Is it ever ok for kids NOT to use ASL?

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shel90 said:
Oh gosh, that reminds me of a time when I was with a group of oral deaf/hoh kids when working as an aide...everyone, including myself, kept asking each other to repeat each other constantly and conversations were always so jilted because one person looked away and missed something and vice versa....it doesn't allow for free flowing conversations like a group of deaf signers or hearing people have. I felt so bad for these kids cuz living life constantly having to ask others to repeat or having to repeat oneslef if others cudnt understand one's speech can get very frustrating and tiresome. That's why I limit my social outings with hearing people..I prefer one on one situations than group situations...I wud choose a signing environment right off the bat!
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exactly. there is no reason that HOH should not learn ASL. One question - do you consider HOH as hearing?
 
Jiro said:
exactly. there is no reason that HOH should not learn ASL. One question - do you consider HOH as hearing?
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No..I consider them as having some degree of hearing


I can hear with my hearing aids on...can tell the difference between a man and awoman's voice, kinds of music, when a plane of flying nearby, dogs barking, babies crying, and so on and so on but it would be dangerous to call me hearing because it gives people the idea I can hear as well as I could speak which leads to extreme misunderstandings and frustrations usually with the blame placed on me for not trying hard enough..

I just say that I am deaf and keep it that way. I don't need to tell people that iam deaf but can hear with HAs like I used to cuz it just seems to further complicate things and usually ends up more trouble than its worth.

Howver, if a hoh adult wants to call themselves hearing, I have no problem with that cuz it is not my life...

However, when it comes to children who haven't learned the skills to cope with the confusion that comes with calling oneself being able to hear, I prefer to say that they r deaf or hoh..never "hearing".
 
Jiro said:
plus.... Deaf people are able to communicate with NO difficulty among each other. I guarantee you that a group of HOH people will be saying "say again? what? I don't understand." frequently. and that, my friend, is an EPIC FAIL!
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Thank you thank you thank you my dear friend! :hug:

You see I posted the example to try to explain that sometimes we really need to analyze our needs first before we ask others to analyze their needs.

Growing up, I have always been told by hearing peers to accomodate myself to be able to fit in and to adjust myself to understand others.

Of course, I had to learn to lipread, had to have excellent english comprehension when sometimes my hearing peers struggled with "hear/here" "cheap/sheep" when it came to spelling. That always baffled me because if they could hear the syntax then they could differentiate between the difference.

As I lost my vision slowly, I learned tactile and Tadoma to accommodate myself again with the sighted community.

I come to this thread and I see a hearing parent with a deaf child that has been implanted and asking about whether ASL should be offered as an option. I cannot help but recollect what I went through the experiences.

It is tragic that a parent questions the importance of ASL when their infant's voice box has yet to develop. Now take the CI implanted child in a mainstreaming situation, this is where ASL works so well.
 
Mrs Bucket said:
Thank you thank you thank you my dear friend! :hug:

You see I posted the example to try to explain that sometimes we really need to analyze our needs first before we ask others to analyze their needs.

Growing up, I have always been told by hearing peers to accomodate myself to be able to fit in and to adjust myself to understand others.

Of course, I had to learn to lipread, had to have excellent english comprehension when sometimes my hearing peers struggled with "hear/here" "cheap/sheep" when it came to spelling. That always baffled me because if they could hear the syntax then they could differentiate between the difference.

As I lost my vision slowly, I learned tactile and Tadoma to accommodate myself again with the sighted community.

I come to this thread and I see a hearing parent with a deaf child that has been implanted and asking about whether ASL should be offered as an option. I cannot help but recollect what I went through the experiences.

It is tragic that a parent questions the importance of ASL when their infant's voice box has yet to develop. Now take the CI implanted child in a mainstreaming situation, this is where ASL works so well.
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Well said Mrs. Bucket!
 
