Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Tag: socialization

  • Lions Camp for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Kids

    My kids are still talking about this year’s week at Camp Lions.  Every year, they look forward to that one, magical week with all their friends.  The conversations last all year–via sleepovers, Facebook sharing, texts that fly back and forth and videophone calls.

    My kids spend all day in the mainstream going to classes with students who can hear so they cherish their time with deaf and hard of hearing friends.  Those friendships are deeply important, because communication isn’t an issue and being different isn’t an issue.

    At a deaf picnic this summer, a young mother came up to me and signed, “Do you remember me?”  I looked at her–she looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place the moment in time where we knew each other.

    “You were my camp counselor at Camp Lions!” she said.

    Back in the mid-80s, I did one summer as a camp counselor for the Lions Camp.  I also did one summer as a waterski instructor at Camp Endeavor in Florida.  It’s easy for the kids to remember the counselors, much harder for counselors to remember the many kids!  But I did remember the young girl at camp and it was amazing to see her as a mother to her own kiddos years later.

    I have several friends who attended the Lions Camps as young kids and thirty-plus years later, they can recall the fun they had and the connections that were made.  It’s no surprise that Camp Lions continues to fill up year after year.  They are now in their 51st year of providing camps to deaf and hard of hearing kids in Illinois.

    So I’m writing this to publicly thank the Camp Lions of Illinois and the Lions of Illinois Foundation because if not for the tireless efforts of every Lion group in Illinois who fundraise each year– the deaf and hard of hearing kids in Illinois would have no magical week to remember.

    Thank you.

    Camp is Over, It’s Back to the Real World


  • Socialization for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Kids

    As I was driving home from the mall today, I watched the six kids in the back as they chatted with each other.  The two high school boys were conversing using mostly their voice, with some signs thrown in.  The three girls were animatedly using American Sign Language. Eyebrows arched, shoulders shrugged and cheeks puffed as they skipped through conversations about residental school, camp and their plans for the night.

    I thought back to a few months ago:  I was at an anniversary celebration of a close friend and she introduced me to her cousin, a mom of a hard of hearing son who was in middle school.  We chatted for a while, I told her about Illinois Hands & Voices and we talked about IEPs.  Then the topic of socialization came up.  I shared my frustrations about our school district–how there were nearly 70 kids with hearing loss and very little connection among the kids.  What she told me next blew me away.  “My son doesn’t have a single friend,” she said.  I saw sadness on her face.  “If he could just make one friend, it would be so much better.”

    I couldn’t get that boy out of my mind.  I grew up being the only hard of hearing kid in school, but I always had several close friends.  I’m always looking for new situations for my kids to meet and connect with other kids, deaf, hard of hearing or hearing.  So when my oldest son received an invitation to swim at a friend’s house a few weeks ago, I drove him over there.

    I chatted with the mom and we talked about school, IEPs and other things.  What she said next, blew me away.  The mom revealed that it was the first time since they moved three years ago that her sons had friends over to their house.  I watched as the group of kids horsed around in the pool with smiles on their faces.  It was hard to believe that this was the first time a group of them had gotten together.

    So today, as I watched the six kids connect with one another, I started to wonder about other deaf and hard of hearing kids and how they’re spending their summer.  How many other kids are spending their summer social bluffing their way through group conversations, as I did?  I had a great group of friends while growing up, but I still managed to be the Social Bluffing Queen when it came to parties and group outings. I didn’t address the social bluffing issue until many years later– after meeting deaf and hard of hearing people and learning what it was like to access group conversations without bluffing through them.   Mark Drolsbaugh, my separated-at-birth-twin has a great series on social bluffing:

    Super Phony

    Super Phony on Spring Break

    The Return of Super Phony

    What will it take, asks Mark, to hang up the Super Phony cape for once and for all?  “There are still too many Super Phonies flying around out there. We’ve got to rein them in and encourage them to live authentic lives,” says Mark.  

    Can it be done?

     

  • Socialization and Deaf/hard of hearing kids

    Last Friday, our school district participated in an Advocacy Day at a local high school. Deaf and hard of hearing students from several districts came together for a field trip to learn how to advocate for themselves and their communication needs. A football coach at a private high school shared his experience of being hard of hearing and handling communication issues in his daily life. In our district, my son was the only one to attend this event.

    So this all has me wondering about deaf and hard of hearing adults today–did many of you have contact with other deaf and hard of hearing kids when you were younger? What do you wish your parents had done differently?