Improving Communication with Your Kids

There are times when you sense that something is bothering one of your children, but it can be difficult to get kids to open up. This becomes frustrating and can make you feel helpless as a parent. In some cases, you may even push your child in the wrong way, making them clam up even more. Communicating with your kids is an important parenting skill – it helps you find out how you can help them and also enables your child to learn how to talk through problems, an important life skill. If you want to find out how to get your kids to open up to you, here are some excellent tips for improving communication with your kids.

Tips for Communicating with Younger Children

When it comes to communicating with younger children, it's all about learning to get on their level. Kids age 10 and under communicate in different ways and as a parent, you need to learn how to get them to open up. Here are a few tips that can help when you are trying to communicate with younger kids.

Tip #1 – Draw Them Out By Talking About Their Favorite Things - Most kids think about things like their favorite toys, foods, games, or movies. You can draw younger kids out by talking about their favorite things, which will get them talking.

Tip #2 – Build a Connection – Find a way to build a connection. Sometimes something as simple as playing a little game, like asking them to guess which hand you have a treat in, can establish a connection between the two of you.

Tip #3 – Get on Their Level – You need to physically get on the level of your children. Instead of talking from above them, sit down with them so you are on their level. This makes you seem less intimidating.

Tip #4 – Tell Them Stories – Kids love stories, and telling your kids some stories can open up the doors of communication. You can use stories to teach them a particular lesson or to build a connection. Often the story is a great segue into more conversation between the two of you.

Tip #5 – Totally Focus on the Child - Make sure you focus totally on your child. Simply stopping for five minutes doesn't take much of your time and it will make your child feel important.

Tip #6 – Use Questions - Questions can often be used with younger children to help them reason things through or to lead into more conversation. Avoid using "yes" or "no" questions, but ask questions that require more of a response to get them talking.

Tips for Communicating with Tweens and Teens

Of course, tweens and teens can be more difficult to deal with when it comes to getting them to open up to you. Sometimes they tend to hold back, thinking this is the grown up way to deal with things, since they want you to view them as being "grown up." You definitely need to approach communication with caution with older children or you will end up pushing them away even further. Try these tips for better communication with your tweens and teens.

Tip #1 – Learn to Listen First - The first and most important thing you can do to get tweens and teens to open up is to learn to listen first. It's easy to start talking without ever take the time to listen. Many kids of this age group don't want to talk because they don't think you want to know how they feel. Even if it is something that you don't like, simply take time to listen.

Tip #2 – Respect Differences - As a parent, you need to realize that there are areas where your child is different and you need to respect those differences. Unless it is something dangerous, respect your child's choices as much as you can. Your kids are not supposed to grow up to be "mini-me's."

Tip #3 – Avoid Negative Terms - When trying to get your tweens and teens to open up to you, avoid using negative terms when you are talking. Avoiding negatives can build a connection with them and will keep them talking. Using negative phrases will simply ruin communication between the two of you.

Tip #4 – Talk About Their Interests – To get them talking, talk about their interests. Ask about the new band they like, their favorite television shows, or other interests they may have.

Tip #5 – Avoid Judging All the Time – You also need to avoid judging them all the time. It is easy to judge their hairdo or the way that they dress. If it isn't something that is really serious, avoid judging, even if you have to bit your tongue. They won't talk to you if they fear being judged and criticized all the time.

No matter the age of your kids, communication is very important. Try using some of these tips with your children. While there isn't a secret that works on every child, you will find that a combination of these tips can help your kids to start opening up to you. Once they begin to open up, treasure that communication and begin to build on it. Hopefully you will be able to build a bond and good communication that will last a lifetime.

by Patricia Hughes

Happy Family of Four enjoying quality family time!

Years ago, I heard Bill Cosby say in a stand up comedy routine that parents don't care about fairness, they just want quiet. At the time, I had no children and it was just funny. Later, as a parent I saw it again and recognized it as a pearl of wisdom. All parents want a peaceful home.

I know all parents want peace because my children like to watch Nanny 911 and the lack of peace is a recurrent theme. This show taught me a valuable lesson, and not just that things aren't as bad in my home as they seem. Whatever the other issues in a family, a lack of peace is always at the core.

