Deaf Teacher Speaks From the Heart
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20120129/LIFESTYLE/201290308/1024/rss04
After Tyler Hansen was born 23 years ago, his doctor called the sickly preemie a miracle baby because he had beaten the odds against his survival. Now, he hopes he can be someone else's miracle through his work with children.
"I never stopped believing in what I could do," he said. "I wanted to show what I can do, what deaf people can do."
At the Boys & Girls Club of Cascade County on a recent afternoon, Hansen clapped his hands for attention and asked a dozen second- and third-graders clustered around him, "How many signs do you remember?"
Small hands whipped into the air as the children all vied for his attention and the opportunity to show off their signing skills.
They reviewed the signs for mom and dad, angry and happy, yes and no.
As she demonstrated the sign for friends, which involves hooked fingers, Mackenzie Crabtree, 9, said everybody likes Hansen.
"He's fun, nice and generous and fun," she said.
She decided to learn sign language because "it looked fun, and it was," she said. "He taught us sign language so we could talk to deaf people," she said.
The kids find ways to communicate, even if it means everybody yelling his name in unison, she said.
Mackenzie's face and that of her friend Adriana Cobb, 11, lit up as they made the sign for "trouble," which involves waving their hands in front of their faces.