RISLI Family Handbook

Who Are These Classes For?

Sign Language Initiative classes are available to you-the parent or guardian of your child-in your home, at no cost to you. Your children are welcome to be present at or involved in classes, but you are the primary student. You are also welcome to invite anyone else you like to class-relatives, babysitters, friends, or anyone who might interact closely with you and your child!

Who Are The Tutors?

The tutor assigned to work with your family will be a trained, deaf or hard of hearing adult from your or a neighboring community. Your tutor will teach you the language, expose you to the culture/ cultural norms, help you discover local resources, and provide you with information from their life experience.

How Many Classes Are There?

You are eligible for classes until your child turns three years of age and as long as you are enrolled in early intervention. If there are any changes to your early intervention services please inform as us as soon as possible. Your class will meet on the same day and at the same time each week, unless other arrangements have been made. You and your tutor may take breaks every 10 weeks, or as you feel necessary. We don’t want anyone to burn out.

We will check in with you every 10 classes so we can assess services. We ask that you be as honest as possible with us so that we can be sure your family is getting the best possible service. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns.

Informed Consent

The Gallaudet University Regional Center-East may request your feedback to gauge the success of the Rhode Island Sign Language Initiatives. During this program, you might be asked to:

•       Fill out an initial questionnaire asking general questions regarding the family members participating in class and the communication modes used within your family;

•       Complete an evaluation form at the end of the program providing overall feedback and suggestions.

Communication and Interpreters

For the first class, we will provide a tutor and an American Sign Language interpreter. If you or a member of your family primarily speaks a language other than English, we will send the appropriate foreign language interpreter. If there is an ASL fluent interpreter who speaks the language we will hire them. If not we will hire an English/ ASL interpreter and an Egnlish/your language interpreter. The interpreter(s) will interpret between you and the tutor, so you can get to know one another and ask any questions you might have.

Some families are nervous when they hear that there will only be an interpreter for the first class. “How will we communicate with the tutor during the coming weeks?”, they wonder. We want to assure you that the tutors are very skilled at finding ways to communicate that will work for you both. The tutors will be patient and take their time to make sure you are learning. They will work with you at your pace and won’t go any faster than you are comfortable. Tutors will often use role-play, picture books, and miming or pointing to things to aid them in teaching the signs to you. This immersion method of language learning is actually proven to be the most effective method.

Cancellations

First Class

Once a date is set for the tutor and interpreter to work with your family, we ask that you do your best to keep the appointment. If there is an emergency, or a need to cancel arises, please try to give us 48 hours’ notice.

Once the interpreter is hired for your class, we are committed to paying them unless they are cancelled with a minimum of 48 hours’ notice, so we appreciate your commitment to keeping the appointment.

If you do need to cancel, please e-mail aneefus@necc.mass.edu or fslp@necc.mass.edu. We will inform the tutor and interpreter of the cancellation.

Regular Classes

You and your tutor should text one another the evening before class each week to confirm that you will both be there.

Please contact your instructor at least 24 hours in advance if you need to cancel a session. Frequent no shows and last minute cancellations may result in loss of services

Please contact the RISLI Coordinator immediately should serious illness or other issue arise which impact your class schedule.

What Should I Expect?

We are currently running classes on Zoom with the option to meet in person if preferred. Your first class is an opportunity to get to know one another. You will learn how to use an interpreter, the tutor will share their own experiences as someone growing up deaf or hard of hearing and you can ask your burning questions! Don’t be afraid, there are no bad questions.

Our tutors are all provided with a curriculum but they are encouraged to adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of families in the moment. On your IFSP, with your early intervention specialists, you have developed goals. You tutor can help you to meet those goals so please share them with your tutor. If there is a specific topic, or a daily routine that you particularly need the language or a communication strategy for don’t hesitate to share that with your tutor as well. These classes are intended to be applicable as much as they are academic.

You will play games in class, read picture books, you might explore the house. Early intervention and our tutors are instructed not to use any toys that they can’t leave with you because we want you to be able to apply what you learn any time! In that same vein, If your child has a favorite book, game, toy, or object share it with the tutor! Your tutor will talk about the holidays, birthdays, and other significant life events so share those as they come up as well.

You might get “homework.” Even if you don’t, try to use what you learn in class regularly. Make it a part of your daily life. The more you practice the easier it gets and the stronger the communication between your family and your child will be.

Be patient with yourself and your child. Learning a new language takes time, and the ability to understand a language and express a language develop at different rates. For example, if you sign with your child every day and they don’t sign back, you might feel frustrated. Remember, just because they’re not responding doesn’t mean they aren’t understanding. Babies (deaf or hearing) learning spoken language often don’t produce intelligible speech right away either!

Confidentiality

All of your records and information are protected under both state and federal regulations and can only be collected and/or given out in order to administer the Rhode Island Sign Language Initiatives (RISLI) at the Gallaudet University Regional Center-East (GURC). No information will be shared with anyone without a signed release of information authorization from you or an authorized member of your family.

Any information concerning a family cannot be shared with anyone other than the GURC staff and only for reasons of official business. It is unlawful for anyone to solicit, disclose, receive, make use of, or to authorize use of any list of names of, and/or information concerning families involved in the Rhode Island Sign Language Initiatives.

All employees of the GURC, RISLI tutors, volunteers, and student interns are under equal obligation to treat as confidential any information they may acquire by any means, about any case. Breaches of confidentiality will be regarded as a serious offense.

Hours and Contact Information

Our office is open 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday.

Please feel free to contact us at any time, by e-mail, phone, text, or videophone. Our e-mail address is FSLP@necc.mass.edu and is checked daily by our team. Please use this e-mail address for urgent matters outside of office hours. Our main office voice phone number is 978-556-3701 and it does receive texts.

The RISLI Coordinator’s direct videophone number is 978-241-7417. When calling the videophone from a voice phone, you will be connected to an English/ American Sign Language interpreter who will interpret the call. The voice you hear will be that of the interpreter. They will speaking the first person (e.g., I, me my, etc.). Know that the message is coming directly from the deaf person on the other end of the line. Speak at your normal pace and pretend the interpreter isn’t there. Imagine you are speaking directly to the deaf person. There may be brief pauses while the interpreter is relaying the message. This is normal and please be patient.

What is the Gallaudet University Regional Center East?

The Gallaudet University Regional Center-East (GURC) is one of 4 regional centers located throughout the country. We are situated on the campus of Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, MA. We serve Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia. We offer training workshops, technical assistance, and extension courses, and coordinate the annual East Regional High School Academic Bowl competitions. We also provide information on professional development opportunities and assistance in planning programs or workshops.

What Other Programs Does the GURC Offer?

The Gallaudet University Regional Center-East offers an additional program for families called, Shared Reading Saturdays. This program meets one Saturday morning a month at Northern Essex Community College in Lawrence, MA. This program provides instruction to parents, from deaf and hard of hearing tutors, on how to read stories in American Sign Language to their children. It is also a social opportunity for families with signed activities and childcare for the kids. This program is free and you are more than welcome to join this program at any time. Sign up for our mailing list to receive announcements about, and a link to RSVP to, Shared Reading Saturdays.