A few years ago, I was starting to struggle with sibling fighting, squabbling and yelling. The child not involved in the fight would end up turning up the TV or CD player in response to the noise.  On some days, the noise level was out of control. It was destroying the peace in our family and affecting all of us. We'd find ourselves yelling in response to their fighting and it had a negative effect the parents and children.

Around that time I came across a book that caught my eye in Borders. The book is Peaceful Parents, Peaceful Kids: Practical Ways to Create a Calm and Happy Home by Naomi Drew. That book helped me realize that a peaceful family begins with me. If I wanted to change the dynamic in the house, it was possible. In this book, Drew discusses what she calls three essentials for peaceful parenting that I have used with our kids with success.

The first is to make the home a place of kind words. In our family, the sibling fighting often starts when one of the kids says something mean or puts down another child. That child responds with another insult. The fight soon escalates. To break this cycle, there should be a rule that no person puts down any other member of the family and the rule needs to be enforced.

The parents need to set the example here and watch for instances when we put down other people, use sarcasm and especially come down hard on ourselves. This sets the example in the home and escalates the problem of name calling.

This is an ongoing process and many reminders and discussions are needed, especially if the kids have been calling each other names and insulting each other for a while. Praise or reward systems can be used, if desired, such as a family movie night or making ice cream sundaes at the end of a good week.

The second thing I learned was a good reminder to use specific praise to help when trying to change behavior and create a more peaceful home. nothing kills the peace like criticism with no praise. There is a lot of controversy over using praise and some people feel praise can inhibit the development of intrinsic motivation.

This idea is certainly true for constant, empty praise, but when used sparingly, specific praise can help change behavior and make kids feel their efforts are appreciated. This is why teachers use the method in classroom situations. The key to using specific praise is to mean it, keep it specific and don't use it all the time.

The third key to peaceful parenting that we use is to spend some time each day with each individual child. Drew suggests at least fifteen or twenty minutes with each child, giving undivided attention. This can be tough for families with many children.

We have four and it really took some effort in the beginning. I soon learned to spend this time with our kids in ways that don't require dropping everything I am doing. One child may help me making meatballs or doing any of a number of activities. I take one child to the grocery store with me and alternate each week and do the same with other errands. Time chatting on the way to the store, during shopping and on the way home is relaxed and has resulted in some good conversations.

The way this has helped increase the peace in our family is by giving the kids time to be heard. This has ended the acting out for attention or shouting to be heard problems. They know they have time alone with us and time for family. The attention is also helpful for reducing feelings of sibling rivalry or feeling disconnected from the kids, both of which are not going to help the family experience peace.

Once I realized that a peaceful family begins with me, it changed how I looked at the discord in the family. Rather than getting annoyed with the kids for fighting or yelling, I began to look for ways I could head off the problems and make changes for the better.  

Biography
Patricia Hughes is a freelance writer and mother of four. Patricia has a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from Florida Atlantic University. She has written extensively on pregnancy, childbirth, parenting and breastfeeding. In addition, she has written about home décor and travel.

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any form without the express permission of More4Kids Inc © 2009

by Jennifer Shakeel

Nothing can compare to the feeling of being a mom or a dad. The sheer joy of helping to guide a little person’s journey into becoming a well rounded successful adult. You want to be there for every part of it, not wanting to miss a single step, or sadness or celebration. Unfortunately we live in a world where many parents are separated from their children more then they would like to be. This is due to work, being overseas to protect our country and even divorce.

For four years my husband and I raised our two children together even though he was working in another city and state Monday through Friday. To this day I still remember the joy that would fill our children when he would come home Friday night and the tears that would start Sunday morning and last until they fell asleep Sunday night because their dad had to leave in the afternoon. The upward rise of emotions as the week would progress because they knew he would be home after dinner on Friday. While for us that ordeal stopped almost three years ago, what we did for our children is still evident today.

Call it long distance parenting, or virtual parenting… I call it parenting. Just because one parent is away doesn’t mean that rearing and raising your children becomes the responsibility of the parent that is there every day. Parents have to work together to make sure that each of them is as involved as possible in raising the children. It isn’t as difficult as it seems, it just takes a commitment from each parent to one another and the children that they are still a family and mom and dad are a team and they are taking care of them equally.

