One student at Dayton Consolidated School in Maine inspired a big change to the culture and curriculum of the school before she even realized it.
Kindergartner Morey Belanger (6) is her school’s first deaf student, and in an effort to make her feel more welcome, the school taught all their students more than 20 words and phrases in sign language, and even lined the hallways with sign language posters.
The school also installed a hearing assistive system and implemented extra teacher training to bring sign language into every classroom, with some teachers even using their free time to watch sign language videos and read books to help them grow their own ability in sign language.
The other students have really been embracing Morey, and she’s even been helping her fellow classmates learn the alphabet and more.
The school principal, Kimberly Sampietro, shared, “[The students] look up to [Morey], they want her around and they want to partner with her.”
Shannon Balanger, Morey’s mom, shared, “I absolutely feel like it makes her feel more welcomed. I think all the kids feel excited that they know another language and I think they think it’s fun.”
To celebrate all the hard work the students have done, and kindness they’ve shown to their new classmate, the school had a real-life Disney princess who knows sign language come in to speak with the students.
Principal Sampierto said, “We wanted to show out students that this isn’t something they can only speak with Morey. We wanted to show them that signing happens in all kinds of settings.”
(MSN)
