where to start? deaf baby

And keep in mind that your child is and will always be a visual learner....
 
The debate seems to be over which language should be a dhh kid's first language. The key for EI, really should be giving a kid both languages.....
 
There used to be a parent of a deaf teen from Arizona who posted here...... I can't remmeber his name, but he was a fount of info and support. . Wish he still posted here.
 
deafdyke said:
The debate seems to be over which language should be a dhh kid's first language. The key for EI, really should be giving a kid both languages.....
Click to expand...
Both languages, yes. ASL and English are both languages. SEE is not a language.
 
Really good point Csign -- my daughter started picking up SEE signs this past year and when I asked her teachers (in a very bi-bi, ASL-first academic environment) about this, they explained that many of their deaf teachers actually use quite a bit of Signing Exact English when teaching children to read, as a visual access to the English language. So my daughter was picking up the signs from other children in classes where these signs are more commonly in use and from encounters with those teachers using SEE signs to clarify and to be more specific regarding English reading content with students without auditory access.

CSign said:
There is no reason that your child cannot become proficient/fluent in ASL and English. There are different approaches you can take. I used Total
Communication (TC) with Signing Exact English (SEE) and transitioned to ASL when he got a bit older. Many of the signs in SEE are the same as in ASL so when they are babies it doesnt differ too much since they are learning the basics. That was beneficial for my son to have complete access to language, and to internalize the intricacies of English. TC gave him the opportunity to develop oral skills (which isn't a possibility for everyone, but given your son's degree of loss he'd probably be able to), as well as an understanding of the spoken language surrounding him. He has had no problem transitioning to ASL. Another approach is the Bilingual-Bicultural philosophy (Bi-Bi) that uses both ASL and teaches English, but the approach to teaching and learning English is different. We have a poster whose child is in a Bi-Bi program who could answer any questions you have about it. There is no one right way to achieve an end. You have to make the determination what is appropriate for your child and family. Search the forum a bit, and you'll get an idea.

This is another good site to look through that discusses communication options among other things:

Hands & Voices :: Articles
Click to expand...
 
Ashli said:
Well I'm completely overwhelmed. My son, 8 weeks old has moderate/severe loss (one ear each) and I know that our state's Early intervention program will be connecting with us; we've been referred by the children's hospital that conducted his BAER. And we are seeing an Ent next week.
But for weeks since we've known he likely had a loss (now confirmed) I've been online reading and reading and Im honestly totally overwhelmed by all the sites and organizations and resources and opinions. All i want now is to figure out.what i could be doing for his best interests right now as a parent wanting to ensure we give him the best shot at communication and learning, since these early months are so critical. Im just overwhelmed so that i don't even know where to look first. Anyone been through this? I am hearing and so is my husband and older daughter (age 3.5)
Click to expand...


One of the questions that you have to ask yourself is; What do I want for my son?

Since you want him to have the ability to communicate with others, get him early speech intervention. The earlier you get speech therapy for your son the less trouble he will face when he gets older.

Another aspect to consider is; is he going to learn ASL, speech, or both. If you wish for him to learn both and wish for him to be successful in both aspects I would recommend that you teach him some speech first and ASL later because I had a friend when I was younger and she learned ASL first then got implanted and struggled learning how to talk.

If you are considering getting him assistive technology like an implant, get him used to hearing new sounds now! Just get him a hearing aid or something to get him accustomed to sounds. Play games like, did you hear that? So he can learn how to pick up and process sounds around him more efficiently with his implant.

Don’t be scared to research all of the options out there for your son.

Best of luck. :)
 
If a child first learns ASL, he will at least have a language and be able to communicate his needs to others.

For a deaf child, ASL is his language; it's visual and totally independent of any hearing ability; it's his norm, and it shouldn't be withheld from him.

Teaching a child ASL right from the beginning is the most beneficial way to go because communication between parents and child can begin right away. The hearing parents don't need to be fluent signers at the beginning, and no one is saying that they have go voice off all the time. Hearing parents don't need an extensive sign vocabulary to start with.

