Yes. Even though he has top-notch digital hearing aids, they cannot give him back the hearing that he doesn't have. He misses the softer sounds of speech, i.e. ch, sh and transposes t's, p's and d's, etc. The signing, including finger spelling the "p" or "d" or "s", really clarifies those words for him. (Finger spelling has also helped him learn his alphabet better, and I wonder if that's because it's a visual cue that makes it easier for him to connect with the sound??)
The oral school is in Missouri, and we live in Alaska. The offer for us to go to the out-of-state school is for our entire family to relocate there. We have family in Missouri, and it would actually work for our family as a whole re jobs, school for our older son, etc.
I found out late yesterday that Missouri also has an excellent special education school district, which might be an alternative to the oral school. I don't yet know if they provide interpreters. I'll find more out about this next week.
My biggest concern at this point about mainstreaming him here is that none of his teachers can tell how much he is learning from the signing and how much is he learning from them speaking. I know at home that he misses at least a word out of every couple to three sentences. So, I find it hard to believe that he isn't getting something from the signing in school. Everyone believes he is smart enough to "bridge" the gap and figure out the missing words, but I'm having a hard time resolving myself to the fact that, because of where we live and the lack of resources, my kid has to try that hard just to get the information. His teachers here have been very clear that it will get harder for him as he goes up in grade levels because of the introduction of more advanced language - science, biology, etc. They say hoh kids here can do pretty well mainstreaming in elementary school, but it gets much harder and "sketchy" as they enter middle school, and then, of course, high school.