The students learn to communicate using American Sign Language and Signed English. In Signed English, a sign represents every word in a sentence; in American Sign Language, signs express the main components of a sentence.

A private school, Village Christian Academy, offers sign language lessons through a club for third- and fourth-graders. Teaching the children when young will help them retain the sign language, said Joan Dayton, superintendent of Village Christian Academy.

At Douglas Byrd High School, Cleary maintains a strict no-talking policy unless students are studying lessons on deaf culture or history.

“When they get frustrated and they don’t know how to express something, they throw the rule out the window,” Cleary said.

Junior Keith Farrington said it took awhile to get used to the silence, but it’s not difficult anymore. Keith plans to become a Certified Public Account and use his sign language to serve deaf clients.

Other students in the class have similar intentions. Senior Alexis Alexander plans to teach kindergarten and use sign language if she has a deaf child in her class.

Cleary studied sign language in college for the same reason — to communicate with deaf students in the social studies classes she teaches. When students found out she also signs, they encouraged her to start the sign language class a few years ago.

Sophomore Kayla Billingsley is in her second year of sign language. She wants to become an OB-GYN and communicate with deaf patients. Already, Kayla and her classmate J.J. Rojas, a sophomore, use sign language to communicate with a deaf student on their softball team.

“I think it’s neat we have this class and we can go in that community,” Kayla said.

The community Kayla refers to is that of deaf students who are often isolated from hearing students because of an inability to communicate easily. There are 142 hearing-impaired students in Cumberland County schools. They range from mildly to profoundly hard of hearing. At Douglas Byrd, which most hearing-impaired high school students attend, there are six students who communicate exclusively using sign language.

Open doors
Sharon Webb credits Cleary’s class with improving the lives of deaf students at the school. Webb is the deaf and hard-of-hearing program specialist for the school system.

“It’s really opened up a lot of doors for our kids,” Webb said.

“Their circle of friends has increased. They’re able to communicate with more students in the school system.”

The program has also encouraged hearing students to pursue careers in deaf education and interpreting, Webb said.

“It really opens up the doors to the deaf community as well, because if they can access services in the community and be able to do it directly with someone who uses sign, it’s definitely to their benefit,” she said.

Webb was reminded the other day of the effect the sign language course has had. Entering Douglas Byrd High School in the morning, Webb noticed a deaf student having a conversation in sign language with a hearing student who got off the same bus. Webb had never seen that happen.

“It was effortless,” she said.

“That really touched my heart.”

By Miriam Haskell
http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=229497