First, never disagree over parenting decisions that one parent makes in front of the children. Support one another, this presents a unified front to the children. They have to know that calling mom or dad isn’t going to change the decision that was made at home. What my husband and I used to do it call each other earlier in the day, usually while the kids were doing homework or out playing and we would talk about what went on that day, if there was an issue that needed to be addressed we would discuss it, I would had out the “punishment” and when he would call them after dinner, he supported the decision and reiterated to them why that decision was made.

We always supported one another on what each of us said to the kids. If we disagreed, that was a conversation that we would have at a later time, when the kids weren’t listening. We never argued, just talked. Two phone calls everyday guaranteed, one where we would talk about decisions and updates on the kids and one where he would get to talk with the kids, each and every night. He never missed one.

Don’t threaten the children with “You wait until mom/dad get home.” Being apart from one of the parents is difficult enough. The last thing you want to do is make homecoming a sad and terrible time. Deal with issues as they arise and make sure both you and your spouse are on the same page when talking with the kids. This way once mom or dad come home the time is spent bonding with one another, focus on spending quality time with the kids during the day and quality time together once they go to bed.

Thanks to technology it is also possible for the parent that is away to send email messages, instant message and even do a video conference online. If you have internet service at home there are many free programs that you can use for each of those items. A simple webcam that can be bought for about $10 at your local superstore and a Skype account can make it possible for everyone to see each other. This is important because you don’t want to just be a voice over the phone. If the children can see you everyday it makes the distance seem not as bad.

Depending on the age of your children you might also want to consider a family blog. Services like Wordpress and Blogger offer password secured blogs. This makes it possible for the kids to write to mom or dad on their own time, with some privacy. Sometimes it is just hard to get out what you want to say over the phone… in front of other family members. Being able to type it and have mom or dad read it and respond can be beneficial.

Nothing will ever replace a parent being able to hug or touch his or her child. Being away from your children is difficult, whether it is for days or months. That is why it is important to make sure that you and your spouse stay in touch daily and make sure that you keep in touch with your children each and every day.

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any form without the express permission of More4Kids Inc © 2008 All Rights Reserved

How Working Parents Can Build and Keep Strong Family Bonds

Parenting is a tough job, and in today's society being a parent is harder than ever. Most households with two parents, are looking at or also need two incomes. Both parents are working full time and nowadays, full time is rarely a 40 hour week. Many times working parents are putting in 60, 80 or more hours. If they are not at the office or job site working, they are traveling or bringing it home with them to finish up. Unfortunately, even working this hard sometimes, the ends barely meet when it comes paying the bills and other financial obligations.

As a result, children are often left in the care of schools, daycares, and after care programs. This leaves parents struggling to provide for their families both financially and emotionally. Being disconnected leads to a host of problems, and leads children to believe that they can not come and talk to you as their parent when they need assistance. There are a few things that as working parents you can do to help provide and maintain a connection with your children.

The first step to building and maintaining a connection between you and your children is to make sure you take some time out of every day that is time for them alone. While this may seem difficult to do with the hectic lives and schedules it is necessary. Your children need to know that you care, and taking a little time out of even the busiest schedule to sit down, help with homework, listen about their day, or do something you know they like to do, can make a world of difference.

Designate family time. These are activities that everyone loves. If you can not agree, do not force the child who hates outdoor activities to do a weekend camping trip. Instead, look at doing something locally that will still meet the criteria of an outdoor activity without creating resentment. The time you have with your family is precious. It should not be wasted in arguments.

Make sure to keep up with what interests your children. No matter how hard you are trying, if you bring home a toy robot, and your child is into Mecha model building, you will end up distancing yourself. Keeping up may be difficult to do, but even if you are one of the busiest working parents in the world, bringing home something that will fall into your child's interests, or being able to discuss them and learn about them can make a huge difference.

If your job takes you away for long periods of time, be sure to call, email or talk daily. I always try to do this, even if it is a few minutes before their bedtime and you tell them you love and miss them. You may find being away but maintaining this line of communication can help to make your child more willing to talk to you. Children and adults can often write out things they could never talk about verbally.

Make a point of keeping in touch with who your child is hanging out with. Take the time to meet them and talk to them. As kids grow, they are highly influenced by their peers. Children who have less of a connection with their parents are even more likely to be influenced. Taking the time to notice your child's friends, and know who they are, can help to keep you in the loop with your child.

