[yotlyolqualli]

I have a great niece, Aurora who turned three in August. Her mother, and grandmother,.. well... all of us, became concerned when another great niece, Kelsi, born a few weeks after Aurora, began to talk, but Aurora simply pointed and grunted. We didn't worry too too much though, because A walked at 8 months and was perfectly steady enough on her feet to run before she was a year old. She also followed... well.. not spoken directions, but would imitate the actions of the adults around her. When she turned 2 & a half, her doctor's grew concerned and tested her hearing. While she responded appropriately to loud sounds, there was no response to "normal" sounds. She was enrolled in the early headstart program with a speech therapist who is working with her to get her to learn to speak clearly, but first and foremost, she gave Aurora the means to communicate. She began teaching her to sign. Her vocabulary, both signing and speaking has taken off in the past 6 months! At our families 4th of July picnic, my brother, Aurora's uncle Nick, did something silly and Aurora just giggled all over herself, signing over and over again.. "uncle Nick, funny!"

It's an awesome thing to watch her explore and it just makes some of the things she does, so much more profound. In july of last year, her baby brother was born. He was not a quiet cryer, but Aurora could not hear him cry. However, when she would SEE him cry, she would sit down where she stood, and cry with him! Their Mom also teaches her little brother to sign each new word he learns, so that he and his big sister can talk with each other, as well.

Several years back, a young lady, after spending the summer in costa rica with teen missions international, came back and, during a church service, "signed" a song she had learned while serving. A woman in our congregation called it, "Hannah, dancing". The signed language is beautiful and so expressive and so much more tangible than the spoken language. I find that I take being able to hear, too much for granted at times. Aurora is changing that and changing perceptions of the deaf community, in our family.