Deaf School or Oral School?

CrazyPaul said:
I am profoundly deaf. I grew up in a foster home and I am glad that the welfare dept found a right school for me in the first place. I went to the deaf school from kindergarten to high school. All teachers use signs which is the best method for deaf students to understand and learn, IMO. I had speech therapy there for the first 5 years but I despised it. During my time, there were at least 500 deaf kids on campus.

When I was 16, I found out that I have a deaf brother who is 5 years older than me. I was so shocked to learn that my real mom sent him to a mental hospital where he stayed most of his life instead of a foster home and I still feel bad for him because she did the wrong thing to him.

BTW, my wife went to a deaf program at a public school. There were only 8 deaf students in her class. She wished she went to a deaf school because the teacher who signed in her class didn't teach well and the hearing students didn't talk with her socially.

One of my deaf co-workers told me about her experience at her mainstream school. She was not happy with it because since her teachers talked too fast, the interpreter had to sign very fast so it was hard for her to understand what the teachers said, therefore she didn't learn much.
Click to expand...

Deaf school from kindergarten thru high school and your English is excellent!

By the way, did you ever met your brother? Is he out now?
 
Deafguy25 said:
Yes, teachers of the deaf are totally different than special ed. teacher. So, OP, if you decide to go with a mainstream setting you could ask for services from a teacher of the deaf, but her main teacher would be a regular ed teacher who consults with the teacher of the deaf. If you went with a Deaf school placement, her main teacher would be a Teacher of the Deaf who uses ASL for classroom instruction. Another option, if you choose to pursue spoken language would be a deaf school that uses spoken language. You said you were in California, correct? The John Tracy Clinic is world renowned and has teachers of the deaf in their classrooms. There is also Oralingua, which is a private spoken language school.
Click to expand...

Oh boy, just what we need state of programs that does nothing for the deaf.
 
deafbajagal said:
Everyone should feel free to post their views, not just a certain group. That goes for all threads and topics. Hence, ALLdeaf. IMHO.
Click to expand...

Yes, as long as the pro-oralists/pro-hearing don"t discount the Deaf people's experiences. I don't like when they extrapolated what they think the deaf kids need and advice others to do this or that with their kids. I feel that the Deaf people are tellling the truth based on their experiences. The hearing people will never really really know what it is like to be born deaf.
 
deafdyke said:
I wonder thou CSign, could JTC and auditory verbal therapy (the THERAPY...NOT the whole hog lifestyle mentality) be used as a SUPPLEMENT? The reason I say this is that one complaint is that schools/programs that use Sign may not have great speech therapy services. A lot of times they do have decent speech therapy services.....but even say a garden variety speech therapist may not have a lot of training on how to work with dhh kids.....maybe good quality speech therapy could be acheived by using JTC and AVT as a supplement?
Click to expand...

I personally have an adverse reaction to AVT, so I personally wouldn't recommend it. That's not to say that the student can't work on audition during some of the speech therapy sessions, I just don't think that should be the sole approach. Once a child has a grasp on what sounds the different letters and blends make, the speech therapist can provide the clarification for the student visually if the word was mis-articulated.

For example, when my son was 4 he would sometimes say, "thinger". I would tell him (using the cue in this case) that it's not "thinger, it's finger. After a few times he retained the correct way to articulate the word.

There are good and bad speech therapists everywhere. It's just a question of getting a good speech therapist.
 
In other words I don't think it's necessary to utilize the JTC in any way, shape, or form.
 
Cloggy said:
Guess it depends on the FM equipment..
Lotte can choose if she will only hear the teacher, or hear the teacher with FM AND the surrounding sounds with the usual BTE-microphones.
Click to expand...

It does . A lot of them have features that allows the person to either hear the teacher (or parent, whatever) better and block out background noises OR hear both the teacher (or parent, whatever) and background noise.

Technology has come a long way from 20-30 yrs ago. :giggle:
 
Oceanbreeze said:
It does . A lot of them have features that allows the person to either hear the teacher (or parent, whatever) better and block out background noises OR hear both the teacher (or parent, whatever) and background noise.

Technology has come a long way from 20-30 yrs ago. :giggle:
Click to expand...

Yeah, no longer any huge ass body worn FM device!
 