Of all the hearing parents of deaf children that I've met, I haven't heard any of them express regret over learning to sign with their children. I have heard regret from parents who did NOT learn how to sign with their children. They would tell me, "When our child was young, the 'experts' told us not to sign with him. Now I realize how much we missed out on."
 
Reba said:
If a child first learns ASL, he will at least have a language and be able to communicate his needs to others.

For a deaf child, ASL is his language; it's visual and totally independent of any hearing ability; it's his norm, and it shouldn't be withheld from him.

Teaching a child ASL right from the beginning is the most beneficial way to go because communication between parents and child can begin right away. The hearing parents don't need to be fluent signers at the beginning, and no one is saying that they have go voice off all the time. Hearing parents don't need an extensive sign vocabulary to start with.

Of all the hearing parents of deaf children that I've met, I haven't heard any of them express regret over learning to sign with their children. I have heard regret from parents who did NOT learn how to sign with their children. They would tell me, "When our child was young, the 'experts' told us not to sign with him. Now I realize how much we missed out on."
Click to expand...
AMEN Reba. And in addition he has a moderately severe loss. Chances are good that he will develop speech skills without super intense instruction (the way deafer kids might) You don't generally need to worry about speech skills with audilogically HOH kids......but far too often we don't get ASL.
 
Everyone's got excellent advices. I couldn't agree any more with them on the ASL approach.

If you want to have a real-life learning approach, I would encourage you to meet other Deaf Adults with diverse language methodology background whether it's oral, ASL, Signed Exact English, etc just to give yourself a perspective from individuals within the Deaf Community and as well as Deaf Community at Large. Don't be afraid to ask them how they approached their learning style, what works for them, what doesn't work for them and stuff like that.

Good Luck! :)
 
Wow, such great advice, so many perspectives! Here's an update. He had his 2nd BAER today at the children's hospital. Again he didn't sleep deeply and fussed a lot but she got more data than last time and found the responses consistent with moderate. The original severe result was due to one high frequency tone that today she was able to get a response for...
We are proceeding with hearing aids. She took impressions of his cute little ears for ear molds.
Early intervention appt is on Monday. We want him to be oral and learn sign as well. Will see what the services coordinator has to say about what's available in our city. There's an oral learning center in my neighborhood for birth through early elementary age that we are going to tour. As for ASL, yes we still want it but are still not sure how he will learn. You all provided good ideas so thank you! There are community college classes that my husband and I want to take but there must be some kind of family learning. I don't know of any daycares that can provided that environment but i have to return to work so he starts our regular place where his sister goes in August. But I've been working on some ASL so far on my own through lifeprint.com and aslpro, whenever baby gives me some quiet time and I've learned several letters and signs, practicing some basic phrases too. It is all so hard to remember but, I am using them already when I can with the baby and have taught his 3.5 yo sister a bunch too. We had a ton of fun practicing and learning together this evening...she loves it!
My mom is on board too and his grandparents on my husband's side. We are all very excited to get as much knowledge of sign as possible.
I do worry about him achieving fluency if he will be spending his days at daycare so hopefully we can teach as much as we can at home. I am even inspired to try and get signing instruction as one of the activities the kids have at their preschool, just like they get music and sports etc...why not sign language? Everyone can benefit.
It's going to be a journey and I've had a tough time I'll admit. It's a lot to take in and deal with right after having a baby. It's been all I've focused on throughout my maternity leave and my stress level has been quite high. Im having working mom guilt about separating frOm him soon. He has the most loving caregivers waiting for him, they've loved and nurtured my daughter since she started there as a baby. But with his communication needs, i worry so much about how he'll do. I am hoping he does really well with his hearing aids. Very excited to get them.
 
Daycares have to provide sign language for deaf children.

Q: Can I charge the parents for special services provided to a child with a disability, provided that the charges are reasonable?

