UC San Diego

Providing high quality health education programs in elementary schools has many benefits for students. It teaches students to be independent, allows students to focus more on their academics, and empowers students to live healthier lifestyles (CDC website, 2016). Unfortunately, there are no comprehensive physical and mental health curriculum available in American Sign Language that meet the needs of a wide variety of D/HH students. My curriculum titled “Health and Wellness: Building Resilience in Deaf Bilingual Classrooms'' is designed from a bilingual-bicultural lens and consists of two units. The first unit addresses how best to treat our bodies with good exercise and nutrition, and the second focuses on managing our mental health. The three curriculum goals include increasing vocabulary and content knowledge of health concepts in both ASL and English; practicing critical thinking skills to manage health; and setting health goals through writing in journals and recording ASL videos. The curriculum was implemented at the Washington School for the Deaf (WSD) in Vancouver, Washington from May 4, 2021 through June 10, 2021 in a 4th grade, in-person classroom with eight students. Findings from four different types of evidence (pre/post tests, teacher observations, student videos and student artifacts) show that despite being unable to complete the entire curriculum due to Covid-19 restrictions, students benefited from an enhanced understanding of health terms and concepts in ASL as well as a greater awareness of establishing health goals and using critical thinking skills to make healthier choices.