New to Deaf community, daughter losing hearing, looking for advice

[Hohmom]

Hello all, my name is Heather and my 7yr old daughter is losing her hearing due to a myriad of medical issues. We recently learned she has already nearly lost 40%, which is more than we realized, though it was obvious she was changing rapidly.
I want my daughter to learn that this does not have to be a tragedy, that there is an entire deaf culture and community out there that is rich in history and beauty, and that our entire family is ready to learn ASL, modify our home, or do whatever is necessary to help in her transition to her new normal.
Besides learning ASL, and supporting her, what else can I do to help her? Any advice as to mods at home, hearing vs deaf school, is she old enough to decide on hearing aids (she is not a cochlear candidate), and is that an automatic thing since she was born hearing, or should I let her choose to delay/deny them? Any helpful advice you could give is greatly appreciated.

 

[Reba]

(p.s. It's against forum policy to repost your posts or threads. You can request a moderator remove your duplicate that's under "Parenting.")

 

[A Nihilist]

Have you at least looked in your area for conventions, meetups, etc...? There's deafnation.com and agbell.org They offer resources and tips for raising deaf children.

And there are many books on the subject, if you go to amazon.com or bn.com and do a search for "deaf child" you'll find quite a few books on the subject.

Now, as for what to do next in the education, a 40 decibel loss is actually not THAT severe. I went to mainstream schools with a 95 decibel loss so yes it is possible. However, that may not work for her and I can't give you a hard and fast rule on what to do with your child.

My advice is to send her to a deaf school for the summer and see how she likes it. If she hates it, well no problem, then you can have her continue mainstream education. The only thing is that now she will need special accommodations such as sitting in front of the class, asking the teacher to face the class, etc....

And most of all try to ask her how she'd like to proceed, if you force her to follow a direction she can't or won't do she'll get frustrated. If she doesn't want to do cochlears well then don't force it on her. She could do hearing aids instead or change to all ASL.

One item you may want to emphasize to her is case studies of deaf adults and show her that it's not the end of the world.

Hope that helps and good luck!

 

[Hohmom]

Thank you for your advices. As of this afternoon, we are told she has lost up to 65% of her original hearing. We are looking into schools at her request. She has had mods at school.all year, but now even that isn't enough. Do you have an opinion on how it might be for her if she is not yet versed in ASL? I don't want to send her from one lost class to another.

 

[deafdyke]

Have you at least looked in your area for conventions, meetups, etc...? There's deafnation.com and agbell.org
!

Excellent post.....but A Nihilst, AG Bell?!?!? Maybe it might have been useful say 15 years ago, but AG Bell has turned into " Auditory Verbal and Inclusion, and the Mainstream World are the ONLY things that a dhh kid needs." I wouldn't reccomend AG Bell to anyone.
Better organizations that are a lot more openminded are
http://deafchildren.org/ and http://www.handsandvoices.org/

 

[deafdyke]

Thank you for your advices. As of this afternoon, we are told she has lost up to 65% of her original hearing. We are looking into schools at her request. She has had mods at school.all year, but now even that isn't enough. Do you have an opinion on how it might be for her if she is not yet versed in ASL? I don't want to send her from one lost class to another.

I was going to respond last night but I didn't have time. First of all, WELCOME! I'm stoked and amazed that you're pursuing the whole shebang!
*waves hands* It doesn't surprise me that she is struggling. Most mainstream schools really are not the best for dhh or other low incidence but still has a lot of high academic potential students. That's simply b/c most mainstream schools really don't have a lot of experiance with dhh kids. Most teachers may only spend a week or two in a special ed course learning about deaf ed.
I see you're in MI. What I would do is contact http://www.michiganschoolforthedeaf.org/ Unfortunatly it is in Flint. I'm unsure if it has been affected by the water issues. BUT, it could give you information about local Deaf camps and dhh programs.
Based on what you're saying, I think your daughter would do very well in a dhh program based at a hearing school. That way, she'll have the dhh specialized supports (mass of dhh kids, teachers of the deaf, speech therapists, ASL, etc etc etc) but she'll also have the challenge of a mainstream school too. It is NOT at ALL unusual for "new to ASL" kids to join a Sign based program. Also most kids who Sign, also speak. So your daughter wouldn't be "lost in a sea of kids who only sign." Of course that does depend on the program etc. Visit local programs and look into every and anything!
You might have to look into moving. I actually do know of a lot of parents of dhh kids, who decided to relocate for better schools for their dhh kids. There are some really good Deaf Schools out there....and of course a lot of Deaf Schools and programs do have the potential to turn out well educated kids, if the rest of the pieces of the puzzle are there. There are even Catholic and Christian Deaf Schools.
Deaf camp attendance would be AMAZING. Glad to see you here and again.... WELCOME!

 

[A Nihilist]

Do you have an opinion on how it might be for her if she is not yet versed in ASL? I don't want to send her from one lost class to another.

That's quite a situation and a concern is that if you enroll her into an all-deaf ASL school she'd be struggling to catch up. I know it may not be what you want to hear but you could consider taking a "break" from school and have her learn ASL and once she's comfortable with it you can then enroll her although a year behind.

I would contact the deaf schools in your area and see what they have to say. I would imagine they have encountered this situation quite a few times and probably even have programs just for late-deafened children.

 

[deafdyke]

That's quite a situation and a concern is that if you enroll her into an all-deaf ASL school she'd be struggling to catch up. I know it may not be what you want to hear but you could consider taking a "break" from school and have her learn ASL and once she's comfortable with it you can then enroll her although a year behind.

I would contact the deaf schools in your area and see what they have to say. I would imagine they have encountered this situation quite a few times and probably even have programs just for late-deafened children.

On the other hand, completely voice off ASL schools (ie where the population is unaided, unimplanted and doesn't speak) are kind of rare.... It is very common for kids new to ASL to join those schools.....There are still a lot of oral kids who join ASL using schools and programs. They don't have late deafened schools/ programs since only about 5% of the pediatric dhh population is postlingally dhh.