Deaf

The Alphabet

Kylie Amberlynn was around 14 when she started to lose her hearing.
She didn't realize it at first, though. She thought it was just allergies messing with her ears.
But it got to the point where her mother (Connie) or her father (Erick) would say Kylie's name, and all Kylie would hear is a slight hum.
Finally, her parents took her in to do a hearing test.
A hearing test checks a person's ability to hear the loudness and pitch of sounds.
The doctors told them that she had severe hearing loss.
"She's...she's deaf?!?" Connie exclaimed, devastated.
The doctor nodded.
A couple weeks go by as Connie and Erick take Kylie to the doctors to run a couple more tests.
Kylie's mother asked how they could communicate to their daughter since she's deaf.
The doctor replied, "have you ever heard a language called Sign Language?"

The next day, Kylie and her parents sat down at the table, where some scratch paper and a piece of paper with information on it sat.
"Okay, Kylie," Connie said, looking at her beautiful child. "I know you can't hear us or understand us. But that's gonna change."
She watched as her mother scribbled on a piece of scratch paper.
"Read this," Connie said, picking up the paper and handing it to Kylie.
It read, 'Kylie. I know you don't understand us, but the doctor told us a way to communicate other than talking. It's called American Sign Language. Are you ready to learn?'
Kylie looked up and nodded.
"Okay!" Her mother exclaimed, grabbing the paper out of Kylie's hand and putting it aside.
Connie grabbed the piece of paper with information on it, along with two pieces of scratch paper, and read it.
On one scratch paper she wrote, 'ASL (American Sign Language) alphabet'.
Kylie read it as she wrote.
On the second piece of paper, Connie wrote a big 'A'.
Kylie looked at it, confused. She looked at her mother, who pointed at the letter then at her hand.
Connie's hand looked like a fist, but with the thumb up.
So she did the same.
She watched as her mother and father excitedly jumped up and down in their seats, nodding their heads, and making the letter A with their hand.
They did the rest of the alphabet slowly, correcting Kylie's hand when she didn't know how to do the letter.
Afterwards, Connie wrote to her on a piece of paper, '
'What we're doing right now is called fingerspelling. Fingerspelling is basically how the Deaf Community says their alphabet, but on their hands!
If you memorize the alphabet, you'll be able to fingerspell your name, Kylie!'
She also wrote to Kylie, explaining what the Deaf Community was.
Afterwards, Connie gave Kylie a sheet of paper that had the ASL alphabet on it.
On the top of the paper it said, 'memorize the alphabet!'.
Kylie knew what she had to do....

Just like Kylie, you need to learn the ASL Alphabet. It's important to know how to fingerspell, because when a deaf person asks what your name is, you need to know how to fingerspell your name to them!
So, go ahead! Memorize the alphabet, and have fun with your friends fingerspelling your names!
You can also practice fingerspelling different objects around the room. Try fingerspelling your favorite color, or your favorite movie title. Or your favorite place to eat.