KAHOKA, Mo. — A Clark County girl’s determination opened up new lines of communication between 4-H members statewide and the deaf community.
“My mom has a deaf cousin that I will see at family reunions. I always feel bad I can’t communicate with her,” Aynsley Harmon said.
So the now 12-year-old from Kahoka decided to learn American Sign Language.
Online tutorials and a self-determined 4-H project some two years ago introduced Aynsley to the basics, then Aynsley and her mom, Ardath Harmon, approached Katie Hogan, University of Missouri Extension engagement specialist in 4-H youth development in Clark County, with the idea of offering ASL as a 4-H project.
“Aynsley was really the start of this. I wanted to make it happen for her,” Hogan said. “When youth are passionate about something, especially in small communities, it’s important to support their interest.”
Trying to find a local resource just didn’t work, so Hogan reached out to campus about the prospect of connecting digitally, and an opportunity opened when 4-H shifted to the Canvas online learning platform due to COVID-19. More support came from the MU Hearing Clinic, the MU Disability Center and DeafLEAD, a national nonprofit advocacy and services center based in Columbia.
“Katie was really instrumental in putting the pieces together,” Ardath Harmon said. “It was one of those things that was good that came out of COVID.”
After just one email, 98 families statewide indicated an interest in learning sign language, which led to offering three online series of classes to date, with Aynsley in the first one, and adding ASL as an official 4-H project.
“Knowing that so many people wanted to do the same exact thing I did was amazing,” Aynsley said.
As a facilitator for the Zoom classroom in the first session, Hogan got to know participants from around the state.
“There may be one kid in a county interested in something like this. To bring them together to learn with kids across the state has been a neat experience,” Hogan said. “Every single one had somebody in their life, a relative, a family friend, who is deaf. They wanted to open that door to be able to communicate with them.”
Sessions introduce participants to people in the deaf community, highlight potential careers such as interpreters and speech language pathology and teach sign language with a final challenge of learning to sign the 4-H Pledge.
Aynsley continues to practice her skills, and she looks forward to talking more with her mom’s cousin along with the possibility of a …….