Having a deaf son opened a whole new world to us. Even though Jackson would be able to hear with his Cochlear Implants (CI), we knew right from the start that sign language should be his first language. I want to be able to communicate with my son at any time, not only when he is wearing his CI’s. Imagine Jackson being sick, tired, in bed or in the bathtub, all situations where he is not wearing his CI. I still want to be able to ‘talk’ to him. And I must admit, it does seem kinda cool to be able use sign language in a crowded room or on a busy schoolyard to share secret messages with your kid…

So the urgency of learning sign language was pretty clear to us. Where and how to start? And which sign language to choose? This came as a surprise to us (and maybe to you as well), but there is NO universal sign language. So every country has its own sign language, there is even dialect in some countries. Complicated right? We are Dutch, we live in Belgium, do we choose the Flemish or Dutch sign language? How will this affect our choice for a school for Jackson later on? Important decisions, I was very much in doubt. Luckily there is my ever pragmatic husband, laying out the facts. In Belgium we could not start a course nearby or right away, in Holland we could start almost immediately, close to our home. There is also a big difference in teaching materials for deaf children and their parents, in the Netherlands there seems to be much more available than in Belgium. So it was decidedly so, we would start lessons in Dutch sign language.

And that’s how we met Henny, our brilliant sign language teacher. She is profoundly deaf, has no CI’s, so the only way of communicating with her is with sign language. I can tell you, you feel pretty useless those first lessons! You really need to cross a barrier and dare to communicate with your hands, and your face. Let’s not forget that facial expression is a very big part of sign language.

Henny not only teaches us the signs, but so much more. That deaf people are smart and funny. How deaf children experience the world and what we can do to help them. How we can read stories to Jackson using signs and how important this is. She makes us wear earplugs during class, forcing us to rely only on our sign language skills. Challenging, I can confirm.

It’s not always easy finding time to do my homework and race to class after work. But once I am there I am always happy and eager to learn. And the best part is to see Jackson respond to signs. I think the first sign he really understood was ‘finished’, as in your bottle of milk is finished, all gone, done, you drank it all! Yes, food is a big priority is this house.

There’s lots more to learn and tell about sign language, will be continued later on…