SKI-HI What's That?

I gave a presentation yesterday to a group of Service Coordinators for First Steps here in our local area. Now this may sound silly coming from someone who spends time standing in front of large groups of people interpreting, but I was nervous.

I CAN stand in front of a few hundred people say, at a college commencement and interpret. I don't even notice the fact that there are so many people around. But stick me in front of a small group of people and ask me to speak, and I start to sweat.

This time, my nervousness came from having never presented this material before. I am a SKI-HI Parent Advisor, and I went through the training. But I only just recently started to use my training, and here I was standing in front of people who could help me get the word out about what my colleagues and I do.

Instead of my trying to go through the presentation again, just click on the link to your left under "Parents with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children." Do you see the one that says "SKI-HI Institute?" That's the one. Go ahead..click on it..I promise, it won't bite. It will tell you more about the program than I ever could. Okay, maybe in a year I might be able to speak more eloquently on the topic than I do now.

What I can say, is that after being an Educational Interpreter in public schools for a few years, I was saddened and frustrated at the fact that Deaf and HOH kids seemed to be falling through the cracks academically. Parents didn't seem to know what was out there to help their kids succeed in school and in life. So when Karen (we get each other involved in lots of trouble this way) brought up the SKI-HI program to me, I thought, hmmm, here's a great way to get parents the information, education and resources they need to make the best possible choices for their kids. Sounds like a win-win situation for everyone.

If I had to come up with my own way to explain SKI-HI, I guess I'd say it like this:

"Parents raising a child with a hearing loss have a unique canvas to work with. A SKI-HI Parent Advisor is like a guide who can help you understand the various colors available to paint on that canvas. Only you can choose the colors for your masterpiece. You may blend, shade or highlight colors until you find the right combination. A Parent Advisor can help you through that process."

How will YOU color your child's world?

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