Child Advocacy...

Recently I was very pleased to be invited to join a new nonprofit group called SNAPS...

Please join SNAPS -- Signing, Networking, and Advocacy of Parents and Siblings, a newly formed nonprofit group -- as we welcome you to a free workshop that will teach you specific strategies for successfully parenting children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, and helping them feel like a part of the family. The event will be this Saturday, July 21st from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Rincon Valley Library in Santa Rosa.

Barbara Street, a Marriage and Family Therapist who is a parent and counsels children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing along with their families, will offer a free 2-hour workshop on how to improve communication within families with children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. At the same time, SNAPS will provide a supervised playgroup for your children (deaf and hearing) so you can focus your attention on the workshop.

Following the workshop, SNAPS will have an hour discussion for parents, teachers, other professionals and the deaf community about how our organization can better serve families with children who are deaf. Some of our ideas thus far include information regarding IEP support-learning, what you can ask for from the schools, IEP advocacy (a person to go with you to IEP meetings), sign language classes, parenting support groups, Cochlear Implant support groups, and after school care for children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing and their siblings. What do you need as a parent? How can we help you? Be a part of making SNAPS an organization that provides your family with what you need to thrive!

Unfortunately I am unable to attend this first event. I did tell the person who invited me that I am very interested in this group and the focus they are describing. Perhaps it will "catch on" and thrive enough to expand in to other geographic areas, like the Bay Area.

So I suppose if I am going to get involved with groups like this, I should temper my opinion on CI's. I still believe that deaf children need to be exposed to their Deaf community, from the earliest point possible. This means educating the parents on ASL communication and Deaf culture. I hope to someday be a bridge for these parents, helping them learn to sign to their babies and introducing them to the differences between the cultures.