The Coda Counselor

04/17/2026

If anyone needs a kick start or boost for their signing skills, this is the place for you!

ASL Arizona Total Immersion (AZTI) program happening June 27–July 1, 2026.

This 5-day, voice-off immersion experience is designed to accelerate ASL skill development through direct instruction from highly respected Deaf professionals.

Participants will:

Engage in full ASL communication in a supportive environment
Learn from expert Deaf educators
Experience community living with lodging and meals included
Build both language skills and cultural competence

Hosted at the beautiful Franciscan Renewal Center, this program offers a unique combination of intensive learning and restorative space.

04/17/2026

Hello all,
I’m honored to be teaming up with CodaFest to support healthy Deaf families—creating space for awareness, compassion, and connection between Deaf parents and their Coda children.

Registration is open! September 3-6, 2026 Camp Taloali Oregon.
CodaFest.org for more information!

04/17/2026

Wow. Thank you for sharing your story Sharon!

03/23/2026

Recently, I partnered with Codas of Color to offer this workshop on language deprivation, examining how development, identity, and relationships evolve over time. We also delved into the often overlooked impacts on Codas. Watch the video to learn more:

Watch:

Language deprivation is often misunderstood as simply “missing words.”In reality, it is a preventable developmental disruption that can affect how a person t...

12/22/2025

When Children Become the Bridge: What Language-Brokering Research Reveals About Codas

For decades, researchers have studied child language brokering—the phenomenon where children translate adult conversations, documents, and decisions for their families. Most of this research focuses on immigrant households, where children translate for parents navigating systems in a new language. But there is a population hiding in plain sight. Codas—Children of Deaf Adults—have been doing this work all along. The difference is not whether Codas broker language.The difference is that Codas do it because systems fail to provide access, not because families are new to a country....

For decades, researchers have studied child language brokering—the phenomenon where children translate adult conversations, documents, and decisions for their families. Most of this research focuse…

11/18/2025

Why Dinner Table Syndrome Is Trauma

What People and Professionals Need to Know Joy Plote, LPC, CCTS I&F, CI/CT Dinner Table Syndrome (DTS) describes the experience of being physically present but excluded from family communication because others do not use accessible language (e.g., ASL). Deaf children and Deaf adults often sit at a table where conversations happen around them — not with them. This experience is not “inconvenient.”It is chronically traumatic. Below is why. 1. DTS is a Form of Chronic Social Exclusion Trauma research shows that ongoing relational exclusion activates the same neural pathways as physical pain....

What People and Professionals Need to Know Joy Plote, LPC, CCTS I&F, CI/CT Dinner Table Syndrome (DTS) describes the experience of being physically present but excluded from family communicatio…

11/05/2025

When we talk about human connection, we often think of empathy — our ability to understand how someone else feels. But underneath empathy lies something even more fundamental: Theory of Mind (ToM). It’s our brain’s ability to recognize that other people have thoughts, beliefs, and emotions that are separate from our own. For most hearing children, this develops naturally through early conversation and exposure to how people talk about what others think or feel. But for many Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children — particularly those born to hearing parents who don’t sign — the story unfolds differently....

When we talk about human connection, we often think of empathy — our ability to understand how someone else feels. But underneath empathy lies something even more fundamental: Theory of Mind (ToM).…

11/01/2025

Dinner Table Syndrome: The Loneliness of Being Left Out at Home

By Joy Plote, LPC, CI/CT – Licensed Counselor, Interpreter, and Coda Love is supposed to be shared in conversation, laughter, and connection. But what happens when communication itself becomes the …

11/01/2025

“You have the right to exist and take up space in the world.”That sentence alone has changed lives. In Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), assertiveness isn’t about being loud or demanding—it’s about balance. It’s learning to honor your truth without harming someone else’s. For many of us raised in families or systems where speaking up felt unsafe, learning to assert our needs can feel unfamiliar. But assertiveness is not aggression—it’s self-respect in action. What Are Assertive Rights? Assertive rights are the basic human rights that remind us we are allowed to express ourselves—our needs, feelings, opinions, and limits—without guilt or apology....

“You have the right to exist and take up space in the world.”That sentence alone has changed lives. In Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), assertiveness isn’t about being loud or demanding—it’s abo…

10/31/2025

A reflection on the deepest human need — to be understood. I have spent my life in the Deaf community — living, working, and loving within it. I’ve seen the pain that silence leaves behind, the kind that has nothing to do with sound and everything to do with separation. Over and over, I’ve watched families who love each other deeply struggle in the absence of shared communication. Love was never the problem. Access was. For over thirty years I’ve seen Deaf individuals ache for the family who never learned their language....

A reflection on the deepest human need — to be understood. I have spent my life in the Deaf community — living, working, and loving within it. I’ve seen the pain that silence leaves behind, the kin…