5 year old HOH boy - oral only or "mainstreaming"

jasin said:
A lot of sign language teachers are against students learning SE and for many reasons. 1. its to much like English and sign language should not be like English because its another language in its self. 2. The majority of the deaf people in the USA are using Asl as their primary language not SE. 3. Most colleges do not teach SE they teach Asl, therefore, if you want to use sign language for a foreign language credit you will need to learn ASL.
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I will refer you back to this post of yours, after I had posted an experience I had with my son. You, yourself, are the one who began the contradictions, and replied to my post as if I had no idea what I was talking about when refering to my use of Signed English books to foster literacy skills in my son. As your post obviously assumed that I was ignorant regarding the nuances in the SEE, ASL debate, as well as the cognitive processes involved in teaching English literacy to an ASL based child, I simply posted the information that stated my qualifications to provide information on this subject. If you pereived that as rude, I am very sorry. I, on the other hand, perceived your contradiction as rude, as you assumed that I did not have the experience or the knowledge to make the assertions I had made. And, I believe, if you will check back, I was not the only one who read your post in that way, as I have spotted another correction to your assumptions regarding my position.
 
Since he was exposed to "Deaf Culture" with the use of sign language, I think it would be important to maintain that kind of atmosphere for your son.

It would be a good idea to send him to a mainstream school with interpreters for he might meet other deaf people there and improve his understanding of "Deaf Culture".

When he graduates from high school, he can decide whether he wants to continue his life with deaf people and sign or be oral only avoiding deaf people.

I'm oral. I went to CID (Central Institute for the Deaf), which is an oral school. I didn't learn sign language until I moved out of state to another school that had a deaf/mainstream program. The schools I went to in my new hometown has both deaf and mainstream classes. That means, one classroom has deaf students and another classroom has hearing students with interpreters for deaf students. I started out in kindergarten deaf class. I didn't start partial mainstream (science & math) until the 3rd grade. By the 8th grade, I was fully mainstreamed.

Now, I'm at RIT maintaining my closeness with Deaf Culture. Although I'm hard-of-hearing and speak orally, I do also sign with my deaf friends and I do have hearing friends who sign to me as well.

The only problem is that my parents aren't very understanding of my deafness... TODAY.

Even though my parents understand my deafness, I grew up orally with my family and I never really signed with my family since I always had a functioning hearing aid. However, last Christmas... my hearing aid finally "died". That was the first time in my whole life that they had to deal with me without a hearing aid for more than a week. This was a huge struggle for them since they didn't really know sign language and didn't really accept the fact that without my hearing aid... I AM DEAF.

So, with your son... make sure he understands that he is DEAF. While he may hear well, speaks orally, and can read lips... he will struggle if he ended up without his hearing aids. If you were in a social conversation with other people, you can't always be looking at him directly (which is what he needs to lipread well). So, signing is the other option. If you already know sign language, that is great. It would really be beneficial and I wish my parents were like that.
 
Vampy EXCELLENT POST!!!!! To any parents of dhh kids who are lurking........Vampy's post is 100% WHY I support ASL and speech. Sure its good that your kid(s) have good speech skills...........but when something goes wrong (broken hearing aids, broken CI) your child's going to be pretty much up the creek without a paddle. I mean god.............I lost my hearing aids a couple of years ago. I'm on disabilty....can't get new ones for a few years. So I'm up the creek without a paddle.......sure I can hear and talk.........but it doesn't do me much good without my hearing aids. I know that oral programs teach the mentality that Sign and other "special needs" methodologies are a "crutch" ..............but on the other hand, oralism makes it so that dhh kids can't function without hearing aids or other listening technologies.
 
shel90 said:
I think Jillo is fluent in ASL now. She is a strong advocate for deaf rights' and ASL as being the language taught in educational settings. :)
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People who are advocates of the deaf and their rights do not go around beating up on them emotionally with arrogance and self-righteousness and they certainly do not brag about credidentals they have or are getting with a haughty attitude.
 
