Books in sign language for deaf children

Have you seen the interactions between deaf adults and deaf children  in VIDEOBOOKS' page? (www.videolibros.org.ar). 

In the whole collection of books available in this web site, there can be seen interactions between a deaf adult and a deaf child regarding the importance of reading and the right of all kids to access children's literature.

The new series of books that is about to be spread will be different. In these series of classic stories the introduction and the ending of each book is done by DEAF ELDER LADIES, who belong to the Argentinean Association of deaf women Casa Hogar.

We decided to include deaf grandmothers because most deaf children have little chance of having contact with older deaf adults. Since parents and grandparents are in 95% of the cases hearing persons who do not know sign language, most deaf children never have the opportunity to be told a fairy tale from their grandfathers or grandmothers. Through this initiative we will try (even if only for the duration of a story) to give deaf children the opportunity to learn that the deaf community is also composed of older deaf people, and these people can read books.

For this part of the project, we moved all Canales filming devices (camcorder, tripod, lights and computer) to  Casa Hogar Association . The first step after installing the film set was to show on a screen the flipbook in sign language. It was exciting to see that many of the adult women who participated did not know these stories and was the first time they could gain access to reading. After showing each story, the participants discussed in pairs, a conversation for the introduction and closing the book, they practiced it and one of the couples was selected to film each book. Many of these ladies are not fluent signers because they were educated by reading lips and tongue sound emission, so some of them could not act in the filming.

The same steps were taken for each of the videobooks except the last one, Little Red Riding Hood, because the ladies were tired.

We believe these actions will benefit deaf children and also adults: children will grow up with these stories and may fell identified with the grandparents who tell the stories, which surely will have a positive impact on their adult lives.

It is also our intention to spark the interest of deaf grandmothers and grandfathers (elderly and not so elderly) so that after seeing these video books, they multiply the reading in all areas where there are deaf children. We also hope that hearing grandparents may find a way to communicate with their deaf grandchildren and establish a communication bridge between them through the pleasure of reading. For that reason the videobooks include voiceover.

We share some photos that you'll like!

Links:

• Videobooks' page