CSign said:
I personally have an adverse reaction to AVT, so I personally wouldn't recommend it. That's not to say that the student can't work on audition during some of the speech therapy sessions, I just don't think that should be the sole approach. Once a child has a grasp on what sounds the different letters and blends make, the speech therapist can provide the clarification for the student visually if the word was mis-articulated.

For example, when my son was 4 he would sometimes say, "thinger". I would tell him (using the cue in this case) that it's not "thinger, it's finger. After a few times he retained the correct way to articulate the word.

There are good and bad speech therapists everywhere. It's just a question of getting a good speech therapist.
Click to expand...

Oh I totally agree with you 100%! I think the mentality behind auditory verbal is really screwed up. I definitly think that there is a time and place for development of auditory skills and abilty, as well as oral skills ...If only the really good speech therapists could collaborate with signing programs, we'd have very good programs.
 
Miss-Delectable said:
First of all, what a cutie she is.

I would say deaf schools because they tend to have much more dedicated teachers who cares about their students, also they tend to have more resources than mainstream.

I should know because I attended a school for the deaf and have observed this fact. Teachers always wanted the best for me and actively encouraged me to go for it. Because of their support and faith, I was able to graduate and transition onto university.

Mainstream schools would always find a way not to meet your child's needs. You'd have to fight a lot and it can get tiring.

Wish all the best for your daughter. I hope your hubby will grow out of his denial sooner or later.
Click to expand...

On the bold statement, that is my worse nightmare every time I had to go to the mainstream school like elementary and high school. They don't seem to know about deafness at all. All they care about was for me and other deaf students in oral-only method to learn how to talk and lipread without any support for us. We had to struggled very hard to get through the grades. In the elementary school we had FM which we were in special education (like disabilities). FM is no good unless some of the mild or moderate can hear or listen good enough to understand what the teacher was saying.

I had tried to fight my own battle of learning how to sign ASL and getting some interpreters to help me understand what the teachers are saying in the classrooms. But no one hears my plea or refuse to listen to me at all. I wanted to go to the Deaf school but the Deaf school thought that I will graduate with flying colors and thought that I should stay in the mainstream school. I was sooo dismay and unhappy, even very upset.

My mother was crying but I think she was happy that I don't go to the Deaf school and want me to stay in the mainstream school better than the Deaf school. I had to struggled all the way to the graduation. I hate the oral-only method.

After graduation, I went to the Lutheran Church for the Deaf and the Deaf pastor had a class for me to learn how to sign ASL. I was overjoyed about attending the ASL class. It opened the door for me after I had struggled all those years speaking and lipreading. :applause:

I love ASL and went to many Deaf events and the Deaf community where I learned a lot about Deaf Culture.

I do hope your husband should stop denying her deafness and just accept her for being deaf. She can not help that when she was born or was sick when losing her hearing loss. Your child will never have a normal hearing like you and your husband. Every child have a disability, even hearing children or adults have flaws (disability flaws). :P
 
Deafguy25 said:
Yes, teachers of the deaf are totally different than special ed. teacher. So, OP, if you decide to go with a mainstream setting you could ask for services from a teacher of the deaf, but her main teacher would be a regular ed teacher who consults with the teacher of the deaf. If you went with a Deaf school placement, her main teacher would be a Teacher of the Deaf who uses ASL for classroom instruction. Another option, if you choose to pursue spoken language would be a deaf school that uses spoken language. You said you were in California, correct? The John Tracy Clinic is world renowned and has teachers of the deaf in their classrooms. There is also Oralingua, which is a private spoken language school.
Click to expand...

Deafguy, she has a Hoh loss. Meaning she will learn spoken English very easily. Although I DO think that if a parent choses oral, then they SHOULD look into one of the private oral schools like Oralingua or Sunshine Cottage or Tucker Maxon or Clarke. They should NOT go the "auditory verbal" solotaire route. The oral schools (and by schools, I mean SCHOOLS, not preschool/kindergarten programs) are much better then going the mainstream solotaire route. But I think she's leaning towards ASL....which is awesome b/c a lot of hoh kids don't get ASL.
You know, here's another thought. I predict that ASL is going to be the Deaf community's Braille. Did you know that for years and years Braille was verboten in blind ed? Turns out that those who are Braille literate are employed and better educated then those who don't use Braille....makes you think!
 