"So, with your son... make sure he understands that he is DEAF. While he may hear well, speaks orally, and can read lips... he will struggle if he ended up without his hearing aids."

this is exactly the reason why i was encouraged to learn tactile sign (pse, see and asl) at my local deafblind center in 1995 even though i still had enough residual hearing to understand speech with my hearing aids and a comtek fm system. when i asked the director of the center why i should learn sign, she replied, "what if something happens to your fm system and it needs to be sent in for repair? besides, your hearing is getting progressively worse (it was severe-profound at the time; profound in left ear; severe-profound in right ear). you can't see to lipread, so how else are you going to understand what people are saying to you?" she had several good points, so i decided to take her advice and learn sign. i'm SO glad i did because it was the best decision i ever made for myself. my first experience with tactile sign occured at the american association of the deafblind (aadb) convention for it was there that i used a tactile terp. i was in heaven the entire week because for the first time in i don't know how long, i was able to fully understand everything that was happening around me. i would strongly encourage any parent of a deaf or hard of hearing child to teach them sign in addition to oral skills. oral skills alone won't do any good if a child's hearing aids aren't functioning properly or if his/her fm system stops working. that's why it's so important to learn both together, if not sign only.
 
jasin said:
People who are advocates of the deaf and their rights do not go around beating up on them emotionally with arrogance and self-righteousness and they certainly do not brag about credidentals they have or are getting with a haughty attitude.
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it sounds to me like you're jealous of jillio's knowledge and credentials.

if i had to pick between her and you advocating for my needs as a deafblind person, i'd pick jillio hands down.

jillio knows what she's talking about and has demonstrated time and time again that she has the best interest of the deaf (and deafblind) community at heart.
if i were you, i'd pay closer attention to what she says. you might be surprised at how much you learn by doing so.
 
I think all CI users should learn signs.
I remember I went for a hair cut last month before I left for Costa Rica. I saw a little boy with a CI with his mother and his mother talked to her son about something but no signs, that surprised me. I interrupted them and I asked her is your son deaf? Her reply was: Yes. I told her that I am deaf, too. She was surprised and said that I speak so well and she asked me if I am wearing a CI as well. I told her no. We started our conversations while it's our turns for a hair cut.. and I encouraged the mother that her son should learn signs, etc. She said she refused to let her son to learn signs but she preferred him to talk. How sad?!
 
Hear Again said:
it sounds to me like you're jealous of jillio's knowledge and credentials.

if i had to pick between her and you advocating for my needs as a deafblind person, i'd pick jillio hands down.

jillio knows what she's talking about and has demonstrated time and time again that she has the best interest of the deaf (and deafblind) community at heart.
if i were you, i'd pay closer attention to what she says. you might be surprised at how much you learn by doing so.
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:ty: HearAgain. I just received a nasty PM from this individual this AM. Apparently, he has some ax to grind.

He also posted a comment on my profile stating that I was not deaf. I have no idea what that was about. I believe that is general knowledge, and not something I have ever attempted to hide.
 
Hear Again said:
"So, with your son... make sure he understands that he is DEAF. While he may hear well, speaks orally, and can read lips... he will struggle if he ended up without his hearing aids."

