I was the only deaf kid in my elementary school. I was thrown in with the sharks and had to rely on myself to keep from sinking. Somehow, I managed but not without a few scars from those sharks.
Basically what happened was I was treated like any hearing kid in the classroom which on paper sounds good but in reality, it wasnt good cuz I had no support system..no terp, no resource teacher (not until middle school), no notetaker...nothing. I dont know how I learned...probably cuz I loved to read so I learned from reading rather than from the teachers and my peers. My mom always had to work with me everynight to make sure I understood my homework which had to be tough cuz she was a single mom living on minimum wage.
In middle school, I was always happy to get teachers who put lecture notes in writing whether it was on the blackboard or on the overhead transparency...helped me a LOT. If I didnt, I had to rely on help from my peers to let me know what was happening in class which got me several trips to detention for "talking too much" in class.
In high school, for some reason, an ASL terp was assigned to me in 1 or 2 classes ( I had 6 classes each year) and they didnt even bother to recognize the fact that I knew no ASL so I never looked at the terp cuz I was sooo ashamed and brainwashed about my deafness. All the terp represented the fact that I was "different" which I had been trying to deny for so many years.
Now, I accept that I am 'different" and I DONT care. Wish I did back then...would have made life easier.