Category: Language

The scene is River Valley School for the Deaf just outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Charlie, a teenager with crappy cochlear implants and parents who prevented her from learning to sign, moves from mainstream Jefferson High to River Valley. Deprived of full language learning until her transfer in 11th grade, Charlie has to learn American Sign as a second language amongst students whose mother tongue is ASL. Also she has to manage divorced parents, boarding school, and teenage experimentation with drugs, alcohol, sex, and her first opportunity to attend classes not as a “special” learner.