Deaf Group Observation Report

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During the first Saturday of every month I volunteer at St. Columbkill Church in Parma, Ohio which has a program for teenagers and young children to come and socialize and learn about the bible. With the church being located in Parma, Ohio there is a great amount of diversity within the teenagers, which makes the volunteering fun and exciting. Some of the teenagers who participate in the church group are people who were born Deaf. To help assist with the children who are Deaf, the church brings in a ASL (American Sign Language) interpreter, therefore the teenagers are able to participate fully in the church activities and not feel left out. Before taking a ASL class I was not able to communicate with the Deaf teenagers at any level. After taking a semester of ASL I was able to pick up on certain signs and I was able to communicate with the Deaf teenagers more …show more content…

Most of the signs I can pick up easily are greetings, commands, and numbers. Fingerspelling is an area that I feel extremely confident in. While communicating with the Deaf group members I am able to fingerspell certain words if I do not know the correct sign. Some of the activities I help out with are team building exercises to help individuals learn about each other and create a dynamitic group environment. One of the team building exercises that I help chaperone is called Poker Tower. Poker Tower involves groups of two or five people to construct the tallest tower of playing cards with only the materials they are given to complete the task. Having experience in ASL I was able to assist in the instructions that were given to the children by the church organizer on the group building activity. Even though my vocabulary in ASL was not the strongest I was able to give commands by having the children sit and pay attention to instructions. During the Poker Tower exercise I felt confident enough to finger spell certain directions to the few children

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