I'm glad to see this conversation has continued (and equally glad I got a good night's sleep). I'll keep following it in the deaf newspapers, and will post anything that is pertinent. Tonya, I hope you'll do the same for the local papers.
It's sad, you know, because if she WAS a normal deaf kid, then all of this may have been completely avoidable.
A deaf kid who has access to language and communication (who doesn't have other disabilities) is just a kid who uses a different form of language.
A deaf (or hearing) child who is denied language is sentenced to a very different life.

I hope the Modesto police take a good look at the entire situation, and make sure that if this woman *should* go to prison that she does, and if she truly didn't understand, then I hope she is removed from that home and placed somewhere that she can at least develop some communication skills.