EDUCATION
Deaf students, instructor learn plenty in auto repair class
Don Twomey says it’s easy to work with the teens at School for the
Deaf.
By Claire Osborn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, April 07, 2008
Don Twomey, 47, could barely keep up with his students as they
fiercely blasted the rust off a 1977 El Camino with sanders. Trotting
among eight teenagers who have hearing loss, Twomey showed them how to
run their hands along the car’s body to locate dents and then how to
smooth the bumps with plastic filler.
Since January, he has been the volunteer teacher for an auto repair
class in a garage at the Texas School for the Deaf.
“It’s kind of refreshing,” said Twomey, who owns Twomey Auto Works, a
body repair shop on South Congress Avenue. “These kids help each other
a lot more than other people I’ve worked with. They are smart and
intuitive.”
The school is across the street from Twomey’s shop. Working with the
school, Twomey said, is an “easy fit.”
One of his employees is deaf and began working for him 10 years ago
after graduating from the school, Twomey said.
“I have learned a lot from him,” he said.
Because of Twomey’s proximity to the school and his experience
working with an employee who has hearing loss, the school asked him to
teach the class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, said Claire Bugen, the
school’s superintendent.
Bugen said Twomey has a wonderful style with the students.
“He is easygoing, uses humor and is not afraid to give his beginning
sign language a try,” Bugen said. “Often the class interpreter
indicates she has nothing to do because he does so well with the
students.”
Twomey said he has learned a few words in sign language.
“I’ve learned how to say ‘old,’ ‘crazy,’ ‘thank you’ and ‘bad,’ ” he
said, grinning.
His eight students, speaking through interpreter Theresa Goodnight
during one of their classes last week, had nothing but praise for
Twomey.
“He doesn’t sit back,” said Kevin Ruffin, an 18-year-old who said he
plans to be a football coach. “He gets very involved. It’s like he’s
one of us.”
Though Twomey doesn’t know sign language, it’s not a problem because
he teaches much of the class through gestures, Ruffin said.
“He’s not as strict as some of our other teachers,” said 19-year-old
Chase Billings, who said he enrolled in the class because his mother
wants him to learn how to fix her car, which was recently involved in
a wreck.
Emmanuel Trevino, a 17-year-old who wants to get a job at an auto
body repair shop, said he wants to share what he has learned from
Twomey with his family.
“This is my number one favorite class,” he said.
Rocky Gillam, 17, said he has been able to fix the dents in a Dodge
pickup.
Twomey said the skills he is teaching the students, including
painting and polishing a car, are just an introduction to the auto
repair business. Twomey has provided the car and his own tools for the
class.
Eventually, the students will repaint the vehicle, which has flat
tires and an engine that does not work, and enter it into a car show
at the school in the fall.
Twomey said teaching the class gives him a break from his business,
where the phones are constantly ringing.
“It’s good therapy for me,” he said.
[email protected]
; 445-3871
Link:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/07/0407deaf.html
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