Exactly How I Feel, James!

Finally Friday - and I feel good!!!  Hope you do also!

Signmark

I love ASL videos and found these while looking around for some new music. Signmark (that's his name) is a Deaf rapper.....Enjoy!

Singing With Their Hands

Last Friday, the New York Times published an article called "Singing With Their Hands" which chronicles the growth of ASL music videos. I've posted several before, all from the Deaf Performers Network.

“Searches for ‘ASL’ over the past few months are the highest we’ve seen them,” said Kevin Allocca, the YouTube trends manager. “And 40 percent of all videos tagged ‘sign language’ on YouTube were posted in just the past year.”

One of my favorites is by Sean Berdy, the actor from the TV show Switched at Birth. He does a sign rendition of Enrique Iglesias’s “Hero.”



One of the more prolific posters of sign videos is Michael Chase DiMartino. His YouTube Channel, called Mr. Chase's Sign Channel, is full of fun music like:



Check out some of these - it's like Karaoke for the Deaf!!

Put On Your Dancing Shoes

This is a plea for help! It’s December 22nd and I still need some Christmas gifts for Ashley. I know exactly what I want to get but don’t know how to find it.

Ashley is deafblind, but she loves loud music and loves to rock out to it. She will not, however, wear headphones. She wants to watch something on TV while the music is blasting. I’m not sure how to explain it, but she seems to need to feel the music (lots of bass) and also get some visual input at the same time. To her, that is the equivalent of a teenager listening to an IPod.

So what I need are ideas about DVDs or BlueRays that would have bright colorful characters or people (can be cartoonish) singing songs with simple melodies. For instance, one that she really likes is on a Sesame Street DVD we have. There is a cartoon lady with a quirky voice singing Itsy Bitsy spider. Ashley likes to do the hand movements and sway her head and body at the same time.

The disk needs to be all music (and dancing if possible), not something like the Imagination Movers who sing occasionally but talk in between songs. Does this make any sense at all??

Actually, I can’t wait until she is older and I can take her to an actual dance club with really loud music and flashing lights, but 14 is a tad too young for that, don’t you think!?

Today I am thankful for the power of the Internet in helping to find something that I really can't define well

Friday Videos

I'm taking the lazy way out today and not writing anything. Instead, I am sharing some of my favorite web videos. Enjoy...

First up, the following is a Thai Pantene commercial. The story of a deaf girl who learns to play the violin against all odds. And, of course she has beautiful hair :)



Secondly, in these tough economic times, a girl has to get her priorities straight :)


null - Watch more free videos

Please no one show this video to Ashley. If she sees it, she will never stop asking me where she can sign up for the next jump.



HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

This and That - Good and Bad

Chip’s Dream

Chip, my birth son and my oldest child, got an acceptance letter in the mail yesterday from his first choice college. To say he is excited is an understatement. And, I hated to dampen that spirit, but unless RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) comes through with a significant financial aid package, he won’t be able to go. Each year at RIT costs $37,000!!



I think Chip deserves this so much. He has shared his Mom with three adopted siblings with significant disabilities since he was five years old. He has always been supportive, caring, and understanding. He has seen his wants and needs often pushed aside to meet the needs and wants of his siblings. He has had his whole life turned upside down by the decisions I have made for our family, and more than anything, I wish I could make his dream a reality.

No More Bird Music

Back in March of 2007, I wrote about how excited I was when Ashley signed that she could hear the ‘bird music’ (birds singing). Given her hearing impairment, I was both surprised and thrilled.



This past Monday Ashley had another hearing evaluation. Previously, her right ear was evaluated as having a profound loss, and her left with a moderate loss. Monday’s results showed what I already knew – her little bit of hearing was deteriorating. The new evaluation continues to show a profound loss in the right ear, but the left ear now measures as severe to profound.

While we waited for the school bus yesterday morning, the birds were singing very, very loudly. I asked her if she could hear the ‘bird music’. She signed ‘no’….

