Mini grant-winning program continues through the end of this school year

So long tater tots. This school year, the teens in the BOCES Deaf/Hard of Hearing (D/HH) classroom based at Guilderland High School learned that cooking—and eating—a variety of delicious and nutritious food can be fun and fulfilling.

The year-long cooking project named “Now You’re Cooking” by its originators, social worker Sue Brown, speech therapist Meg Cahill and high school classroom teacher Christina Loukides, was a 2010-11 BOCES mini-grant project.

Increasingly, students with disabilities in addition to deafness are learning through the BOCES D/HH program. The cooking project, which was tied to the classroom’s Global Studies curriculum, was designed to help the students learn needed academic and life skills in a fun and hands-on way and provide more opportunities for them to interact with the hearing and non-signing public.

Brown and Cahill said the project has been even more successful than they had hoped. The students have enjoyed trying new recipes and sampling unfamiliar foods: tacos in a bag and Greek salad were a big hit, however many drew the line at trying squid from the Asian food market.

“We know they have enjoyed a recipe when they ask for a copy of it to take home and make for their families,” Cahill said.

In addition, students’ sign and spoken language vocabularies now include the words and terms they will need to be successful cooks. Too, students’ self-esteem has received a boost from the success they’ve experienced through careful research and preparation of recipes, attention to details such as kitchen safety and from working as a team during cooking time.

“The students have really bonded through this project and learned to work together so well,” said Brown.

 As an added bonus, students have had the chance to learn about nutrition and other cooking topics from guest speakers (students were impressed that their guest speaker on nutrition — a teacher at Russell Sage College — is profoundly deaf) and about careers the culinary field. Recently, the students visited the kitchens at the BOCES Career and Technical School and Schenectady’s Little Italy section, where they toured and ate at Perreca’s bakery and the Cappiello's Dairy Inc. The teachers say these experiences benefited both the students and the people they met during these trips.

“Our field trips gave the students the opportunity to learn how some of their favorite foods are made and to interact with the hearing and non-signing public. Our visits also helped educate the public about deaf people. Everywhere we visited, the people we met were so curious and open to learning about how to interact with people who cannot hear,” Cahill said.

Based on its success—and the students’ enthusiastic feedback—the teachers plan to expand and continue the cooking project next school year.