Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!samsung!olivea!oliveb!bunker!hcap!hnews!272!94!Fran.O'gorman From: Fran.O'gorman@f94.n272.z1.fidonet.org (Fran O'gorman) Newsgroups: misc.handicap Subject: Re: eeek! Message-ID: <18937@bunker.isc-br.com> Date: 23 Apr 91 19:22:23 GMT Sender: wtm@bunker.isc-br.com Reply-To: Fran.O'gorman@f94.n272.z1.fidonet.org Organization: FidoNet node 1:272/94 - Monroe Electronic M, Monroe NY Lines: 63 Approved: wtm@bunker.hcap.fidonet.org Index Number: 15115 [This is from the Silent Talk Conference] FO>> That's neat, if sign were taught more at an age like that when FO>> they're like sponges and pick up language so easily, more people FO>> would know it JO> You are SO RIGHT about that, Fran. A younger sibling of Marisa'a JO> (Caitlin - age 4) taught herself the manual alphabet and is quicker JO> than I am - both expressive and receptive. Caitlin knows all her JO> letters, but often has no idea what the words spell. Well she will eventually but in the meantime her hands (and fingers) are becoming 'fluent' so-to-speak and it's the same way with learning to speak a foreign language. Bush is talking so much about education changes (sweeping ones) I think that the 'when' of the teaching is such a key here--at that age they're a natural for it. Later we get tongue-tied/finger-tied and are so afraid and self-conscious about messing up...although I suppose it's unlikely with these changes that we're going to see foreign and sign language as part of preschool and kindergarten curricula :-) but for my part I'd like to see the opportunities be there for the really young ones. We Americans wouldn't be so limited language-wise I think. JO> BTW, I hope the discussions of other "Hi-tech" approaches to sign JO> instruction will not discourage you from proceeding with SF. Some JO> of the proposals may be closer to realization than my holographic JO> monitor - but they are definitely "birds in the bush". SF is here JO> and now. When one gets to my age, considerations like that become JO> quite important. Thanks so much, Jack, for saying that. I really was kind of at the point where I was wondering, if Caren and Scott could do it so quickly and easily, if the obsolescence of SF wasn't, in fact, right around the corner. But when I thought about it, even a few years from now, there would still be plenty of systems like mine that I'm writing this on, and people would/could still use it. We're a small and not affluent school district here, and we still have (believe it or not) a couple of old Commodore Pets and they still work and the kids do use them. Obviously it wouldn't make sense to develop new software for these machines, but I'm grateful for the software that does exist and they still have their usefulness. And in the case of the hardware I'm writing for it's not even orphaned or anything. I guess I needed a little time to get my bearings, but I'm still plugging away, slowly but surely. :-) JO> I don't buy green bananas :-) My goodness, Jack! You sound like you think you're about to expire tomorrow! Please don't, we all enjoy you too much! Seriously, you're NOT THAT OLD!! Old is when you THINK old and you're one of the youngest thinking types around IMHO :-) --Fran JO> * Origin: SoundingBoard (1:129/26) -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!272!94!Fran.O'gorman Internet: Fran.O'gorman@f94.n272.z1.fidonet.org