It is the first week of February 2010, January is all gone!  I feel this year 2010, is a very special year!  It is start of a new decade!  So even if it is February it is not too late to make New Year’s resolutions or set goals.

If you recently found out your child is deaf, do not despair!  Welcome to an interesting life, one of challenges and rewards!   This may be difficult to believe now but it is true.  Here are a couple of tips on what you can get started on:

#1: Meet Deaf adults!  This will ease your despair and show you there is hope and your child has a bright future.  We remember when we went to the Summer Learning Vacation at Gallaudet University .  We met so much Deaf professionals and parents that we started and continued communicating with.

#2: One of the goals you should be, start learning sign language as soon as possible!  You need to communicate with your child as much as possible, just the same as you would communicate with your hearing child.

#3: Treat your child as normal as possible.  Your child is normal; you just need to use a different method of communication!

So no more despair, let’s get started on an interesting and rewarding journey.

If you child is less than 10 years old.  Here are a couple of tips that you use:

#1: Continue that communication.  Learn more signs, preferablyAmerican Sign Language.  As your child gets older, their interest changes, you need to be able to communicate on these new topics.

#2: Make sure you are proactively doing your best to nurture your child’s interest in reading.  We have a podcast on reading at www.raisingdeafchildrenpodcast.

#3: What is your child’s passion?   Is it soccer, basketball, gymnastics or swimming?  Support your child with his or her passion, this build self-confidence.  We have a separate podcast with Brian Ainscough-Larry’s favorite soccer coach.  You can see Larry’s passion and the respect and support he got from this coach.

So 2010 is a time to renew your efforts with making sure your child gets all they deserve.

If your child is a teenager, here are some tips:

#1:  Well all your previous communication efforts should be paying off now!  You can have in-depth conversations with your child.  Keep onlearning American Sign Language; I was happy we continued learning American Sign Language while Larry was a teenager. Communication is so important in those teenage years and believe me teens use different terms friends.  Teens start getting impatient if you cannot communicate fluently.

#2: Proactively monitor your child’s education.  Make sure adequate progress is being made and start discussing with your child what they will like to do post high school.  It is a good time to have their school start introducing your child’s class to Deaf professionals.

#3: Fathers get involved!  All children need guidance from both parents.  I remember parents at TLC will ask me how Larry and I had such a great relationship.  I told them it was communication.  I did a podcast entitled “I will Not Trade Him For The World”.  Please, fathers, do not abandon your Deaf child, it can be the best thing that happened to you.

It is never too late to start!

For us at Deaf Parenting our resolution is to provide information that can give you hope and help you with the challenges and joys of parenting a special needs child.  Let us know which topics you will like to hear more about by entering a comment or sending us email.