Take care of your health and yourself. Children can be highly sensitive and considerate. Depending on the situation they may choose not to come to you if they feel that they may create an additional burden. This leads to an increase in the amount of stress and difficulties your children may have.

Avoid the situation of saying "I'm in the middle of work can it wait or I'm working can we talk about this later." Take the time to pause and listen to what your child has to say. It may be nothing but there is the possibility that it may also be something important. Children are more likely to say "yes it can wait" and never bring the topic up again than they are to actually wait especially on topics that require courage to discuss.

The biggest thing that a working parent can do for their children, and the connection between them, is to maintain and open line of communication. No matter what type of communication this may take. Keep a close eye and notice changes as they come up. You child will appreciate the fact that you are aware of these changes even if the time you have to spend is short.

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any form without the express permission of More4Kids Inc © 2008 All Rights Reserved

"How's your diabetes doing, Mel?" And we remember her laughing reply, "Don't worry about it, Dad. It's all under control."

• How do you think this is likely to work out for you?
• Do you think it would be wise to handle your feelings differently?
• How might other kids handle this situation?
• Are you thinking that summer school is in your future?
• Do you think the way you are taking care of yourself will prolong (or shorten) your life?

• Choices work like magic: Would you rather ___ or ____? You can either ____ or _____.  Feel free to ____or __.
• Use thinking words instead of fighting words. Thinking words are a way of providing options instead of just saying no. “No, you can’t go play with the neighbor until your medical treatment is done” will result in a fight. Instead try: “Feel free to go play with Joey just as soon as you’re done with your medical treatment.” 
• Use enforceable statements. Instead of telling children what they have to do (“Stop fussing and whining!”), tell them what you are willing to do (“I’ll listen as soon as your voice sounds calm like mine.”) That's enforceable!

• “I’ll go call the camp director to find the cap.”
• “I’ll buy you a new one.”
• "You shouldn’t have taken your favorite cap to camp.”  

As a parent of young children you probably find one of the biggest parenting challenges is to get your child to listen. Often you probably ask yourself: “If only my child would listen more!” This is a comment that parents of all ages and all cultural backgrounds are saying every day. The ability to teach your children to listen both in the home and outside of the home is truly the hallmark of successful parenting. If your kids will listen to you for a large portion of the time, then your future years of parenting will be much easier, for both you and your kids.

One of the best ways to raise children who are good listeners is to model good listening skills. Be a role model. Live a life of good communication between you and your spouse. When two parents are really listening to each as a way of life, not only with that relationship improve, but it will show the children the value and importance of paying attention.

Besides having our children listen to the parents and teachers better in order to show more respect, what other reason is there for becoming a better listener?

One very important result of being a good listener is that the person avoids coming to false conclusions. You can start your child off at an early age to avoid this communication pitfall. Sometimes not listening and not paying close attention to other people can result in hearing only a portion of what the people are actually saying.

This leads to faulty conclusions and irritating conflicts that could of been avoided had the person listened more closely. By getting your young children to become better listeners, these kinds of situations will be minimal as the become adults and are communicating in a social setting with other people.

Listening games are a great way to start teaching your young ones how to listen. For example, there is one game that will help teach your child to listen that is called “Silly Skits” where you create skits on paper and have your child create their own as well.

Each skit will have a picture of two people or two animals “conversing” with each other. Simply point to one of the characters and tell your child what they are doing. Then move on to the next one. Afterwards you can ask him what each was doing. Your child will have had to remember what you said each time about the character's “conversation”.

This will help improve your child's listening skills as the skits get longer and longer. Try little games like this in your spare time. Not only will this help your child's listening skills grow, at the same time you are implementing quality time between parent and child.

Another idea for a listening game my son and I play is that we sit quietly and close our eyes. We then rotate and ask each other what we hear. The person who hears the most things wins. This is a fun game and and builds concentration, listening skills and adds a little bit of competition to the process.

On other idea is to vary the tone of your voice, if your child is always used to you speaking in a certain tone try speaking quietly in a more subdued voice. Varying your tone of voice and speaking more quietly may help as your child will instictively want to know what you are saying.

Sometimes another technique I use is just gently touching my son, or putting my hand over his heart and gently talking to him, this can sometimes help calm a child when they are a bit wild and help let your child know what you are saying is important.

