|
 Our
Mission
Improving literacy
levels of the born-deaf.
"By the third page of the story,
the kids were figuring out the signs by themselves with
no assistance from me. They then transferred it to written
English and they labeled the SignWriting and wrote in
English. IT WAS AWESOME!!" Patti
Togioka, School Teacher
1. Requested by Teachers....
Our literacy materials are sorely needed. Educators
have suggested and requested them.
2. Why Is It Needed?.. Not all born-deaf children
learn to read and write well. Many schools graduate born-deaf
children with little or no English skills. Why is this?
One reason is that the born-deaf's first native language
is not English, but Sign Language. Learning to read and
write your second language before learning to read and
write your first language is very difficult. Before SignWriting
was invented, there was no solution.
SignWriting makes it possible for deaf children to read
and write Sign Language and English side by side. For
many deaf children, SignWriting is the bridge to literacy.
The purpose of the Literacy Project is to test this in
the schools and to then disseminate the documentation
to other educators for review. Documentation already received
has been outstanding and the results are quite successful.
Kids who could not read before are reading in ways that
people would never have dreamed.
3. Target Population... The age of the students
varies depending on the school.Our focus is K-12. However,
Deaf people of all ages can use our materials, and some
Deaf adults have greatly benefited from our materials
too. We have created a special web page for each school,
to document the student's progress, and to provide information
for parents and teachers.
4. How Many Served?
Software & the World Wide Web: 1000's of people receive
free software, free lessons online, and free documented
feedback posted on our popular SignWriting Web Site, which
receives 10,000 to 20,000 hits daily.
Donated Materials: 100 deaf children in 1999 plus
several groups of Deaf adults, are receiving donated books,
videos and software. Their parents and teachers benefit
from our donated materials too. This includes two residential
schools for the Deaf, four mainstreaming hearing impaired
programs at elementary schools, and one private-tutor
with 7 deaf children. The schools are all over the USA,
but our Deaf staff members, who give them technical support,
are from Southern California.
SignWriting Email List: 150 members in 1999 include
teachers, administrators and researchers. Issues surrounding
literacy for the deaf are discussed. This service is provided
free by our non-profit organization, and is helping educators
learn of new developments in teaching deaf children.
5. Part-Time Employment For Deaf People
Deaf staff members help prepare the materials for the
project.
6. No Duplication...No other agency is duplicating
our services, since this is a new way to teach the deaf.
No funding is received from the United Way.
7. Contact Person...Valerie Sutton, inventor of
SignWriting, and President and Executive Director: (858)456-0098
voice. |