A: It depends. If the service is required by the ADA, you cannot impose a surcharge for it. It is only if you go beyond what is required by law that you can charge for those services. For instance, if a child requires complicated medical procedures that can only be done by licensed medical personnel, and the center does not normally have such personnel on staff, the center would not be required to provide the medical services under the ADA. If the center chooses to go beyond its legal obligation and provide the services, it may charge the parents or guardians accordingly. On the other hand, if a center is asked to do simple procedures that are required by the ADA -- such as finger-prick blood glucose tests for children with diabetes (see question 20) -- it cannot charge the parents extra for those services. To help offset the costs of actions or services that are required by the ADA, including but not limited to architectural barrier removal, providing sign language interpreters, or purchasing adaptive equipment, some tax credits and deductions may be available (see question 24).

24. Q: Are there tax credits or deductions available to help offset the costs associated with complying with the ADA?

A: To assist businesses in complying with the ADA, Section 44 of the IRS Code allows a tax credit for small businesses and Section 190 of the IRS Code allows a tax deduction for all businesses.

The tax credit is available to businesses that have total revenues of $1,000,000 or less in the previous tax year or 30 or fewer full-time employees. This credit can cover 50% of the eligible access expenditures in a year up to $10,250 (maximum credit of $5,000). The tax credit can be used to offset the cost of complying with the ADA, including, but not limited to, undertaking barrier removal and alterations to improve accessibility; provide sign language interpreters; and for purchasing certain adaptive equipment.

The tax deduction is available to all businesses with a maximum deduction of $15,000 per year. The tax deduction can be claimed for expenses incurred in barrier removal and alterations.

To order documents about the tax credit and tax deduction provisions, contact the Department of Justice's ADA Information Line (see question 30).

Commonly Asked Questions About Child Care and the ADA
 
bbaseballboy123 said:
I, for one completely recommend teaching the baby ASL as soon as possible even if you are going down the oral path. I was raised with the oral method (proud to be raised oral), but I am learning ASL now and I wished I had learned it as a kid.
Click to expand...

I agree with him and everyone else who is saying to do both ASL/Speech therapy. However, my reasoning is the opposite. I was born profoundly deaf and raised with just the signing method. I wish my parents had actually decided to do both for me instead of just the signs. Don't get me wrong, I do realize that I have been very lucky to have hearing parents who readily accepted me for who I am. I am still grateful for that. However, it really is not easy being a deaf adult who's stuck in the hearing world and can't speak very well.

At the same time, I have a few friends who have the same level of hearing loss as I do - profound - and they are better off because they had early intervention when they were babies. They were pushed to do speech therapy but still got the opportunity to interact with deaf people throughout their childhood. Right now they not only sign very well but they also speak well enough for people to not realize that they are actually deaf. This is the kind of situation that I wish I could be in - having the best of both worlds.

Anyways, that's just my personal perspective. It's good that you decided to do your homework on this and try to learn some signs. You do not need to be fluent in order to teach your baby some signs. Just some important signs like "eat" "poop" "mom" "dad" etc will be good enough, as your kid grows and acquires a bigger vocabulary, you can just learn along with him. That's what my parents did for me when I got diagnosed as profoundly deaf at 11 months. They didn't know much about the language or deaf culture at the beginning either. You and your family will be fine. :)
 
Ashli- It's important to understand the terms when it comes to DHH students. If you tell EI that you want your son to be "Oral" that implies not using sign language. If you're clear with them that you want to help him develop "oral skills" as well as sign, that will make your position more clear. The Oral program your going to visit probably doesn't use any (or very minimal) signs.
 
You should bring it up with the EI team that you'd like someone to go in
And teach the day care provider functional signs, as well as tips for interacting with your son. It should be written in his IFSP, as well as them providing you guys with classes. You'll likely have the opportunity to learn more signs at the home visits. Start making a list of words that come up a lot, and ask the teacher when he/she comes to your house.

If you guys don't know the alphabet yet, start learning that on your own. That will be useful for you when you're learning new signs.
 
Your son will learn ASL naturally, by interacting with you at home as well as when he goes to school. It isn't "taught" so much as it is acquired through day to day, face to face interactions with him.

I was in the same position as you, and my son was in the same position as yours. You guys will get there if you commit to it.
 
