THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502090173
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
THEY STUDY IN SILENCE, and that's a good sign.
Some students at Lakeland and Nansemond River high schools are learning signing - the art of communicating with the hearing impaired, people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
The term ``deaf'' applies to people who can hear nothing. The hard-of-hearing are those who have a defective sense of hearing.
The Lakeland and Nansemond River students have normal hearing, plus the desire to work with those who do not.
In their classrooms, silence is not only golden but necessary. Conversation is by hand and accompanying lip movement.
Many of the students wish to be liaisons between the hearing impaired and the people they deal with - people who all too often cannot understand them.
The students' two-year involvement in signing is a daily class, relatively easy for some, difficult for others.
The first year usually results in a number of dropouts.
``In Lakeland, we had 41 in last year's basic class. We now have 11 in advanced,'' said Kathy Plaugher, the sign language teacher. ``At Nansemond River, there were 53 in basic. We have 21 in advanced.''
Those who make it into advanced say they usually find signing easy - always rewarding.
``It's helpful to be able to communicate with the deaf,'' said Tammy Powell, a 16-year-old 10th-grader whose interest stemmed from baby-sitting jobs.
``I took care of twin boys for two years. They were both deaf, and their mother taught us,'' Tammy said, referring also to her 20-year-old sister, Christy, now studying signing in college.
She said the twins' family moved to Kentucky because there is schooling for them there. ``My sister and I want to teach the deaf.''
Tammy's teacher, Plaugher, often takes her Lakeland and Nansemond River signing students to visit lower grade pupils, where they work with deaf children and those who are hard-of-hearing, as well as children who are not hearing impaired.
The high-schoolers present plays, read stories, sing and answer questions.
Plaugher, who also teaches a weekly signing class for adults at Churchland High School in Portsmouth, is a Florida native who is in her third year teaching signing.
She has a bachelor of science in hearing impaired education.
``No one in my family is deaf,'' Plaugher said. ``I found my niche. I just fell into it.''
She explains why her students are into it.
``Some like to sign with friends in several classes, some teach family members and, of course, some want to teach,'' she said.
All the students seem eager to find someone with hearing problems so they can communicate, so they can be helpful.
``It's important to study sign language,'' said Dwayne Mullins, a 15-year-old 10th-grader. ``If you meet someone who's deaf it would be helpful to be able to communicate with them.''
It requires a lot of study. Students learn the culture of the deaf, learn about the ear, study famous people who have had hearing problems. They make reports and, in class, converse in signing.
The signing includes the standard conversation using the fingers, sometimes with the entire hand entering the picture with flourishing descriptions of key words. Add to that, lip movements of the words.
Sometimes, the class of quiet is accentuated by giggles about which the outsider can only speculate.
Outside of class, some of the students have part-time jobs with such businesses as Burger King, Sentry Mart and other places where they can talk to hearing impaired customers.
Another popular place for signing is the church.
``Some of us perform in our churches,'' said Tasha Brothers, 15, a 10th-grader at Lakeland who attends Life Christian Center in Newport News. ``I'll get a song together and teach my mom and some others.''
The major reason for wanting to study sign language is to learn enough to become involved with boys and girls, men and women who sometimes find it difficult to communicate with people who have no hearing problems.
``I want to be involved with their world,'' said 17-year-old Katie Tarkington, a Lakeland 12th-grader, ``and I want them to be involved in my world.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color cover illustration
by JOHN SHEALLY
and MAL THORNHILL
Staff photos by MICHAEL KESTNER
Kathy Plaugher, in her third year teaching signing, holds a bachelor
of science in hearing impaired education. ``No one in my family is
deaf,'' Plaugher said. ``I found my niche. I just fell into it.''
Kathy Plaugher often takes her Lakeland and Nansemond River signing
students to visit lower grade pupils, where they work with deaf
children and those who are hard-of-hearing, as well as children who
are not hearing impaired.
by CNB