The road to learn ASL can be long and confusing. There are so many different programs out there- and do you do in- person or online? In my experience I have always tried to research and find a reputable organization that teaches ASL with Deaf instructors. That is exactly how I found the American Society for Deaf Children.

In this blog post I’ll review our experience with taking this organization’s beginning ASL class. I highly recommend the classes through this organizaiton as they are affordable, easy to learn and fit into most busy parent’s schedule.

This post is not sponsored, and is an honest review of a beginning ASL class that we took with The American Society for Deaf Children. If you want to learn more about their classes, visit their website here at ASDC

Our ASL Journey

Our journey with ASL started 7 years ago. We learned individual ASL signs to communicate with our first child, who was born deaf.

We wanted to bridge the communication gap with our deaf child until he received cochlear implants. That strategy worked well for him, and around 4 years old he dropped the ASL signs and started to communicate in spoken speech.

However, the hearing loss diagnosis for our second son is very different.

He has a small cochlear nerve, and therefore has moderate hearing loss even with his cochlear implants.

From the time he was born we incorporated the same strategy of using ASL signs with spoken speech to bridge the communication gap.

Currently, at age 4.5 years old, our son is making strides in his communication. However, his spoken speech is taking a long time to develop.

My husband and I recently decided that it was time to invest in a class to fully learn ASL to support our son’s preferred method of communication.

We asked our speech therapist office for advice on where to learn ASL. Unfortunately in our state of North Carolina, there are very few opportunities available for in-person ASL classes.

Many children in our state receive cochlear implants, and many of those families use spoken speech and don’t use ASL. with their kids.

However, there are many benefits to using ASL signs with kids with cochlear implants, as I write about in my post Benefits of Sign Language for Kids with Cochlear Implants.

We knew that our best option would be to learn ASL online. So I searched in Google.

In my searching I found The American Society of Deaf Children (ASDC), which is a national organization that helps families of deaf children navigate their child’s hearing loss.

I was glad to learn that they offer 3 levels of ASL classes. I signed up for the ASDC online beginner’s ASL course.

Overall my husband and I are really happy with the course and how it was taught. Below are some of my thoughts on the class.

*The below review is my thoughts only to help other parents find an affordable and high-value way to learn ASL for their children. This is not a sponsored post.*

LEARNIng ASL ONLine is AFFORDABLE

Overall, the class was affordable. For non-ASDC members the class is $100. For ASDC members, the class is $75 (with an annual $35 membership).

I signed up for the membership because I anticipated taking the intermediate and advanced level of classes.

I figured even though I paid a little more the first time, it will even out with the savings later.

For the price, you get 4 weeks of classes (one class each week). You also get access to the recordings to all of the classes so that you can review and continue to practice what you learned in each lesson.

TAUGHT BY A cErtified teacher of the deaf

A big draw for me to this particular course is that all of their classes are taught by native signers.

Whenever I learn languages I personally like to go to the best source of the language, which is a native speaker.

The true language of ASL is not spoken or verbalized. The communication within ASL relies heavily on facial expressions and body language, along with signing.

The value of learning ASL from a native signer is that you get to experience the nuance of facial expressions, which makes your signing more authentic.

This is important to us as we want to teach our son the most correct way to learn ASL.

learn useful VOCABULARY AND PHRASES

I absolutely loved that we could start using our ASL knowledge right away!

As soon as we participated in the first class, I immediately introduced some new signs to my son. His communication increased immediately and his frustration levels diminished quite a bit.

One of the phrases that we learned during the first class was how to sign “good night” and “good morning”.

Now, we are able to greet our son as soon as he wakes up in the morning withouting the need to put on his cochlear implants first!

The 4 weeks of class is filled with practical signs and you learn to sign everyday phrases. Every class builds on the information learned in the previous class.

I appreciate that ASDC is mindful of their student’s time and delivers useful lessons. I also found that our confidence increased a lot as we saw that we successfully implemented the signs right away.

Even though it’s only a small start to learn ASL, being able to sign this much helps us in our communication goals with our son.

You Get the Recordings

The final feature that I think adds a ton of value, is that each class is recorded and the recording is sent to the students.

We had to miss our final class because we were traveling that day. But, I didn’t worry about it because we caught the recording.

The recording is also useful for practice! You learn a lot of ASL in 2.5 hours, and it’s difficult to absorb it all at once.

We watched parts of the recording that we didn’t understand the first time around, or forgot that we learned.

This practice is so important to build fluency in ASL!

Overall I really enjoyed this ASL class. We plan to practice what we learned so far, and then eventually take the intermediate and advanced classes.

While we took the class specifically to increase communication with our child with cochlear implants, there were other students in the class who took it for other reasons.

Some people took the class because they were interested in ASL, and there was even a teacher who took the class to be able to communicate with her deaf student better!

I highly recommend this class for anyone interested in learning ASL.

Don’t forget to sign up to Teach Your Kids to Sign!

more asl resources

Learn how to sign without adding more to your day.

Grace- filled way to approach ASL learning.