The Signing ACEs
The Signing ACEs (Advocacy, Community, Empowerment) are the wonderful children and students in our youth programs.
Camp Sign Me Up ONLINE
Camp Sign Me Up is an important program for Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and now BridgesWEST. While we’d prefer to be together, we believe, in these strange times, we have created an option that still allows us to share the beautiful language and culture of our Deaf community and for your children to have fun, learn, and grow as they work toward bilingualism and cultural awareness!
The cost for four weeks (June or July) will be $150 per camper!
If you enroll in all eight weeks, the cost is only $250 per camper!
Beginning June 1st, campers will be scheduled for individual evaluations and placed into beginner, intermediate, and advanced tracks based on their ASL skills.
They will meet in those tracks for forty-five minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays through June. On Mondays and Wednesdays, we will be uploading fun videos or hosting Deaf Culture chat times that everyone can join in or watch at your convenience. We will do these on YouTube and through video links we will send out.
Once a week, we will have a special online game time or virtual field trip with all the campers!
Club Sign Me Up
Club Sign Me Up is an after-school, American Sign Language club designed for hearing kids, from elementary school through high school, to learn about Deaf culture and language. Filled with fun and innovative learning tools, the club promotes community building and language acquisition through weekly meetings. Your child can be bilingual through learning American Sign Language and be more welcoming and inclusive of the Deaf and hard of hearing, a cultural and linguistic minority in our community.
School Days
Little ACEs
After-School Program
Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays until 5:45pm.
Students from 1st through 12th grades are picked up from local schools with Deaf education programs, or parents may bring them. School Days focuses on language acquisition--developing fluency in students' first language (American Sign Language) and then literacy in their second language (English). This focus as well as social-emotional support and community building equip students for success in all endeavors.
This program is free of charge and offers limited transportation options.
Offered Year-Round!
Little ACEs is an early intervention program designed to prevent the language deprivation that can be common for Deaf children, ensuring they have access to American Sign Language from birth. Parents and children attend class together where they are supported in learning language and bonding and communication techniques. Families attend weekly classes, and a Deaf Mentor travels to the family's home once a month. FREE.
Advocacy/Support
We are happy to attend IEP or other meetings to help parents be strong advocates for their children and to help students learn to be strong advocates for themselves. Our Empowerment & Advocacy program manager also works with our high school students as they develop transitional and independent living plans for college and beyond.
Parent ASL Classes
Offered Year Round
Partnering with Adult Education & Outreach, we offer FREE ASL classes for parents of Deaf children and their children, enhancing and improving family communication and dynamics.
Camp Rise & Sign
May 10th-12th, 2019
An annual sleep-away just for our Deaf and hard of hearing students, it's an adventure filled with all the great camp traditions--sleeping bags, campfires, arts & crafts, and fireflies. FREE.
