Deaf pre school

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helpless mom

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There should be pre school for deaf kids in every city
 
In the US, pre-school is required for and made available to every deaf child at the age of 3. And in most if not all states, you can choose whether to send your child to one provided by your local school, or obtain placement out of district at a pre-school of your choosing. Is it possible that your province has similar requirements?

In our case, we could have sent our daughter to a small pre-school with an ASL-using aide or teacher and another deaf child at her local school down the street, but opted instead to transport our daughter 3.5 hours a day to attend preschool at a dedicated bi-bi school for the deaf in a different part of our state, where she is currently enrolled. It's where we had previously transferred all of her early intervention activities from the time she was 1YO.
 
GrendelQ said:
In the US, pre-school is required for and made available to every deaf child at the age of 3. And in most if not all states, you can choose whether to send your child to one provided by your local school, or obtain placement out of district at a pre-school of your choosing. Is it possible that your province has similar requirements?

In our case, we could have sent our daughter to a small pre-school with an ASL-using aide or teacher and another deaf child at her local school down the street, but opted instead to transport our daughter 3.5 hours a day to attend preschool at a dedicated bi-bi school for the deaf in a different part of our state, where she is currently enrolled. It's where we had previously transferred all of her early intervention activities from the time she was 1YO.
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Let's not get things off topic I think the poster was saying that there should be preschools FOR the deaf.
 
posts from hell said:
Let's not get things off topic I think the poster was saying that there should be preschools FOR the deaf.
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? That's what I was referring to -- is what I said different? Li has been at an early childhood center FOR the deaf for 4 years now, 2 of them in preK required by and paid for by the local school district.
 
The problem is that dhh kids are low incidence. One way to get around that is educational collabratives, for kids with low incidence disabilties. A group of towns collabratatives to educate dhh kids, or autistic kids or kids with more severe mental disabilties.
 
I was in a deaf preschool in my state which was held by the place where I go now and then for tests, earmold impression blah blah blah....
 
GrendelQ said:
In our case, we could have sent our daughter to a small pre-school with an ASL-using aide or teacher and another deaf child at her local school down the street, but opted instead to transport our daughter 3.5 hours a day to attend preschool at a dedicated bi-bi school for the deaf
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I'm not sure I read that right ... Plus you know that English is not my first language, but... Did you all transfer there, or are you driving your child 3.5 hours go and back everyday??? :shock:

I have a school for the deaf (well, sort of -in fact there are 3 or 4 deaf kids in every class) but it's more than 2 hours away so I gave up the idea...

Yes, there should be schools for the deaf everywhere, but deaf children are not so many and dedicated schools are expensive... So...
It's a pity since sign language could be easily taught to ALL children, deaf or not. They learn sign SO easily, you'd think it's something innate in the human being. Yet some people oppose it saying it affects speech development.
 
messymama said:
I'm not sure I read that right ... Plus you know that English is not my first language, but... Did you all transfer there, or are you driving your child 3.5 hours go and back everyday??? :shock:

I have a school for the deaf (well, sort of -in fact there are 3 or 4 deaf kids in every class) but it's more than 2 hours away so I gave up the idea...

Yes, there should be schools for the deaf everywhere, but deaf children are not so many and dedicated schools are expensive... So...
It's a pity since sign language could be easily taught to ALL children, deaf or not. They learn sign SO easily, you'd think it's something innate in the human being. Yet some people oppose it saying it affects speech development.
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She's a day student, 3.5 - 4hrs a day is her daily commute in total (not each way :) ). They have a residential program, but noooooo.... She's my baby :) There are actually two schools for the deaf that are even closer, but one is AV-based (oral) and the other TC, and these didn't fit with our philosophy and language choice (ASL). And yes! That's one of the amazing things about schools for the deaf: 4-5 kids in a class with 2 teachers and an embedded language specialist -- it's an amazing ratio!

Completely agree with you -- there's no way that ASL has affected her speech development, if anything, I think that having the concept of language and building blocks of how grammar can work helped her get English -- even thought there's no match between grammar and syntax across the two languages -- and served to make her acquisition of spoken English super-fast! She has a tendency to slip into ASL grammar after a day at school, but she's only 5, and with an hour or two among English-speakers, she's gets back on track.
 
To the OP, I agree with you 100%. But the way to make that happen is for parents to begin demanding that their deaf children have the services available to which they are entitled.
 
GrendelQ said:
She's a day student, 3.5 - 4hrs a day is her daily commute in total (not each way :) ). They have a residential program, but noooooo.... She's my baby :) There are actually two schools for the deaf that are even closer, but one is AV-based (oral) and the other TC, and these didn't fit with our philosophy and language choice (ASL). And yes! That's one of the amazing things about schools for the deaf: 4-5 kids in a class with 2 teachers and an embedded language specialist -- it's an amazing ratio!