Be a role model. Don't forget your child learns by example and if they see that you don't listen they probably are just following in your footsteps. It is important to look at your own behaviors and make sure you are teaching them how to listen by showing them how to listen yourself. I am sometimes guilty of this and am constantly working at making myself a better role model for my children.

While there is no magic 'answer' to make your child listen, there are many things you can do to help build your childs listening skills. Yelling may only be a temporary answer, working with your child to help build their listening skills will be a worthwhile investment, not only now, but in the future.

Does your child seem to lack motivation? Part of parenting is trying to get inside your childs head in order to better understand him or her. When a child seems to be lacking in motivation, it helps to be able to get into his world and discover the purpose of his behavior. Perhaps your child is trying to tell you that he thinks he is in a “power struggle” and doesn't want to be “made to do something”.

Maybe his lack of motivation stems from being hurt by your high expectations and the perception of love is conditional and wants to hurt you back by not trying.

Below are 2 tips to help you motivation your children:

1. Take a look at your own behavior. Are you not giving your child enough quality time, which may invite him to seek attention, even if it negative attention? Are you controlling? Do you have unrealistically high expectations of your child? If so then stop these behaviors and choose alternative ways to create a more respectful relationship. You will be surprised as to how your child's motivation will increase.

2. Sometimes you should allow the consequences to be the teacher. Consequences are what happens as a result of a child's choices, and not something that you imposed. By allowing certain situations that your child chose to result in a negative outcome, this will teach them that they should be self motivated.

A major part of good communication between parent and child is active listening. But, what is ACTIVE listening? It means not merely staring at the child while he or she talks, but actively taking in what is said and exploring its meaning without jumping to conclusions. One reason this is important is that if you have young kids they may say or convey things that are difficult to understand and if as parents we sometimes try to fill in the gaps. This can be frustrating to a child when you guess the wrong meaning. Patience is very important and many of times I have had to really listen to my son Kailan, and put myself in his shoes to understand what he was really trying to say. So what can we do to improve our skills?

The mechanics of active listening are simple, though a parent may need to remind him or herself of them when interrupted during a busy day.

Focus on the child's eyes, but keep aware of the child's posture and movements, tone, rhythm and other physical factors. Stifle – for a few moments, at least – the urge to immediately respond with a 'quick fix' or piece of advice. Often, the goal isn't problem resolution as much as simply hearing what the child has to say. Like adults, children want to be heard.

With active listening a parent is positioning him or herself to carry out another important aspect of communication: echoing back what has been said. But 'echoing' doesn't mean 'parroting'. In order to truly hear, you have to engage the brain, not just the ears. Reflecting back what has been said, in the parents own words, demonstrates that not only has the child been heard, but – more importantly – understood.

Sympathy may or may not be part of the equation. A parent does not have to feel obligated to be sympathetic to a child's expression of a desire to punch a sibling. But neither should one be immediately dismissive of any expression of 'negative' thoughts or feelings. Responses such as 'You don't really mean that' may be true and honest, but they are not always helpful.

It isn't necessary to be morally or emotionally neutral, simply objective. Before words – and the thoughts and feelings behind them – can be evaluated, they have to be understood.

Some conversations will be spontaneous. But parents have lives, too. They can't reasonably be expected to instantly drop everything they are doing. Those goals may well be important to both them and the child, even though the child may not be able to grasp that.

Still it's important to both parent and child to be open to hearing the child when he or she has something to say. Too many 'tell me later' episodes will erode trust and the child's interest in communicating.

Fortunately, there are creative ways to deal with this dilemma.

For those old enough to do so, one method may involve having the child write out thoughts and feelings and place it in a cookie jar or send it via email. This should be reserved for those times when the parent is unavailable due to work and other important activities. It should not be a regular occurrence, lest it become a way of avoiding face-to-face communication.

However the listening is carried out, it's important to allow the child the freedom to express him or herself completely. Any subject or viewpoint should be allowed.

Once again, it isn't necessary to be morally or emotionally neutral to any and every statement. But children don't always have the moral knowledge or experience of adults. What an adult knows instantly to be wrong, a child must learn – preferably from an active listening adult.

