Signing Santa Claus Delights Deaf Boy, Uses Sign Language to Ask 3-Year-Old "Are You a Good Boy?"

A mall Santa Claus in Foxboro, Mass. delighted a 3-year-old deaf boy when he started using sign language.

Cameron Sylvester uses hearing aides in both ears due to a condition called auditory neuropathy. Cameron's sister was eager to meet Santa, but the young boy held back, shy because of his difficulties communicating.

The unnamed man playing Santa Claus noticed Cameron signing with his mother, and he took the opportunity to join in, signing, "Are you a good boy?"

"I wanted to cry," said Cameron's mother. "A lot of people don't know sign language, and there's Santa, and he knew what Cameron needed to see."

"It's touching, because it's nice to know that there are people still left in the world that care," said Cameron's father.

The Santa sees 18,000 children each year, but it was still a special exchange for him. "It's wonderful," the Santa said. "I live for moments like those."

American Sign Language isn't a common skill, with perhaps one in several hundred people in the country able to use or understand it, so it was a happy Christmas coincidence that Cameron's family picked that particular Santa for their holiday gift wishing.

While many courts, official venues and schools have interpreters available or on-call, recreational activities rarely have access to an ASL interpreter, which can isolate children with hearing problems, especially before they are old enough to begin reading.

Instead, many deaf people form their own communities and hold their own events, but that is more difficult when the rest of a family is part of the hearing population.