this is exactly the reason why i was encouraged to learn tactile sign (pse, see and asl) at my local deafblind center in 1995 even though i still had enough residual hearing to understand speech with my hearing aids and a comtek fm system. when i asked the director of the center why i should learn sign, she replied, "what if something happens to your fm system and it needs to be sent in for repair? besides, your hearing is getting progressively worse (it was severe-profound at the time; profound in left ear; severe-profound in right ear). you can't see to lipread, so how else are you going to understand what people are saying to you?" she had several good points, so i decided to take her advice and learn sign. i'm SO glad i did because it was the best decision i ever made for myself. my first experience with tactile sign occured at the american association of the deafblind (aadb) convention for it was there that i used a tactile terp. i was in heaven the entire week because for the first time in i don't know how long, i was able to fully understand everything that was happening around me. i would strongly encourage any parent of a deaf or hard of hearing child to teach them sign in addition to oral skills. oral skills alone won't do any good if a child's hearing aids aren't functioning properly or if his/her fm system stops working. that's why it's so important to learn both together, if not sign only.
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I'd like to add one more thing... sign language would help out a deaf child when the child lose his/her sight for any reason. I have eye problem and could lose my central vision years down the road and yet nobody in my family know sign language. I often have to put on my hearing aids in order to understand what was being said to me. I can't read lips without hearing aids or vice versa. I am really up the creek without paddle once I lose my vision.
 
Buffalo said:
I'd like to add one more thing... sign language would help out a deaf child when the child lose his/her sight for any reason. I have eye problem and could lose my central vision years down the road and yet nobody in my family know sign language. I often have to put on my hearing aids in order to understand what was being said to me. I can't read lips without hearing aids or vice versa. I am really up the creek without paddle once I lose my vision.
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buffalo,

you brought up an excellent point. there are a variety of alternative communication techniques for the deafblind, but none i think that are as important as tactile sign.
 
jillio said:
:ty: HearAgain. I just received a nasty PM from this individual this AM. Apparently, he has some ax to grind.

He also posted a comment on my profile stating that I was not deaf. I have no idea what that was about. I believe that is general knowledge, and not something I have ever attempted to hide.
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you're welcome, jillio. :)

why am i not surprised this individual sent you a nasty pm? i think you're right that he DOES have an ax to grind. this person and i have gotten into a few heated debates ourselves and it seems to me as if he wants to prove others wrong any chance he gets. i've already placed him on my ignore list so i no longer have to worry about debating with someone who refuses to listen to reason.

you've always made it clear that you're hearing and you have a Deaf son. i have no idea why that comes as a surprise to anyone (unless they are new to ad). :dunno:
 
jasin said:
People who are advocates of the deaf and their rights do not go around beating up on them emotionally with arrogance and self-righteousness and they certainly do not brag about credidentals they have or are getting with a haughty attitude.
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That's between you and Jillio if you have a problem with that.
 
Im hoh and was mainstreamed. I did well academically but failed socially. If you choose to mainstream him just be aware how he does socially. It is common for the deaf to feel isolated when mainstreamed.

I think it can be avoided or at least minimized if it watched
 
Hear Again said:
buffalo,

you brought up an excellent point. there are a variety of alternative communication techniques for the deafblind, but none i think that are as important as tactile sign.
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If the deaf child already knew sign language when he/she went blind, he/she can learn tactile sign easily (I hope). Still the child would be up the creek without paddle if his family don't learn sign language.
 
Buffalo said:
If the deaf child already knew sign language when he/she went blind, he/she can learn tactile sign easily (I hope). Still the child would be up the creek without paddle if his family don't learn sign language.
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That was my problem. It was also compounded by the fact I didn't realise a deafblind person COULD learn sign language if they were legally blind. Now at last I've paid someone to teach me tactile sign language.
 
BearBeauty said:
She is not contradicting you. She was agreeing with you.. Read it more carefully, she was talking about HER past expierences.
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I did not say she was contradicting me i said she was trying. Please read what I actually say.
 
shel90 said:
That's between you and Jillio if you have a problem with that.
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She does this stuff in nearly every thread I go into. Some of the ops have even politely asked her to stop doing it. Therefore, She's the problem not me!!!
 
jasin said:
She does this stuff in nearly every thread I go into. Some of the ops have even politely asked her to stop doing it. Therefore, She's the problem not me!!!
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:laugh2:
Let's get back on topic now. As much as you would like it to be, this thread isn't about you. It is about a 5 year old hoh boy and his educational placement.
 
Not interested in who said what or who started it...
 
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