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The year was 1969.\u00a0 I was teaching in a migrant kindergarten.\u00a0 A deaf boy, Guillermo,* was placed in my class.\u00a0\u00a0 There were no experts to consult.\u00a0 I was told to make him feel accepted and work on socialization.\u00a0 He watched the other children and followed along.\u00a0 The biggest help was a cousin who had the uncanny ability to tell exactly what Guillermo wanted.\u00a0 They had been together since birth, and the cousin seemed to sense what Guillermo was thinking.<\/p>\n
There was structured curriculum to teach English to the children who only spoke Spanish.\u00a0 Guillermo did other activities during the English lesson.<\/p>\n
We did a variety of activities including manipulatives, coloring, and painting.\u00a0 Guillermo used only black crayons and paints.\u00a0 We were thrilled in February when he picked up a red crayon to color valentines.\u00a0 He began to use other colors after that.<\/p>\n
We had a mesh container in the classroom for the children to observe live things. They had an affinity for bugs and worms.\u00a0 We would observe their treasures for an hour or two and then release them back into their own environment.\u00a0 Guillermo\u2019s instinct was to smash all bugs and insects found on the playground.\u00a0 We had to watch him closely.\u00a0 He did not understand why we just looked and did not destroy.\u00a0 One day a small bird flew through the open window of the classroom hitting the window sill.\u00a0 Stunned, the bird fell to the floor.\u00a0 Guillermo rushed to it, grabbed it, and had his arm ready to dash it to the floor when I reached him.\u00a0 I surprised him by taking his arm, causing him to release his grip.\u00a0 Fortunately, the little bird had recovered enough to fly back out the open window.<\/p>\n
During the last week of school, I watched the children looking intently at something on a shrub at the edge of the playground.\u00a0 Suddenly Guillermo raced toward me holding something in his hands.\u00a0 He opened his cupped hands slightly so that I could see a beautiful butterfly.\u00a0 When he turned from me, I was ready to rescue the butterfly.\u00a0 Instead of throwing it to the ground and stepping on it, he raised his arms high above his head, opened his hands wide, and released the butterfly.\u00a0 As we watched it take flight, I had tears in my eyes.\u00a0 He was learning!<\/p>\n
*not his real name<\/p>\n
Note:\u00a0 He began first grade at a regional day school for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The year was 1969. I was teaching in a migrant kindergarten. A deaf boy, Guillermo,* was placed in my class. There were no experts to consult. I was told to make him feel accepted and work on socialization. He watched the other children and followed along. The biggest help was a cousin who had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[221,223,222],"class_list":["post-788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1955-to-1972","tag-deaf-child","tag-special-needs-child","tag-teaching-a-deaf-child"],"yoast_head":"\n