Quote:
Originally Posted by shel90
How do we really know? It looked like the oral only approach worked for me. I passed my classes and got into a major university didn't I? What was seriously overlooked was my socio-emotional needs and usually that aspects is badly ignored. As long as the child is passing the classes and developing literacy skills, all is well, right?
Just playing Devil's advocate...smile,.
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The reason I joined the forum, to get exactly this type of perspective. My severely hearing impaired son is mainstreamed, very verbal and outperforming most kids his age academically but I'm not sure I understand the emotional challenges.
His behavior is often problematic and it's difficult to know how much is from hearing loss and how much is other problems. Sometimes it seems that maybe if he had been to a deaf school, I'd at least be able to make that differentiation. Deaf school teachers who have worked with him don't seem to think the behavior issues are hearing-related but I'm not so sure.
What makes school and socializing harder is that most adults (and consequently the children around them) feel comfortable ignoring his special needs simply because he is performing so well. The attitude is like: "I know he can hear me" or "With his hearing aids he's just like any hearing child".
The concept of him having to make more effort to hear just doesn't seem to penetrate most adult brains regardless of how many times I say it. (There are many solutions for those who can't hear, but seemingly none for those who won't ).
When he was younger, I never seriously looked at ASL because he has enough residual hearing to communicate orally. Now I sometimes wonder if I should have given that (and deaf school) more consideration. Our experience makes me feel that perhaps bi- is the way to go.