House Visit activity was included as part of MCCID's program of bridging the gap between deaf students and their mostly hearing families.
MCCID has been doing this activity for the past nine years. This is part of the student's Personality Development and Public Relations subject. It has renewed relationships among parents and deaf child as well as developed bonding between the school and the family. Most families don't know how to communicate through sign language. This has become an opportunity for the parents to talk to their children spontaneously with the aid of a sign language interpreter.
However, house visits are only done once in the entire three years of the student's school life in order to minimize the hassle of preparing for it.
In this activity, the school will send a letter to the family asking if they have a time for the group to vist their house which is always on a Sunday afternoon so that their work and other schedules will not be affected. After which, the student's classmates together with their instructor and sign language interpreter will visit their house and have a light talk with the parents. Aside from introducing the members of the family to the group, questions like "How did your child become deaf?", "What were your reactions when you found out that he/she is deaf?" etc. Most pressing and important issues among the family were also discussed.
Some people from other schools question the integrity of this system. But feedback coming from the parents and other members of their family were very positive and favorable. They were able to ventilate their concerns to their child without any hesitation and sign language barrier. Most problems were solved due to clearer communication. Among all schools for the deaf in Metro Manila, only MCCID has this program.
To view the recent house visit photos, please click here.
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