ASL resources for children who are deaf, hard of hearing

From State Representative, 42nd District, Ann Bollin’s May Newsletter:

Michigan children who use American Sign Language to communicate do not currently have access to many of the resources available to their peers. There is no system to help families track a child’s language benchmarks in ASL and no ASL language assessment to gauge the progress of children who are deaf or hard of hearing from birth to age 5. As a result, a high rate of children who communicate through ASL are not prepared for kindergarten.

To address the problem, the House approved a plan offering additional learning resources for Michigan children who use ASL to communicate.

House Bill 5777 establishes a 15-member advisory committee within the Michigan Department of Education that is made up of parents, educators and advocates who will consult with the department on creating ASL language milestones and assessment tools for children age 5 or younger. The milestones and assessments would be made available to parents to monitor and track their child’s expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy using ASL, English or both, and may also be used when developing a child’s individualized education plan.

The measure will also ensure the language milestones and assessment tools are distributed to intermediate school districts, public school academies and the Michigan School for the Deaf.

By giving families access to more ASL tools we can help Michigan children communicate more effectively and help parents understand how their children are progressing in the acquisition of language.

– Contact Representative Ann Bollin

State Representative, 42nd District
517-373-1784
AnnBollin@house.mi.gov