Well agian thank you everyone. I am taking it all in and trying to sort through it, as it can get a little overwhelming at times. I think my mind is made up and we will not be mainstreaming and it was all decided at a local restaraunt the other night.

Rhyanne( that's the baby) and I were waiting on our order to go. A family walked in with a little girl no more then 5 or 6. The first thing she asked is what was on my babies ears. I told her they were hearing aides to help her ears work like hers. And the next thing she said was " Well I don't want to be her friend then" her mom said everyone needs friends and then took her to wait outside.

My thought is those are the kids she would be mainstreamed with I dont want that to be her everyday school life.

I feel she is going to be subject to everyones ignorance already why make it during the majority of her school days. We have found hearing adults to be the cruelist like asking "can she be fixed?" "oh poor baby" "she seems happy in spite of what she is going through"....well she isn't broken, she isn't a poor baby could be way worse, and happy in spite...inspite of what? she isn't in any pain or anything..

Sorry just needed to vent. I am sorry most of you go through this all the time, how do you get used to it?
 
nancyj said:
Well agian thank you everyone. I am taking it all in and trying to sort through it, as it can get a little overwhelming at times. I think my mind is made up and we will not be mainstreaming and it was all decided at a local restaraunt the other night.

Rhyanne( that's the baby) and I were waiting on our order to go. A family walked in with a little girl no more then 5 or 6. The first thing she asked is what was on my babies ears. I told her they were hearing aides to help her ears work like hers. And the next thing she said was " Well I don't want to be her friend then" her mom said everyone needs friends and then took her to wait outside.

My thought is those are the kids she would be mainstreamed with I dont want that to be her everyday school life.

I feel she is going to be subject to everyones ignorance already why make it during the majority of her school days. We have found hearing adults to be the cruelist like asking "can she be fixed?" "oh poor baby" "she seems happy in spite of what she is going through"....well she isn't broken, she isn't a poor baby could be way worse, and happy in spite...inspite of what? she isn't in any pain or anything..

Sorry just needed to vent. I am sorry most of you go through this all the time, how do you get used to it?
Click to expand...

I wanted to say that I love the sentence in bold... too many parents don't think that way.

as for how we get used to it... its how many of us have lived our entire lives... Its how many of us grew up, and we have learned that most of the world is ignorant... but some just don't care. This is a place where you can vent by the way... have you seen the http://www.alldeaf.com/our-world-our-culture/91837-annoying-ignorant-hearing-people-stories.html thread? Its a place for us to vent... we know not all hearing people are like that... but sometimes we need a place to vent too...

I get asked all the time if I can be "fixed" or things to that opinion... actually yesterday I got asked "well have you tried not being deaf?" yes... like I can just stop.

I am very happy that you have decided not to mainstream her... it will make things for her easier, she will be able to have friends that understand, have friends that use her language, and she will be able to have communication and instruction in a form she understands. If you ever want to chat... we are here. Keep us updated on your beautiful daughters progress.
 
DeafCaroline said:
You don't really get used to it but how you react to it changes over time.
Click to expand...

Yes. Thats true.

lots of people were telling my mom over and over. She just let the words go through her right ear and then her left ear that words got out.

Just focus on kid's future. :)
 
deafdyke said:
Deafguy, she has a Hoh loss. Meaning she will learn spoken English very easily. Although I DO think that if a parent choses oral, then they SHOULD look into one of the private oral schools like Oralingua or Sunshine Cottage or Tucker Maxon or Clarke. They should NOT go the "auditory verbal" solotaire route. The oral schools (and by schools, I mean SCHOOLS, not preschool/kindergarten programs) are much better then going the mainstream solotaire route. But I think she's leaning towards ASL....which is awesome b/c a lot of hoh kids don't get ASL.
You know, here's another thought. I predict that ASL is going to be the Deaf community's Braille. Did you know that for years and years Braille was verboten in blind ed? Turns out that those who are Braille literate are employed and better educated then those who don't use Braille....makes you think!
Click to expand...

I was simply pointing out that in the mainstream setting she would have very limited access to a Teacher of the deaf, but if she did choose the oral route she could still have professionals who specialize in working with deaf kids.
 
Back
Top