Work shop

                                                                     Kailyn O'Donnell

Signing Love

Around four years ago I received a text from my aunt to come outside and that she was going to pick me up and she had important news to tell me. I was so excited because my Aunt Mo was always the fun and exciting one, so I had high hopes for what this news would be. Upon getting in her car I looked at her eagerly, my brain going crazy with all the possibilities. She looked at me and said the words that would change my life forever, “Were having twins” she said, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing because she had been told it was impossible for her to have kids. I couldn’t help but ask how and she told me they would be adopting two twin boys who desperately needed at home, and that’s when I knew I was going to have my work cut out for me.

About a half a year I got the call the boys were on their way home, so my family drove up to Chicago to welcome the new boys to our family. They were all wrapped up in blankets and cuter than ever. They were so small but yet so happy, always looking up smiling rarely every crying, it’s almost like they already they knew we were family. As they started to grow we realized they were a bit slower than most kids and it was hard for them to do normal tasks such as crawl or even just roll over. With all the therapy they were in it wasn’t getting much better, so we knew something was wrong. After many visits to the doctor they finally concluded that they had a learning disability due to the mother being on drugs while pregnant. The news was devastating for the whole family, but the boys never gave up trying so we couldn’t either.

Once the boys turned 3 we knew they should be starting to talk but it was harder for them to form words and figure out how to put together sentences they would say short words such as “da”, “ball”, and occasionally “milk” and soon they began to get frustrated with their lack of ability to communicate with us what they wanted. I began thinking of ways to help them, so they were less stressed and upset and it finally hit me, sign language.

I reached out to a few people whom I didn’t know all too well but knew they knew sign language.  I was willing to immerse myself in this new language if it meant I could help my baby cousins talk. The first meeting I had with my new teacher was very rough, she said “this language takes time and practice, but it is the most rewarding language to learn” I replied, “I’m ready for the challenge”, and that I was. Slowly but surely, I began to learn the basics and would face time my cousins to teach them the little words that they could sign to help them communicate what they wanted. One day my aunt called me crying and said, “they just said I love you mom” in sign language I couldn’t believe they actually remembered what I had taught them, and they used it correctly I said with a shaky voice back “tell them I’m proud and I love them”. This was the first time she had ever heard her kids say that they loved her, so it was truly a gift.

Today my cousins are 5 and they still have trouble at times saying words and making sentences so often they return to sign language for an easy way to get their point across, but they are working hard on speaking. It was such a joy to give my cousins a voice and help them express themselves without using words. Speaking sign language is an amazing culture I have joined and will be forever grateful of the gifts it gave me.