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Overcoming the silence

Deh Gah students speak by signing

Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Providence (Mar 02/01) - Students in Barb Leuze's kindergarten class sing the alphabet everyday.

That's not unusual in and of itself, but they are also learning sign language to go along with it. That way they can communicate with Kayla Leishman, their five-year-old classmate who cannot hear.

"As often as we can we do things in sign language," Leuze explained. "Not only does it benefit Kayla, but it benefits the other kids too. It's a great way to help them remember their letters and stuff."

Leuze said the other students have a grasp of Kayla's situation. If someone unknowingly attempts to talk to Kayla, one of her classmates will usually pipe up with something along the lines of, "She can't hear you, you have to use your hands."

Pearl Leishman, Kayla's mother, discovered her daughter's disability while watching "Mr. Holland's Opus," the story of a music conductor whose son is deaf.

At the time, Kayla was just 16-months-old. In the film, the parents banged pots together to determine whether their son would react. Pearl then tried the same thing to judge Kayla's reaction. There was none.

"We had just thought we have a nice, quiet baby as she was growing up, not realizing she was deaf," Kayla's father, Mike, explained.

Between the ages of two and three, Kayla began learning to communicate through sign language. She can relay when she's hungry, when she needs to go to the washroom and similar things, Mike noted.

Mike and Pearl have been learning sign language from books, instructional video cassettes and an occasional class in Yellowknife. Mike has also begun a sign language club in the afternoon at Deh Gah school.

Veronica Bonnetrouge, who also knows the basics of sign language, has been a great help as Kayla's babysitter and a special needs assistant at school too, he noted.

Mike, who is a special needs assistant, anticipates that he and his family will have to head south for Kayla's schooling in five or six years. By then she will likely need to be surrounded by peers who are coping with the same disability.

He's optimistic that her energetic and cheerful nature will help her adjust.

"She's happy. She's always happy," he said of his daughter.