CSD student uses ASL to assist with Healthy Families

JMU’s Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services has several outreach programs that allow students and professionals to help the community. One of the programs, Healthy Families, provides education, resources and support for families in Page County that have been identified as ‘at risk.’ Junior Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) major Ciara McMillin has worked with the program since spring 2019, assisting with in-home visits to a hearing-impaired family using her American Sign Language (ASL) skills.

When Healthy Families first started assisting this family, there was no one in the program who knew ASL. Rebecca Kipps, their family resource specialist from Healthy Families, reflected that before McMillin, their only means of communication was writing notes back and forth on paper. When Healthy Families contacted JMU’s ASL club, current club president McMillin, who has known sign language since the ninth grade, was happy to help.

“I love sign language. I want to go into a career in either interpreting or just working with deaf people in general,” said McMillin.

“She’s been so helpful in facilitating the visits – them being able to sign to her and her telling me what they’re saying, and I can talk and she can tell them what I’m saying,” reflected Kipps. “We can cover so much more ground, it takes so much less time to communicate.”

During visits, McMillin explains activities that Kipps has planned for the family. Healthy Families focuses on the children, and McMillin has assisted the family with teaching their 15 month-old daughter how to sign while learning to speak.

Occasionally, McMillin joins the family for Healthy Families group events to assist the parents. Once, she attended a picnic with the mother and youngest child, introducing them to others and facilitating conversations. “The mom is very social and enjoys interacting with other moms and people, and Ciara helped that to be possible,” said Kipps.

“I love being able to give the family a sense of inclusion,” said McMillin. “They don’t feel as different because they have someone there that knows their language and knows their community. It’s really rewarding being able to give that to them and make the whole process a lot easier and more comfortable for them in their own language.”

“The family, the mom especially, has just enjoyed her a lot,” said Kipps. “It’s a very happy time when we’re all chatting. There’s lots of smiling, and Ciara is very enthusiastic.”

McMillin plans to continue assisting her family until she graduates next year. As an aspiring interpreter, she recognizes that her work with Healthy Families has given her real-world experience in her future field. McMillan says, “It’s a really cool opportunity and opens up my eyes to what interpreting really does for someone.”