Learning pace of Deaf vs. Hearing kids

rockdrummer said:
Thanks for the reference and encouraging words. Sometimes I just don't know what to do or where to turn.
Click to expand...

That's understandable. You know where to come for support and to let it out though. And you are very welcome. Just trying to give back some of what I was given when my son was small.
 
Wow, that's different side of the story I do not hear often. I am a deaf child of hearing parents. As soon as they found out that I am deaf, they hired someone to teach us sign language. It's not ASL but plain sign language. I love to read when I have spare time, mostly because my parents will sit by me at night and read books to me while I was really young kid. So I basically grow up being surrounded by books and love for books.


I grew up having a mixed sign language (somewhere between ASL and SEE) and that's not a bad thing. I do not mind it, because that's what I liked, getting a best side of both worlds. I love English, but yet enjoy ASL.

I am just lucky that I come from good family which is very willing to learn sign language and started training me on reading and educate me at very young age, pretty much like what hearing parents do with hearing children. So I am being able to move at the same pace as hearing children do. Even though I move at the same pace, I am still little weak at both language (English and ASL) because I do not get to hear English at all and do not get to see ASL all the time. More I use it, better I get at it. It's all about train yourself. Deaf people are capable to learn at same pace as hearing people do, just they use different system that's all.

It's all depend on parents if they are able to communicate with children and develop language for children at critical period of their life. Once child pass that critical period without learn any kind of language, child may be doomed to lag behind hearing children for rest of his/her life.
 
Silentwolfdog said:
Wow, that's different side of the story I do not hear often. I am a deaf child of hearing parents. As soon as they found out that I am deaf, they hired someone to teach us sign language. It's not ASL but plain sign language. I love to read when I have spare time, mostly because my parents will sit by me at night and read books to me while I was really young kid. So I basically grow up being surrounded by books and love for books.


I grew up having a mixed sign language (somewhere between ASL and SEE) and that's not a bad thing. I do not mind it, because that's what I liked, getting a best side of both worlds. I love English, but yet enjoy ASL.

I am just lucky that I come from good family which is very willing to learn sign language and started training me on reading and educate me at very young age, pretty much like what hearing parents do with hearing children. So I am being able to move at the same pace as hearing children do. Even though I move at the same pace, I am still little weak at both language (English and ASL) because I do not get to hear English at all and do not get to see ASL all the time. More I use it, better I get at it. It's all about train yourself. Deaf people are capable to learn at same pace as hearing people do, just they use different system that's all.

It's all depend on parents if they are able to communicate with children and develop language for children at critical period of their life. Once child pass that critical period without learn any kind of language, child may be doomed to lag behind hearing children for rest of his/her life.
Click to expand...

:gpost: and u are right about the last sentence. That's why I strongly believe in teaching every deaf child both languages from the moment they are diagnosed but hearing people tell me that it would just isolate them from the hearing world. Oh boy...I do not really care about that part. All I care about is the child being proficent in reading, writing and math just like their hearing counterparts. Not right for the child to lag behind just because they were forced to use the oral only approach without any visual language.
 
:gpost:
Silentwolfdog said:
Wow, that's different side of the story I do not hear often. I am a deaf child of hearing parents. As soon as they found out that I am deaf, they hired someone to teach us sign language. It's not ASL but plain sign language. I love to read when I have spare time, mostly because my parents will sit by me at night and read books to me while I was really young kid. So I basically grow up being surrounded by books and love for books.


I grew up having a mixed sign language (somewhere between ASL and SEE) and that's not a bad thing. I do not mind it, because that's what I liked, getting a best side of both worlds. I love English, but yet enjoy ASL.

I am just lucky that I come from good family which is very willing to learn sign language and started training me on reading and educate me at very young age, pretty much like what hearing parents do with hearing children. So I am being able to move at the same pace as hearing children do. Even though I move at the same pace, I am still little weak at both language (English and ASL) because I do not get to hear English at all and do not get to see ASL all the time. More I use it, better I get at it. It's all about train yourself. Deaf people are capable to learn at same pace as hearing people do, just they use different system that's all.