As a parent, do you take for granted, like I did, that children will automatically listen to you? I learned some wonderful tips for coaching children to listen from a savvy veteran teacher who took me under her wing. When she showed me how to control a rowdy class of twenty-five first graders, I was determined to try the same techniques at home. Teaching children to listen actively involves all of their senses and engages their attention to their world.

1. Signs and visuals: For the visual learner, establish hand signals, a secret code between you and your child to use at home, in restaurants or in the grocery store. You can use traditional American Sign with your baby and toddler, or your own version of “quiet,” “listen,” “hear,” “shhhhh,” “see,” “look,” or “pay attention.” Making signs is a fun game, and can be used for managing behaviors like taking turns, sharing toys, hearing mom or dad, or an invitation to play cards or take a walk.

2. Whispering: Use whispering or speaking in lower voice tones to train all children in modulating their voice or stretching to hear you speak to them. For example, speaking in lower tones at a family dinner or holiday celebration teaches children respectful communication with others. They also learn that screaming is for outside and talking respectfully is for inside. Whispering is not for everyday use, but a strategy for choosing the type of conversation that is appropriate. Choose whispering when you most desire your child to listen.

3. Exploring Sound: In our bodies, sound corresponds with our central nervous system. A pleasant sound opens and expands us; it can energize or calm us. A shrieking sound will cause us to contract. Here are some ways to explore sound with our children.

o Have your children listen to the sounds around them. How many different sounds can they find in the kitchen or backyard?
o Encourage children to be creative making sounds. Have them use their voices or household objects to make sound. Allow them to make pretty, irritating, or silly sounds. They are all music if they reflect creative exploration or honest feelings.
The purpose for creating sound is to foster self-expression and open up our children’s ears to the world around them.

4. Listening to Their Bodies:

In our bodies, rhythm corresponds to our own internal body rhythm—our pulse and our breath. If the musical beat is quick and steady, our heartbeat and body movements will start to mirror it. If we are tired, listening to African drumming can kick our body back into gear. On the other hand, if a two-year-old is running around, slow rhythmic music like Bach or Vivaldi restores inner calm and slows most children down. Explore and add rhythm to the sounds that children make.

• Have your children play with different beats: fast, slow, steady, and erratic.
• Have them practice listening to the different rhythms around them, like the water dripping from the faucet or the ticking of a clock.
• Ask them if they can feel the vibration of a musical beat in their bodies, and if so, where? How do the different rhythms feel in their body? How do their feet want to move with the different beats?
• Try hand clapping to the rhythm of a poem and foot tapping to a favorite piece of music. These activities are every child’s favorite, free entertainment.

Listening to Others: Training children to listen can also involve cognitive development through the activities you both enjoy.

• For example, while reading a story, stop and ask children to retell their favorite section or discuss their favorite character.
• Invite older children to extend the story through their imagination and playfulness.
• Ask children to repeat your instructions to insure their clarity.
• Present a problem and solution for discussion. What is the quickest way to clean the house, cook a meatloaf, make a salad, fold the laundry or rake the leaves in the back yard? Listening to all ideas and solutions is a respectful process, inviting further discussion or invitations to action.

I believe my greatest learning as a parent was to assume nothing about a child, and start at the beginning: establishing eye contact, creating an empathic connection through voice or touch, and training my children in the skills I expect them to demonstrate.

Biography
Caron’s entrepreneurial fun takes place at the Academy for Coaching Parents International which provides training and certification for students to operate Parent Coaching businesses. As a mother and stepmother, Caron knows firsthand the importance of parenting skills and that nurturing children with joy, common sense, and connectedness enriches and benefits both parent and child. Her newest book is Help Kids Cope with Stress and Trauma. Her expertise has made her a frequent media expert and her work has appeared in Colorado Parent, Convergence, The Joyful Child, Energy, Black Family Digest, and Better Homes and Gardens. She and her husband Tom Goode, ND, live in Ft. Worth Texas.

EDUCATION
Post Doctoral Work: (1996-1998) Institute of Transpersonal Psychology; focus on Women’s Psychology and on Wellness
Doctorate of Education: (1979-1983) The George Washington University, My degree is in Counseling Psychology, with the major, Human Development and Leadership and a minor in Special Education.
Masters of Communication: (1972-73) Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio TX. Major was language and minor was learning disabilities.
Bachelor of Science: (1971) Oklahoma University of Liberal Arts, Major was Speech Therapy and Deaf Education.