Jiro said:
plus.... Deaf people are able to communicate with NO difficulty among each other. I guarantee you that a group of HOH people will be saying "say again? what? I don't understand." frequently. and that, my friend, is an EPIC FAIL!
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Seems like I am alone in the sense that I prefer REAL communication with over 90% of the population interrupted with several "what"'s over fluid REAL communication with less than 1% of the population. When I say REAL communication, I don't mean necessary conversation "Where is the bathroom" nor talking online. I can't even imagine having most of my conversations being written down on a piece of paper. I guess I view it as a tradeoff. I sacrifice some misunderstandings and "whaaa?" so I can really interact with more people.

By the way, I am talking about as an adult in normal conversation. Obviously, 100% understanding is more important in school settings/education. Just saying my personal opinion of what I prefer in terms of talking to people in ASL and spoken English.
 
Daredevel7 said:
Seems like I am alone in the sense that I prefer REAL communication with over 90% of the population interrupted with several "what"'s over fluid REAL communication with less than 1% of the population. When I say REAL communication, I don't mean necessary conversation "Where is the bathroom" nor talking online. I can't even imagine having most of my conversations being written down on a piece of paper. I guess I view it as a tradeoff. I sacrifice some misunderstandings and "whaaa?" so I can really interact with more people.

By the way, I am talking about as an adult in normal conversation. Obviously, 100% understanding is more important in school settings/education. Just saying my personal opinion of what I prefer in terms of talking to people in ASL and spoken English.
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:werd: and I share same. I'm currently trying to find ASL classes just to get started.
 
Jiro said:
:werd: and I share same. I'm currently trying to find ASL classes just to get started.
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Oh yea? I already started a month ago. A friend hooked me up with a free class. Picking up on it pretty easily! I already went to a deaf social to practice some ASL. It's actually VERY interesting from a oral deaf person's perspective. Had a blast! I already got some criticisms for getting the CI, but I find it more amusing than anything else.

Btw... the older the native ASL users are, the more they rock. Just take my word on this!
 
"Is there ever a situation in which it is ok for a child with a hearing loss NOT to be given ASL? A mild hearing loss? Post lingually deafened? Is it ever ok?"

Sure. Just look at deaf children who used cued English while growing up. SEE works just fine as well. Anything that allows the deaf to understand concepts is fine with me.
 
netrox said:
"Is there ever a situation in which it is ok for a child with a hearing loss NOT to be given ASL? A mild hearing loss? Post lingually deafened? Is it ever ok?"

Sure. Just look at deaf children who used cued English while growing up. SEE works just fine as well. Anything that allows the deaf to understand concepts is fine with me.
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VISUALLY.... that's the whole point. Any form of sign language (ASL, SEE, cued, etc.) is a MUST for deaf/HOH/CI as first language. Not oral.
 
Daredevel7 said:
So Faire_jour, are you saying it's okay for the kids to not use ASL ONLY if they can hear well enough (CI or HoH with significant amp)?

Everyone else, are you confident that teaching EVERY single deaf AND HoH ASL will only benefit them? Is your answer the same if ASL is the first language? I already know Shel90 and Jillio's answers... :)
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I would say that it is possible for children who hear very very well to be perfectly successful without the use of a visual language. That children with great hearing, and speech discrimination do not need ASL as their primary language.
 
faire_jour said:
I would say that it is possible for children who hear very very well to be perfectly successful without the use of a visual language. That children with great hearing, and speech discrimination do not need ASL as their primary language.
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I think everyone would agree with that. But that does not include the deaf/hoh population.
 
faire_jour said:
I would say that it is possible for children who hear very very well to be perfectly successful without the use of a visual language. That children with great hearing, and speech discrimination do not need ASL as their primary language.
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Children with great hearing and speech discrimination are not deaf nor hoh. They are hearing.
 
What about making ASL the PRIMARY language of every single HoH/deaf person? Is this recommended also?
 
jillio said:
Children with great hearing and speech discrimination are not deaf nor hoh. They are hearing.
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Many hearing children's first language is ASL and it never hurted them! :giggle:
 
shel90 said:
Many hearing children's first language is ASL and it never hurted them! :giggle:
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I don't quite think learning ASL then English is quite the same for hearing kids and deaf kids....
 
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