Jacob Duman Early Childhood Center Furthers Its Commitment to Inclusion
In Summer 2021, Jacob Duman Early Childhood Center at Lake County JCC had the great privilege to welcome the Axelrod family. Jordan and Ryder, twins, were toddlers at the time. We learned that both parents, Jenny and Corey, were hard of hearing and members of the Deaf community. Their primary language was American Sign Language (ASL), and the two boys were learning both ASL and English. Little did we know that our interest in supporting this family in feeling included in this community would launch us on a bigger inclusion journey.
Throughout the year, Jenny, who is an ASL teacher herself, graciously sent videos to her children’s teachers with basic signs that they were also learning. This allowed their teachers to incorporate their home language into their classroom and support all the young toddlers in communicating their needs. Even my own daughter, who happened to be a student in the class, came home with new signs weekly. ASL had truly become ingrained in the fabric of the class.
This past fall, through a generous diversity grant from Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, we were able to take this a step further. Using these funds, we contracted Jenny for an eight-week course on ASL. It was important to us that we receive this new knowledge from someone in the Deaf community and had the added bonus that she was also a member of the JCC Chicago community too.
About 10 staff members agreed to participate, and in September we began our journey. Each of us came from significantly different backgrounds in ASL. Some had attended college courses, others had “baby sign language”, and others were completely new to it. Jenny was adept at modifying her teachings for each of our abilities, and it reminded us how important accommodation, of different abilities, is at all ages of learning. Jenny’s style was a true masterclass in Inclusion.
Each lesson, Jenny walked us through basic categories of signs like greetings, colors, the alphabet, common phrases, and food. We played games, watched storytellers use their artistry to tell stories in ASL, and even learned the Shema (a Hebrew prayer) in sign language as well! She also gave us some background on Deaf culture so that we would have a more well-rounded understanding of the community and nuances that we would otherwise have been unaware. We are, by no means, fluent or conversational, but I can speak confidently for our group in saying that we are working hard to incorporate what we know into our interactions with all children. Every day, I catch myself seamlessly signing colors to infants while speaking to them aloud. By creating a habit of signing words as I speak to them, I am creating an open space for Deaf and non-speaking communicators, and the more of us that continue that practice, the safer it can be.
When I think about inclusion, I am very often struck that the implication is there isn’t space for certain people to begin with. Our goal at JCC Chicago is to create a community and space where everyone already sees themselves reflected. If there is no exclusion there doesn’t need to be inclusion. Our teachers and staff doing this important work now, for this family, means that future children and families of the Deaf community will be able to enter our space and communicate, on at least a basic level, and they will see their culture and language represented in our classrooms.
Meghan Jensen (she/her/hers) is the Assistant Director of Early Childhood Education at the Jacob Duman Early Childhood Center at the Lake County JCC. She has been a member of the JCC community since 2021. She is a proud graduate of the Erikson Institute with a Master of Science in Early Childhood Education and also holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois. Meghan is a JECELI (Jewish Early Childhood Education Leadership Institute) fellowship alum, as well as an alum of the Teach Plus Early Childhood Policy Fellowship. She is a staunch advocate for children and a proud mother to a 2-year-old named Pippa. She loves to cook, read, binge TV shows, and hike.
[Image Description: Meghan Jensen in a classroom sitting at a table with Ryder and Jordan. In the center of the table is a vase of flowers and the three are signing the word “flowers.”]