It's all depend on parents if they are able to communicate with children and develop language for children at critical period of their life. Once child pass that critical period without learn any kind of language, child may be doomed to lag behind hearing children for rest of his/her life.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for your responses to everyone. From what I have learned here there are those that don't believe hearing kids and deaf kids should be tested and meausured in the same way but the eduational leaders won't make any changes. There are deaf educators that have proven statistics which indicate a given method of teaching yields better literacy in deaf kids but the hearing educators refuse to make any changes. The comparison between the learning pace between deaf kids and hearing kids is not a fair one given these facts. Anyone please correct me if I have misunderstood anything.
 
rockdrummer said:
Thanks for your responses to everyone. From what I have learned here there are those that don't believe hearing kids and deaf kids should be tested and meausured in the same way but the eduational leaders won't make any changes. There are deaf educators that have proven statistics which indicate a given method of teaching yields better literacy in deaf kids but the hearing educators refuse to make any changes. The comparison between the learning pace between deaf kids and hearing kids is not a fair one given these facts. Anyone please correct me if I have misunderstood anything.
Click to expand...

You understand perfectly.
 
rockdrummer said:
Thanks for your responses to everyone. From what I have learned here there are those that don't believe hearing kids and deaf kids should be tested and meausured in the same way but the eduational leaders won't make any changes. There are deaf educators that have proven statistics which indicate a given method of teaching yields better literacy in deaf kids but the hearing educators refuse to make any changes. The comparison between the learning pace between deaf kids and hearing kids is not a fair one given these facts. Anyone please correct me if I have misunderstood anything.
Click to expand...

I just came upon this thread today and, needless to say, it's been truly educational. Jillio, Shel90, and everyone else...thanks.

Rockdrummer, don't give up. There is always hope and I believe that exposing deaf kids to ASL inside and outside of the home, as well as in school, in combination with an emphasis on the basic skills of reading, writing and math at a young age will accelerate the learning curve for them by leaps and bounds. I also believe that education starts in the home so hang in there.

Jillio, kudos to you for staying the course and fighting for what you thought was best for your child. I admire you for that.

Shel90, you're on the right track. Just keep doing what you're doing. You ARE making a difference in these kids' lives.
 
Defmusicman said:
I just came upon this thread today and, needless to say, it's been truly educational. Jillio, Shel90, and everyone else...thanks.

Rockdrummer, don't give up. There is always hope and I believe that exposing deaf kids to ASL inside and outside of the home, as well as in school, in combination with an emphasis on the basic skills of reading, writing and math at a young age will accelerate the learning curve for them by leaps and bounds. I also believe that education starts in the home so hang in there.

Jillio, kudos to you for staying the course and fighting for what you thought was best for your child. I admire you for that.

Shel90, you're on the right track. Just keep doing what you're doing. You ARE making a difference in these kids' lives.
Click to expand...

:ty: Deafmusicman
 
Defmusicman said:
I just came upon this thread today and, needless to say, it's been truly educational. Jillio, Shel90, and everyone else...thanks.

Rockdrummer, don't give up. There is always hope and I believe that exposing deaf kids to ASL inside and outside of the home, as well as in school, in combination with an emphasis on the basic skills of reading, writing and math at a young age will accelerate the learning curve for them by leaps and bounds. I also believe that education starts in the home so hang in there.

Jillio, kudos to you for staying the course and fighting for what you thought was best for your child. I admire you for that.

Shel90, you're on the right track. Just keep doing what you're doing. You ARE making a difference in these kids' lives.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the encouraging words. I know it's going to be a long hard road but we will do whatever we can to help our child achieve in life and be successful.
 
I believe that there is no exact information for the statistics because the teachers, in a deaf school, have a poor path of teaching deaf children. I am pretty sure that the teachers have ignored for too long not trying to start from scratch and forget about the reading/writing levels. They need to pretend that they are teaching hearing children. If they think of those children are handicapped, they have to teach them lower level no matter what because they have to follow the policy for their job. That's my theory.
 
webexplorer said:
I believe that there is no exact information for the statistics because the teachers, in a deaf school, have a poor path of teaching deaf children. I am pretty sure that the teachers have ignored for too long not trying to start from scratch and forget about the reading/writing levels. They need to pretend that they are teaching hearing children. If they think of those children are handicapped, they have to teach them lower level no matter what because they have to follow the policy for their job. That's my theory.
Click to expand...