Stevie Wonder Better Watch Out

I've been at home with Ashley for the last few days because she is very sick. I haven't had much time to write a blog post, but since I have committed to myself to post something every Monday through Friday, I was able to find this lovely video to share.

Patrick is blind but more importantly, he is an incredible musician. Listen to this song that HE WROTE!!!

Waiting...

Yesterday, Dave Hingsburger posted a video on his blog, Chewing the Fat, produced by a group called the Deaf Performing Artists Network (D-PAN). The video was an interpretation of Christina Aguilera's song, "Beautiful", and the piece was absolutely incredible and indeed "Beautiful".

I had to know more about D-PAN, so I checked out their website, and you should also. I found another video there which I like even more than "Beautiful". It is an interpretation of the John Mayer song "Waiting For The World To Change." I've included it below so you can enjoy it also.

I hope you all have a great weekend filled with love, sunshine, rest and multiple scoops of your favorite ice cream!

Help for Dreamcatchers

For those of you who might live close to the Tidewater, Virginia area, I urge you to consider attending this show and fundraiser. All the families and children in my Dreamcatcher's support group will be forever grateful!



The show is sponsored by the Partnership for People with Disabilties at Virginia Commonwealth University, Old Dominion University Theatre, the Guide by Your Side project, and the Pathways to Possibilities Conference.

Music to My Ears

I wouldn’t call my family the most musical of families. The kids have had to endure my bad singing since they were very little. Otherwise they would have had no lullabies sung to them at all. And forget the ABC song and Itsy Bitsy Spider. So they learned to love my off-key presentations.

Because of my lack of musicality, I did try to encourage my children to explore theirs. When Chip was 5 years old, I signed him up for violin lessons. I had read that an early introduction to music would help a child academically. I still believe that, but I never could tell with Chip because after just a few short months and one recital, he was done with the violin. He then moved on to the guitar, but that lost out to an IPod. At least Chip appreciates music even if he doesn’t want to actively participate in a musical endeavor.

Jessica sings very well and is taking chorus in high school. Corey goes to a performance-based camp for two weeks each summer, so I guess there is still hope for the two of them to commit to a more musical life. Ashley, on the other hand, loves to bang on our piano or play her small accordion while the dog howls along, but the skill is sorely lacking.

Because of my failures to instill music-making in my children, I read with interest both a post on another site for which I write twice a week, 5 Minutes for Special Needs, and a link to a post that my friend, Jane, sent me.

The post at 5MFSN relates what a positive experience music has been in the life of the author’s daughter with autism. As the author writes, “Children with autism have been shown to respond remarkably well to music therapy, making it a great tool to use at home and in the classroom. Research shows that listening to music can help brain function. Music with a strong beat can stimulate your brain to try and keep up with it, helping boost concentration and alertness. By contrast, listening to music with slower tempos can help relax you. These benefits continue even after you stop listening. Music therapy can help with stress management (something I find particularly beneficial), pain management, and recovery from illness or injury.”

Soon after reading that post, Jane sent me a link to an organization in my area that is offering music training for children with special needs. Jane’s son has participated in the past, and loved it. The Da Capo Institute describes themselves as more than a music school. Rather, they consider that they are part of an emergent musical community. Their website contained a list of their guiding principles, designed after the first letters of their name:

• Develop the whole person through opportunities for self-expression, discipline, creativity, and teamwork.


• Achieve excellence through challenging experiences.


• Create, build, and strengthen new and existing communities through the common language of music.


• Appreciate all types of music.


• Provide an opportunity for everyone, where all are valued as individuals.


• Outfit individuals with the power to share music and impact their world

Another statement from their website, I believe, sums up the power of music in anyone’s life, but especially that of a child with special needs:

Music creates a backdrop of self-examination, determination, joy, and acceptance that fosters the positive development of a student with autism. Through music, we can be ourselves; there is no right or wrong! We can each achieve excellence at our own rate, given our own set of circumstances and be affirmed by a community.

Perhaps it’s time for me to re-examine my family’s musical experiences, or lack thereof. How about your family? Does music play an important role for you?