A recent Capital Region BOCES graduate is the voice behind an innovative collaboration that aims to make reading more accessible and engaging for students in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) community.
Staff at Capital Region BOCES and Northeastern Regional Information Center (NERIC) partnered with Schenectady-based global author Constance Clarke to make two of her fables available in American Sign Language (ASL). The collaboration encourages the merging of the educational worlds where DHH students can receive academic enrichment through storytelling alongside their aurally-able peers.
“The approach would help to bring two communities of children together, making reading more available in an inclusive setting,” said Clarke.
The project consisted of recording audio and visual narrations of Clarke’s fables, with someone reading the stories aloud and another person translating the narrations in ASL. Temani Thompson, a recent Career and Technical Education (CTE) graduate from Guilderland who is also a part of the DHH community, was selected to read Clarke’s stories “The Skunk and the Chipmunk” and “The Squirrel and the Acorns.” Virtual ASL Interpreter Jesse Palmer, who has worked closely with Thompson, was selected to do the signing narrations.
“We believe this is a very special opportunity, and we’re so proud of Thompson for being chosen,” said Donna Lamkin, BOCES training specialist and literacy coach. “This project is not only a wonderful way for her to contribute to the community, but also something she can proudly include on her resume as a unique and meaningful experience.”
Thompson worked with Speech and Language Therapist Kara Banks, Teacher Holly Gilbert, and Palmer to learn and recite the fables before she recorded them at CTE in April. The recordings were facilitated by former NERIC Training Specialist Cheska Robinson who then used Book Creator to combine Thompson and Palmer’s narrations and created digital copies of Clarke’s books.
The digital books are available through a QR code. The QR code for “The Skunk and the Chipmunk” is available to a global audience by way of Clarke’s publisher’s website, while the QR code for “The Squirrel and the Acorns” is also available online and has been printed on the back of the book and distributed to local schools. The books can be viewed online at this link.
“When Thompson was completely finished [with the narrations], I had the opportunity to share with her just how important and far reaching this project will be. She was very excited to know that her voice will be heard by children, not just in her community, not just in New York State, but around the world. I wanted her to know that she will be inspiring and making a difference in many lives,” said Clarke.
Palmer spoke about the intricacies of translating English literature into ASL.
“It is quite the process to construct an interpretation that is equivalent in a second language and is true to the message,” he said. “ASL has a different grammatical structure than English so it is critical to use the correct vocabulary, visual depiction, and three dimensional perspective to relay the subtleties of poetic content. This was truly a labor of love.”
Clarke credits John Clausson, principal of BOCES special education in-district programs, as the catalyst for the project, whom she met during visits to BOCES classrooms as part of a Mystery Writers series created by Lamkin.
“The hope is that this opportunity will not only make reading and learning more accessible and engaging for students in the DHH community, but that it also inspires more authors and publishers to do the same,” said Clarke.