTERFLY. You can find ASL versions of this book on YouTube and https://deafchildren.org/knowledge-center/resources/sign-language-stories/.

I’m so proud of my amazing and gifted student. Baby J will excel in school because of his growing communication skills. I’m looking forward to contributing more to his growth and self-identity as a proud Deaf person. Before I moved in, I could only talk to Tom for a few minutes after he came home from work or during an ASL lesson on Saturday. Now we communicate daily and know each other well, and the family can easily ask me how to sign anything that comes up. I hope to continue this work, perhaps starting an agency that matches families with Deaf nannies or a childcare center where all children can learn ASL.  ~

H&V Communicator – Summer 2020