Good point on how to express it to EI.. we will tell her we want him to acquire oral skills and also ASL and see what she says. I wonder what most people around here do. The audiologist yesterday has the point of view that our child won't need ASL and can do just fine orally... we hesitate though, what if he progresses to worse. What about the times when his HAs are not on ... etc... I don't want to rely on speech. ASL can only add to our communication, if we can all manage to learn it.
The oral school is just that, an oral school with a mission to prepare deaf/hoh babies and toddlers to mainstream at school age. They do not do sign, at least that is my impression before actually going there to check it out. But it seems like a good resource to have in the neighborhood.
Unfortunately the daycare we use for our daughter, and positively love, is run by a religious organization and most likely exempt from ADA as far as I can see. I am so disappointed... I need to talk to the director and see what we can do. We really want him there, it is our second home/family, we have full trust in the school... we were so pleased to have a place like that for our second baby to go being that I have to work... and now we are upset that we may not have any options or rights there.
 
Ashli said:
...Unfortunately the daycare we use for our daughter, and positively love, is run by a religious organization and most likely exempt from ADA as far as I can see. I am so disappointed... I need to talk to the director and see what we can do. We really want him there, it is our second home/family, we have full trust in the school... we were so pleased to have a place like that for our second baby to go being that I have to work... and now we are upset that we may not have any options or rights there.
Click to expand...
They may be exempt from ADA requirements.

Yes, talk to the director. They might voluntarily accommodate your child with sign language. They may have deaf ministry workers who could teach the daycare workers basic sign language. Or, there could be workers at the daycare who are also early education students who can benefit from sign language courses in their program of study. There are often some daycare workers who love the children enough to want to learn ASL on their own if they know there is a need. Even better, maybe they could include sign language classes (very informal, child-oriented) for the staff and students. The kids usually enjoy that, and it creates an environment that your child could really flourish in by being able to communicate with peers as time goes by. Your child probably will spend as much time communicating with friends as staff, so it would be a benefit for all concerned to sign.
 
Ashli said:
Good point on how to express it to EI.. we will tell her we want him to acquire oral skills and also ASL and see what she says. I wonder what most people around here do. The audiologist yesterday has the point of view that our child won't need ASL and can do just fine orally... we hesitate though, what if he progresses to worse. What about the times when his HAs are not on ... etc... I don't want to rely on speech. ASL can only add to our communication, if we can all manage to learn it.
The oral school is just that, an oral school with a mission to prepare deaf/hoh babies and toddlers to mainstream at school age. They do not do sign, at least that is my impression before actually going there to check it out. But it seems like a good resource to have in the neighborhood.
Unfortunately the daycare we use for our daughter, and positively love, is run by a religious organization and most likely exempt from ADA as far as I can see. I am so disappointed... I need to talk to the director and see what we can do. We really want him there, it is our second home/family, we have full trust in the school... we were so pleased to have a place like that for our second baby to go being that I have to work... and now we are upset that we may not have any options or rights there.
Click to expand...
Is it Desert Voices? Ask your audi if she thinks that two languages are better then one. Mention to her that you are going to do both, but you're also reconizing that visual processing is a STRENGH in dhh kids......Say that you want him to have all the possible tools. Say that you want him to function 100% both with and without his hearing aids! Check out the oral school. ..You most likely won't need it. Remember in the past, a lot of HOH kids didn't get identified until we were toddlers.....and even in kindergarten/first grade. It MIGHT be a resource later on. I do know it's not that unusual for some sign using kids to attend oral schools/programs to improve their speech. BUT, on the other hand
those kids tend to be deafer. Dhh kids can and do learn to speak.....BUT, they won't generally speak as well as a hearing kid. Heck, even lots of HOH kids still have deaf accents. I do want to say that the fact that the oral deaf school has early elementary kinda doesn't say a lot about local mainstream deaf ed....They really like to mainstream the kids ASAP....And trust me mainstreaming the kids is no longer innovative. That stopped being innovative around 1982.
A much better idea would be to contact Phoinix Day School for the Deaf: They are ALL in one!!!! They have speech therapy and sign and EVERYTHING!
Welcome to our site!
 
Oh, and the thing is....it is very unusal even with Deaf families to be totally voice off. Tell the audi that you are going to do BOTH... pursue good quality spoken language therapy (if needed) AND ASL.
 
Back
Top