Completely agree with you -- there's no way that ASL has affected her speech development, if anything, I think that having the concept of language and building blocks of how grammar can work helped her get English -- even thought there's no match between grammar and syntax across the two languages -- and served to make her acquisition of spoken English super-fast! She has a tendency to slip into ASL grammar after a day at school, but she's only 5, and with an hour or two among English-speakers, she's gets back on track.
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I so love your stories about Li-Li. Thank you for sharing them with us! :)
 
They have a residential program, but noooooo.... She's my baby There are actually two schools for the deaf that are even closer, but one is AV-based (oral) and the other TC, and these didn't fit with our philosophy and language choice (ASL).
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On the other hand, the res program at TLC is only for middle school and up right? Besides, little kids going off to res school is pretty unusual in this day and age, especially with early childhood being taken care of with collabratives etc.
I'm a bit confused as to what you mean by AV based school. Auditory verbal insists that kids need to be educated in typical hearing situtions.
Do you mean Clarke? Clarke is auditory oral.
And if you're near Clarke there's also a Sign Supported English Deaf School in Longmeadow.
As well as RI School for the Deaf, and prolly a lot of regional collabrative programs for dhh kids.
 
deafdyke said:
On the other hand, the res program at TLC is only for middle school and up right? Besides, little kids going off to res school is pretty unusual in this day and age, especially with early childhood being taken care of with collabratives etc.
I'm a bit confused as to what you mean by AV based school. Auditory verbal insists that kids need to be educated in typical hearing situtions.
Do you mean Clarke? Clarke is auditory oral.
And if you're near Clarke there's also a Sign Supported English Deaf School in Longmeadow.
As well as RI School for the Deaf, and prolly a lot of regional collabrative programs for dhh kids.
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Hi DD! You are absolutely right on Clarke being AO, not AV -- my slip. We aren't near the Northampton Clarke campus, closer to the Canton campus (we're down a few yards from the border between MA and RI). And closer to the EDCO collaborative program in Newton and CASE in Concord than to TLC in Framingham, and RI school for the deaf (although I don't think that MA would provide placement out of state).
 
RI school for the deaf (although I don't think that MA would provide placement out of state).
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Actually sometimes states do out of state placements. I know that MA has provided placement for ASD, in Conneticut. I also know off the top of my head that when a family may be closer to another school's borders...Like for example, if a deaf kid was from Seekonk , the state might send them to RISD.
 
GrendelQ said:
She's a day student, 3.5 - 4hrs a day is her daily commute in total (not each way :) ). They have a residential program, but noooooo.... She's my baby :) And yes! That's one of the amazing things about schools for the deaf: 4-5 kids in a class with 2 teachers and an embedded language specialist -- it's an amazing ratio!
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Ok, now it's more clear... :ty:
Your story is so very particular, I think you're really doing a good work! It must be hard, all that trip every day... But I'm all with you about residential programs :D

As for classes at deaf schools, well I meant there are 3-4 kids PLUS 15-20 HEARING kids... Is that the same there? I don't know if that may be a good thing, it probably is, because if all hearing people would learn Sign Language, all "handicaps" about deafness would cease :eek3:
 
But I'm all with you about residential programs

As for classes at deaf schools, well I meant there are 3-4 kids PLUS 15-20 HEARING kids...
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Oh me too. I think little kids need to stay at home, and attend regional day programs. It does amaze me that until recently there were lots and lots of little kids in the dorms. I think res school can be an AMAZING experiance, but I also think that it should wait until the kid is old enough to sleep over a friend's house. I think an early childhood res school placement needs to be reserved for a) foster and homeless kids. b) families where even the hearing schools aren't that great, or where the early intervention is really really crappy. Like for example, wouldn't it be better for a little kid from a really bad area...like for example a meth infested town in Montana, or a part of a city that is really really bad and dangerous, to get out of that bad area, and into a place that is safe? In other words, in cases where there's no really good alternative options.
I am ALL for res school for middle and high school, and am even OK with res school starting around third grade. Preschool/kindergarten/first grade/second grade just seems SO YOUNG to live at school, and never really seeing Mom and Dad. Living in the dorms isn't like Willowbrook (a really really bad insistution for the mentally handicapped) In fact, it can be like a good summer camp program. It was bad back in the old days.....Not denying that...and I do think if at all possible, kids need to attend a good day program for most of elementary. But I also think that an early childhood dorm placement isn't as black and white as some people may make it seem.
Messymama, I think the set up you're describing is like a magnet program here. The school isn't specificly for dhh kids. Here in the states there are schools specificly for deaf and hoh kids, as well as for blind kids, and in some cases mentally handicapped kids or even severely orthapedicly impaired kids.
 
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