(Part 3) Top products from r/deaf

I don't know of any websites, but yes, there are books on ASL grammar! This is a good place to start; it's by a non-native signer, but it's also affordable...there are some ASL grammar books out there that aren't! Here is an example of the expensive type. :)

To answer your question about active/passive hands...yes and no. It doesn't matter which you use, but it should be consistent. If you are right handed, then your right should be your "dominant hand" (DH) and your left should be your "non dominant hand" (NDH). If you're left handed, then your left is DH and right is NDH. As long as you don't switch back and forth all the time, you're fine. There are some people who switch for a few signs here and there (I have been guilty of it myself), but you're supposed to stick with one DH and one NDH. :)

Now, as for every half-turn of your wrists...actually that does kind of matter. I hope you don't mind if I explain the four components of a sign:

• Location - Where the hand is on the body. For example, in cat, the location is the cheek.
  
  
• Handshape - The shape of the hand, positions of the fingers. You can see most of the handshapes here, note that it goes beyond just the letters! For cat, the handshape is (usually) F.
  
  
• Palm orientation - Is the palm facing forward, back, left, or right? For cat, the palm is facing forward or "out" as most people call it.
  
  
• Movement - What does the hand do? Up, down, back and forth, in a circle, etc. For cat, the hand moves out from the face.
  
  If any one of these are changed, you're not signing cat anymore - in fact, if you change only the movement, you sign fruit! That's called a "twisting" movement. In the case of "every half-turn of the wrists" that would be palm orientation (PO). If PO is back (behind you), left, or right, you're not signing cat. So it does matter. Obviously if someone is sick, injured, etc they might make signs differently - but the way to be understood is to perform the sign accurately. There are slight variations from person to person, just like there are various accents in spoken language - but for the most part, everybody forms a sign with those four criteria intact.
  
  Of course, all that said...you can sign really really badly and people can figure it out. This video made the rounds among my friends a while back. The guy's signing is absolutely horrible but we all understood him. We wouldn't want to chat with him on a regular basis until he improved his skills...but we figured it out. :)

A CI was put into me at around 18 months old. I was mainstreamed.

My school system had a magnet deaf/HH program that attracted students from five different school townships. As result, I wasn't the only deaf student in my grade, although it was still lonely company since only one of them only really grew up with me, with others coming and going. At most, there was five others, at lowest, there was two others. I never tried to interact with those who were in grades below or above me after elementary school.

I had interpreters in all of my classes. They started out with SEE and then slowly changed to ASL. Later, I found out that this was due to conflicting philosophies from my elementary, middle, and high schools. There wasn't an unificated plan at the time even though there was a person who oversaw all three programs.

Far as I know, the most "successful" people who came out of the magnet program was HH. I was an abnormality in that I had 0% access to spoken English after Elementary School. In fifth grade, I determined that my CI was nothing but a distraction and gave off the false image that I was HH instead of deaf. I still wore the CI for a few years, turned off, and then eventually I built up enough confidence to stop wearing it. Nothing changed although my Middle School's TOR made a bit of fuss but considering how well I was doing in my classes, it didn't last for too long.

I did pretty good, academic wise. I was involved in extracurricular activities (Cross Country, class officer, and so on). I had scholarships thrown at me. But it was three years after I dropped out of university (after three years of alienation and isolation) that the fact that something was missing was noticed by me. I'm sure that my father and others have noticed it before but they either didn't tell me, or if they did try to bring it up with me, I just brushed it off. I wasn't making progress with my emotional and social life.

At least in the meatspace. Around fifth grade, I discovered Internet and with that, I acquired Written English and a social life. Even today, my cyberspace social life is more active than meatworld's.

There's a couple of books that might be of interest to your research; Madness in Mainstream and Turning the Tide.

Feel free to ask more questions if you have any. I have plenty of tidbits.

Your sister should get certified as a teacher, no doubt. This will let her become a teacher. But we don't need more teachers, we need more great teachers.

Some things that more teachers need to do (not just Deaf school teachers):

• Get a strong pedagogical foundation. That is, the methods and psychology of teaching. The school system in America has been static, because not enough teachers know how to teach. There has been ample study on the psychology of how students learn, and how best to reach them. Most "alternative teacher certification" programs have no focus on pedagogy, just basic knowledge. Knowing facts does not make you a good teacher. You have to learn how best to develop knowledge in students, it does not come naturally. If your sister does not have access to a good pedagogical program, have her seek one out. Look up constructivist learning techniques, inquiry-based models, and findings from Piaget, Vygotsky, and Erikson.
  
• Have an advanced certification-level of experience with the language. When it comes to schools for the Deaf, some schools will required their teachers/interpreters be certified at the state or national level. Others will just require that they have "achieved the proficiency level required". If she's a strong signer, certification isn't as important, but getting certified as an interpreter will open more doors. If she were teaching by speaking, say, English, she should have an expert ability to speak English, not just a cursory knowledge of it. The same should hold for ASL, or technical "languages" demanded by the subject.
  
