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How about if the parents of deaf enroll at a local baby sign programme. Since that is getting more popular with hearing babies then a mother of a deaf baby will have those classes to go to too.
Then when the baby knows a few signs and if mother has busy sceducle their is the possiblility of looking into the local deaf club. I don't know if deaf clubs have mother and toddler sessions but if not it would be a good idea to start. Plus for deaf adults to help with deaf infants from hearing families. It's great if parents can learn to sign but beyond baby signs and finger spelling it's not always a reality. Oralists will use that excuse not to bother, but I think that if signing yourself really is out of the question there is nothing to stop you hiring someone else to do it. A fluent signer from the deaf community would be ideal. Signing deaf adults should consider getting work as baby sitters.
It might still mean sending a child away to deaf school depending on the area.
I'd agree with Vicky about not bashing parents though. Although it can be frustrating when they keep trying to promote a failing system. I guess one has to be patient.
Another point is that some parents just will cling to oralism whatever. Take my friend K's dad. I mean her daughter is deafblind. The staff at Queen Alexander Blind college used signing and deafblind manual with K as it was the best way to communicate other then spending endless time repeating yourself like a parrot and K still not getting it. The staff used signs as it was easier for them. K's father still made a complaint about them signing with his daughter though. It seems some parents just don't know when to give up on a system that just isn't working.
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