Comments on: Creating The Year 2010

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 01:11:51 +0000

OMG this post feels like I am writing about my own life! The morphing of a marriage into separations of duties. My eldest is now 5; she also has cerebral palsy. We started signing with her when she was 9 months, due to suspected deafness. She passed her hearing test, but was essentially mute for the first 2 1/2 years of her life. She could sign over 65 words by the time she spoke her first word–what a LIFESAVER, and I’d have never done it if I hadn’t heard of parents like you teaching their babies sign language.
I want to create my 2011! I’d try to create the “rest of my 2010″, but I need more time to prepare!

By: Sabrina

Sabrina — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:10:17 +0000

Rachel,

I am months behind in even reading this post but it was SO inspiring! Your family is blessed to have each other.

By: Janna

Janna — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 13:54:49 +0000

We have the Baby Signing times dvds…and was thinking about other Signing Times products and came across your blog. I found it quite inspiring! Thanks. As I read more and more of it…I’m quite impressed with your ability to express your thoughts and how you and your family have come together now only for your girls but everybody. And then imagine my surprise to see you reference the corpus callosum…as my youngest son has dysgenesis of corpus callosum and he why we investigated sign language. Thanks again for being an inspiration for me to continue forward with my boys…

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:59:19 +0000

Hi Rachel.
My name is Lindsay. A stranger on Facebook recommended your Signing Time DVDs (I saw that she was a sign language interpreter, so I contacted her for suggestions). My entire family has been watching and loving every minute of them ever since! Earlier today, I stumbled upon your blog, and this particular entry really hit home.

One of my twin babies, Elena, spent almost a year in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She was born with a melting pot of congenital anomolies, and has been resuscitated more times than I care to remember. She was born with only one lung, and an airway that was 80% collapsed. Her esophagus was not (and still is not) connected to her stomach, but rather ended in a blind pouch at the top, and connected into her airway at the lower end. Her intestines were not connected to her stomach either.

Due to the collapsed airway, Elena ended up with a tracheostomy. Because of the fact that she only has one lung, we weren’t able to use the Passy-Muir Valve (her talker) until recently. To make a REALLY, REALLY long story short…we started signing with her a lot since she came home, but recently I have been feeling like we were at a stand-still. We have made a committment as a family to learn more sign language. It really allows Elena to develop her own voice in an otherwise loud world!

Your post speaks to me on so many different levels! As a mother of a baby who has so many rare anomolies bunched into one gorgeous, vibrant little girl…hearing the statistics gets pretty old. You have a wonderful outlook, and I look forward to following your blog!

Sincerely,
Lindsay Perez
www.caringbridge.org/visit/elenaperez

By: Amy Lapain

Amy Lapain — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:38:20 +0000

didn’t dawn on me till the end of the article who you were. i love the stats paragraph… deafness + autism. I always say I live outside the stats. or off the edge of the curve. just recently realized my own DH issues. trying to recapture the love of our youth. Thanking God for facebook because w/o a friend posting I would never have found your blog. awesome. I actually have a dream about DH and I at our 20 year anniversary..2 1/2 years away.. i’m going to start focusing and working on that dream

By: Alyse

Alyse — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:45:09 +0000

I have just recently learned about you from seeing you on Noggin….I googled your name and it brought me to this blog and to tears. What a wonderful, smart, inspiring woman and mother you are. Thank you for sharing your story. I will love following your story from now on.

As for a theme for the year…you have inspired me to find one!

By: Elena

Elena — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:50:36 +0000

So, do you want to know that your stats are great? (multiply.)

My mom had challenging kids to raise, often putting her in awkward situations. She says it helped her learn to deal with every situation.

To prevent the deafness of one from resulting in a 4th grade reading level, she went with Cued Speech. It worked. (Now, it’s mostly ASL.) I’m impressed with her and you. Keep it up, and it’s great to have kids. They offer such surprising insight, no matter who they are. And now matter how you choose to do deal with unique children, it takes dedication and commitment to raise them well. Keep up the great relationship you have built with your family. Good luck!

By: Aleasha

Aleasha — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:04:26 +0000

Thanks for the blog. I read every one of them and am always inspired. For me, I haven’t sat down with my family yet, but I think some of our themes might be:
The year of connecting with others’ and creating friendships. We are new to our town and have some family around us but haven’t braved the task of connecting with other families’ and other children for our son to spend time with outside of daycare.

It will also be the year of making our home and yard more accessible for our son to use.

It will be a year to advocate and make sure our son has everything he needs to lead a full quality life.

I think I agree with the one year you had – the year of no more somedays.

Finally, it will be a year of improved communication. We do very basic sign and are looking at picture communication, but none of it can happen soon enough for me – in terms of getting resources and starting on projects.

Thanks again!

By: Rachel Coleman

Rachel Coleman — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:37:58 +0000

You are so cute. Why don’t you take it since you offered;)

By: Carissa

Carissa — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:29:49 +0000

I discovered you through a friend whose son was obsessed with Signing time. Our family has had its own share of surgeries and grieving, and she thought I’d appreciate hearing from someone else to decided that laughing into the darkness was the only viable option. (Of course, then MY kids discovered ST and I ended up certifying through the Academy, but that is a whole different story).

Your battles inspire those of us going through similar hard times, Rachel. Thanks for your honesty.