Sign bilingualism: Hong Kong charity aims to boost education for children with hearing disabilities through sign, spoken language combination
- SLCO Community Resources provides sign bilingualism – both signed and spoken language – in education for children with hearing disabilities
- Independent charity hopes to promote sign bilingualism with funding from Operation Santa Claus
Before children learn to speak, it may be challenging for most parents to figure out their little ones’ needs. But for Miyuki Pang, failing to understand her daughter brought extra pain.
“Before she was two years old, my daughter always got frustrated and lost her temper in public when I could not understand what she needed, such as going to the washroom or drinking water,” Pang said.
Her daughter Rihanna, now four, suffers from profound hearing loss, which means she cannot detect any sound lower than 90 decibels – equivalent to riding on a subway – in both ears.
“It is painful when you want to express something but fail to get it through,” Pang said.
But Rihanna is now studying in an integrated class at a mainstream kindergarten after learning some basic sign language two years ago by joining the SLCO Community Resources’ project, which provides sign bilingualism – both signed and spoken language – in education for children with hearing disabilities.