• Find a school where she agrees with the policies. If I had a Deaf child, I would never send them to a school where signing was forbidden. The classroom should be an environment where students and teacher communicate openly and freely, and placing barriers on communication makes no sense educationally. If the point of a school is to teach them to interact in a hearing world that fears and does not accommodate them, and she's okay with that, then she can find a school that suits her principles. If the point of a school is to teach students and allow communication, we should not forbid the use of any tools or languages. When it comes time to interview at schools, she should ask them on their policies. If they are policies she doesn't agree in, she should make it known at that time. If they do not (or cannot) acquiesce, it is not the school for her.
  
• Keep that passion for teaching. There are few excellent teachers in this country. Teaching is a demanding profession, and is often downtrodden. If you are not passionate about your subject and students, never get in to teaching to begin with. If you keep that passion, it will be one of the most rewarding professions possible.
  

I used to collect For Better or For Worse comic strip collection books. Same with Zits. I don’t have the Zits collection anymore but I still have my FBoFW books.

Anime... I’ve never gotten into that genre. Maybe lack of exposure or proper introduction? Idk.

Marvel or DC? MARVEL! Although I do like me some Dark Knight, though...

Visual essays are also one of my favorite things. Good example is this one: Huxley & Orwell.

Over-the-ear headphones such as these are probably your best bet, if you can find a pair that comfortably fits over your hearing aid.

Also, they make "headphone amps". Typically they are used by audiophiles who need the extra power for their special headphones, but they should work just great for your purpose too.

I've found similar problems.. I wanted to get a wooden block puzzle for one of my nephews... and I was really disappointed that the once simple wooden puzzle for a toddler now has sound.

I'm the only deaf person in my family but I refuse to buy a toy that unnecessarily has sound. It's a puzzle not a see-and-say.

To answer your question any toy that builds motor skills are fine. Simple wooden blocks are great toys. I found a great deal on a set of wood blocks but just keep in mind some block sets might have pieces that are too small for a 1 yr old. I had to cull the set and the ones that are too small will wait in storage until he's old enough. (An easy way to check: if it can fall through a toilet paper tube, it's too small for a 1 year old.)

For anyone curious, this is what I found.. the theme was different but the concept and brand was the same.
https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Vehicle-Sound-Puzzle/dp/B0000Z4WZ4

This is a difficult thing to recommend, given the restrictions your friend is up against. Most of the books I want to recommend depend on a supplemental DVD, which I understand is out of the question. A couple more that I know of are spiral-bound, which I'm assuming would also be disallowed in a prison setting.

The American Sign Language Phrase Book is really the best one that I can personally think of that doesn't rely on additional material and would probably be allowed.

You could buy a really cheap I-Love-You-shaped cookie cutter and bake her a plate of gifts. It's low-cost and delicious!

I'm not a doctor & never tried to be, but perhaps a good read: When The Phone Ring, My Bed Shakes.

Could buy an ASL book... I (hearing) grew up referring to The Joy of Signing once in a while.

Maybe some nice speakers, rather than headphones? I can suggest Klipsch, and yes, they have sets for thousands of dollars, but they also have lower end models that I have used for years on end.

Get a 3.5mm Stereo to Mono adapter. This will accomplish what you're trying to do with any stereo headphone that uses the standard 3.5mm jack.

Example of such adapter: https://www.amazon.com/C2G-Cables-03174-Stereo-Adapter/dp/B0002EOHX0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1482595733&sr=8-3&keywords=stereo+to+mono+3.5mm

https://benjamins.com/catalog/z.199

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/study-abroad-ucl/study-abroad-guide/modules/plin7309

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Deaf-Culture-Search-Deafhood/dp/1853595454

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seeing-Voices-Journey-into-World/dp/0330523643/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526106775&sr=1-1&keywords=seeing+voices&dpID=41p5gh8h4XL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

Although don't buy from amazon as Jeff Bezos is an arse.

I can see where they are coming from. Hearing types and tech-bros combining together has the potential to monetise and exploit deaf culture something horrible. My NVQ tutor was big into "deaf power" and an advocate of destroying cochlear implants as they were slowly eroding the standard of BSL within the Deaf community. http://www.beautifulbsl.co.uk/about-me/

Being monolateral deaf, a lipspeaker, a signer, oral and eloquent I find it hard to judge anyone or make a verdict myself.

I am doing an MSc in Digital Education and the general consensus is that AI is here and will continue to develop in both beautiful and horrifying ways. But compassion needs to be where we begin. You are designing a tool but in order to have good design you need to understand who you are making it for first.

LSQ should be fine too- just translate the most commonly-used baby signs into LSQ. Here's a chart of some commonly-used baby signs in ASL.1

If you want to get an idea of what your sister is going through, there's a memoir written by a hearing mother of two deaf daughters.

and here's the link to amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Gallaudet-Exposed-University-Discrimination-Incompetence/dp/0972118756