LYNN — Lynn Woods Elementary School, in less than two years, has set a new standard for the district’s American Sign Language (ASL) curriculum, forging an enhanced deaf and hard of hearing accommodation model — and it all started with three eight-year-olds.
In Lynn Woods teacher Marie Zukas’ second-grade classroom, ASL interpreter Ally Lemorise sat in front of a black curtain signing Zukas’ lesson in real-time. When the students broke into groups to work on their reading assignments, Lemorise teamed up with the class’ second interpreter, Whitney Bright, to sign back and forth with deaf and hard-of-hearing students Payton Sweeney, Dorothy Sheppard, and Leila Hickey.
In the Summer of 2021, Lynn Woods faculty attended training retreats and ASL workshops to learn how to accommodate the newly-enrolled deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
“It was all about asking ourselves ‘how can we welcome these kids into our school?’ How could we make them feel like they didn’t just fly in on their first day of school? We had to show them that we’ve been preparing for them,” said Lynn Woods Principal Ellen Fritz.
Diane LaPierre, the district’s teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing, worked alongside Lynn Woods teachers and newly-hired interpreters to implement a sweeping ASL curriculum throughout the school.
“It’s not about our interpreters, teachers, or the three students who need an interpreter. It is about how everybody in this classroom, in an entire school, embraced learning about American Sign Language and deaf culture,” Fritz said.
Through personalized ASL interpreter instruction, including recorded sign language in all educational videos shown in class, sign language quickly spread at Lynn Woods Elementary. Soon, Fritz said, hearing students were signing with their peers at recess.
“They were teaching (ASL) to each other at recess,” Fritz said. “It was truly incredible. I’d never seen anything like it before.”
Nearly half of Zukas’ class raised their hands when asked if they felt like they could communicate with ASL.
“What’s amazing is it’s not just those three girls who rely on American Sign who use it, because a lot of the other kids use it — and not just randomly—a lot of them use it very smoothly,” Fritz said.
Zukas’ classes begin with the children signing “good morning” and end with “see you later.” By immersing all students into an essentially bilingual environment, with both ASL and spoken English, hearing and hard-of-hearing students socialize and communicate regularly.
In deaf culture, Sheppard said, sign language names are collectively decided based on an individual’s unique characteristics and personality traits. She said that the three girls, over time, made sign names for everyone in their classroom.
“People usually tell you about themselves, and when you think you know enough about them, you give them a sign name that matches them,” Sheppard said.
Since it takes time to learn enough about someone to give them a sign name, Zukas said that sometimes the class will undergo their morning greeting in ASL, allowing each student to learn their sign names.
“Sometimes we do our ASL greeting and I say ‘good morning, everyone’ they say ‘good morning, friends’ and then they all say it back with their names, so everybody knows each other’s sign names,” Zukas said. “It really speaks to a sense of belonging.”
One of the students, Sheppard, has a cochlear implant, a magnetic device that connects to a deaf or hard-of-hearing person’s inner ear to facilitate hearing. She said that when she can’t hear through her implant, her friends will sign for her.
She added that her favorite part about school was playing with her friends at recess because they could communicate clearly with one another using sign language.
“Sometimes I don’t know what Avery says, so when I don’t know what she says, she always signs for me,” Sheppard said. “I like to play with my friends because a lot of them know ASL.”
Sweeney transferred to Lynn Woods Elementary from Beverly School for the Deaf. Her mother, Katie Sweeney, said that she was initially nervous enrolling her daughter in a public school, but was grateful and pleasantly surprised by the school’s level of accommodation and disability education.
“Lynn Woods has done more to accommodate her, and the other girls too, than I could have ever imagined,” Katie Sweeney said. “They had everything in place as far as the school goes. The fact that they went even further and everyone started learning sign language was more than I could have imagined.”
“She did not blink twice about making that transition — the second or third day, we walked into school and all the kids are running after her all excited, like ‘Hey, Payton!’,” Katie Sweeney continued. “Socially, academically I feel she has thrived in a way that I never would have thought if they didn’t accommodate her the way that they did.”
Katie Sweeney said that LaPierre played an enormous role in her child’s success at Lynn Woods.
“She would not be doing as well with everything if Diane wasn’t helping her out — Diane is just so involved. She goes above and beyond for her students, and I just really want to make sure Diane gets the recognition she deserves,” Sweeney said.
Interim Superintendent of Schools Deb Ruggiero said that she hopes to use Lynn Woods Elementary’s ASL program as the model for inclusive learning throughout the district.
“These three students will eventually go to middle school, so we’re going to have to think about how we will continue to provide the resources that these students will need,” Ruggiero said. “That should be the goal for every district, that all of our students with disabilities regardless of disability, I feel like they’re included — like they’re a part of a school and a culture.”