Your theory is totally wrong. I don't need to repeat myself on how it works in the deaf schools. I am tireed of people putting the blame on us teachers and deaf schools..with that attitude from the public, less and less people r motivated to teach deaf students. Parents and the students' motivations also play a role so pls do not put all the blame on teachers and the deaf school.
 
webexplorer said:
I believe that there is no exact information for the statistics because the teachers, in a deaf school, have a poor path of teaching deaf children. I am pretty sure that the teachers have ignored for too long not trying to start from scratch and forget about the reading/writing levels. They need to pretend that they are teaching hearing children. If they think of those children are handicapped, they have to teach them lower level no matter what because they have to follow the policy for their job. That's my theory.
Click to expand...

That is a perfect example of just what is wrong in the education of deaf children. DEAF CHILDREN ARE NOT HEARING CHILDREN ANDTHEY DO NOT COGNITIVELY PROCESS INFORMATION IN THE SAME WAY THAT HEARING CHILDREN DO.
 
shel90 said:
Your theory is totally wrong. I don't need to repeat myself on how it works in the deaf schools. I am tireed of people putting the blame on us teachers and deaf schools..with that attitude from the public, less and less people r motivated to teach deaf students. Parents and the students' motivations also play a role so pls do not put all the blame on teachers and the deaf school.
Click to expand...

I am not aware of your situation. It is my theory, and I respect your criticism. My favorite teacher explained it to me that all teachers must obey the school policy. They wanted to do their way to teach them instead of the policy, but they cannot do that so they are stuck with it.

Do you ever want to do your way to teach them? I think that it would be great, but it is risky if they found out about you. You would lose your job. I do not mean that the teachers are wrong, and they have to do their job. That's all.

Let's me to tell you a quick story. My best deaf friend mainstreamed in a hearing school when he was a kid. He was transferred to a deaf private school when he was 16. He enjoyed meeting with deaf students there. He had an excellent in reading and writing because of his background school. He succesfully entered a college for a year. Well, he passed away - his lung failed - even he looked healthy to me.
 
jillio said:
That is a perfect example of just what is wrong in the education of deaf children. DEAF CHILDREN ARE NOT HEARING CHILDREN ANDTHEY DO NOT COGNITIVELY PROCESS INFORMATION IN THE SAME WAY THAT HEARING CHILDREN DO.
Click to expand...

Er...all or most? I assume you meant most. I will not agree with "all".
 
jillio said:
That is a perfect example of just what is wrong in the education of deaf children. DEAF CHILDREN ARE NOT HEARING CHILDREN ANDTHEY DO NOT COGNITIVELY PROCESS INFORMATION IN THE SAME WAY THAT HEARING CHILDREN DO.
Click to expand...
Just curious... Are there any studies that are available that folks can review to back that up. Also, if its determined that deaf kids do in fact process information differently, then what is the best approach in teaching them.
 
rockdrummer said:
Just curious... Are there any studies that are available that folks can review to back that up. Also, if its determined that deaf kids do in fact process information differently, then what is the best approach in teaching them.
Click to expand...

Sound and Sign, Kathryn Meadows; Psychology of Deafness, Mark Marshark; When the Mind Hears, Harlan Lane are the three books that popped off the top of my head. There are many more books and joural articles in the fields of education and psychology that support the idea of cognitive differences in processsing.
 
jillio said:
Sound and Sign, Kathryn Meadows; Psychology of Deafness, Mark Marshark; When the Mind Hears, Harlan Lane are the three books that popped off the top of my head. There are many more books and joural articles in the fields of education and psychology that support the idea of cognitive differences in processsing.
Click to expand...
Also, if its determined that deaf kids do in fact process information differently, then what is the best approach in teaching them.
 
Back
Top