Legislative

On Tuesday, October 14, 2025, Senator W and his assistants met with Dr. Lou at the Ohio School for the Deaf. Attendees included Anthony Coy, Principal; Julie Stewart, Assistant Principal; Cedar Wells, Cheryl P, myself, and one additional individual whose names I do not recall.

 

Senator Weinstein will be unable to attend the Martin Maltin presentation at the Canton Public Library on Thursday, November 6th. I provided him with a copy of Martin Maltin’s book, "I Am Not Alone Anymore", which is straightforward and can be read in a day. This should help him better understand issues related to language deprivation.

 

Dr. Lou distributed notebooks"Deaf Children of Hearing Parents Have Age-Level Vocabulary Growth When Exposed to ASL by 6 months of Age" by Naomi Casellik Ph.D Jennie Pyers, Ph.D, and Amy M. Liebermam, Ph.D, containing data on the successful implementation of American Sign Language for Deaf children.

 

Cheryl delivered an insightful presentation on language deprivation among Deaf children, supported by statistics and research from the National Association of the Deaf. The research indicates that approximately 70% of Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, and Hard of Hearing children lack adequate language access. She shared her report via email.

 

Dr. Lou guided us through visits to preschool classes, outreach programs, a dormitory, and an elementary school.

 

The next step involves a meeting with ASHA at the Ohio Statehouse with Noah Turoff, Senior Legislative Aide.  There will be small numbers of attendees.  

 

Photographs have been sent to Dr. Marsha Moore, who will upload images of Senator Casey Weinstein to the Ohio Deaf Association’s “Legislative” webpage.

 

Further updates will follow.  Note that I am no longer using my FB account, only Ingram. 

 

Thanks. 

 

Dawn K Watts

LEAD-K Ohio Legislative 

 

cc: Marsha Moore: ODA

      Marla Hatrak: NAD