A Story of DHHSC ROCK Program

Hello everyone, DHHSC offers ROCK, a free program to provide services for parents to learn American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate with their Deaf and Hard of Hearing children. The program has been growing since 2010 after being founded by two staff in Visalia, CA. Since then, our staff at each of our four offices were doing well with home visits until the pandemic hit in March 2020. Since then, DHHSC has faced additional challenges, including some families not having internet access and/or a computer or laptop. This makes it more challenging to continue providing family services through remote services. DHHSC is working hard to find ways to keep the families connected by referring them to local school districts that may provide a laptop for students, researching low-cost internet services, and getting videophones for their Deaf and Hard of Hearing children. It is also a goal to collect donated new or used laptops to loan to families needing one so we can continue our services.
Our Deaf Thrive Family Services focus on providing ASL instruction, IFSP/IEP advocacy, and resources to Deaf and Hard of Hearing children and their families. Many Deaf and Hard of Hearing children are language deprived because their parents and other family members do not sign, so our Deaf Thrive program focuses on closing the language and educational gaps by providing each family with a language-rich environment, using a visually accessible language that is ASL.

On behalf of our community, thank you for your support.