Training Summary: Provide a couple sentences summary (content themes/training techniques, and how this training is relevant to working with children who live in out of home care)

When a hard of hearing or deaf, system involved child joins a new family or environment, there are many communication, education, philosophical and cultural barriers to overcome. Meeting these challenges with openness and curiosity are the best tools for the job at hand. In this workshop we will discuss resources, ASL, and other visually based skills and cultural communication strategies to make the life of the foster child and the family blend in a coherent way.

Class Objectives: (what knowledge, ideas or skills will participants explore, learn, practice, etc during the training) Provide at least 3 class objectives.

- We will review and discuss the history of services for deaf and hard of hearing youth and how it impacts services available today.

- Participants will be introduced to the different government programs and nonprofit agencies serving families with hard of hearing or deaf children.

- Participants will be introduced to the basic concepts within American sign Language, including grammar, placement, hand shape, and classifiers

- We will review the vast amount of Deaf culture cultivated skill building material on YouTube and in written material

How can participants utilize their new skills and knowledge after the training to reinforce their learning? (provide at least 2 transfer of learning strategies)

- Participants will practice and share the skills they have developed with their client ffamilies

- Participants will identify potential areas of difficulty for the system involved youth and families they work with as their hard-of-hearing or deaf child ages and develops.

- Participants will plan different types of strategies to address the common communication frustrations system involved youth and their families may experience and how to navigate them.