School For The Deaf Or Mainstream?

Barbaro said:
You have to ask your daughter how she feels about a deaf school or mainstream school. It's so vital. Trust me. if your daughter is fluent in ASL, then it should be fine. Your daughter's case and mine are different. I was born deaf due to ototoxic drug. I'm profoundly deaf and wear my hearing aids all my life.

I grew up in regular school, mainstream schools and private school (out of country). My 2nd grade class and I didn't sign at all. All of us were in range from profoundly deaf to HOH. We communicated by using oral. That's right. No ASL at all. Some of us had to talk to each other by FACING each other, so I can know which one talks to me. I can hear someone behind me call my name.

My mother wanted me to learn ASL, so I learned it when I was in 3rd grade. It was awkward at first, because I couldn't understand their ASL at the time. My teacher taught me ASL and I interacted with deaf students on the playground and played with them by learning ASL daily and it helped me learn quick. I love it. I strongly urge you learn ASL if your daughter wants to learn ASL. It'll help her learn quick.

I had plenty of private speech therapy outside of schools for eight years. If your daughter's speech is good, that's fine. Many deaf students I know attended deaf schools can talk. No big deal.
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When did your parents realize you deaf was right away or sometime after? I was 8 yo when people realize I was hoh .
 
Rose Massey said:
Yes, she said she feels different than others kids at school because of her hearing aids and need for the FM system. Also, the doctor goes over her audio gram and she is aware that she has progressive hearing loss and seems to have anxiety from the fear of not knowing when she will no longer hear.
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It's normal to feel different. I am sure many of us have felt and still feel different to some degree. That's true and there's no denying this. I am trying to figure out how you could help her out. I think you should try to recognize not to put too much pressure on yourself to be the perfect parent or have the perfect life for your child. This is a lot of pressure. I think we all have to learn more how to deal with what troubles us rather than eliminate them. It's part of growing and dealing with what's been handed to us.

Is there a possibility that your daughter could be eligible for a cochlear implant in the future should that day come? Perhaps knowing this could alleviate some of your daughter's and your anxiety. I think the outcome is better for someone with a progressive hearing loss. Has your audiologist ever mentioned this? If not, you could ask as a way to keep in mind this option.

I think you should ask the school why they do not allow deaf children to speak. It may answer your question. Your daughter could come one day and see if she feels comfortable. Parents might feel different than their children might feel.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
When did your parents realize you deaf was right away or sometime after? I was 8 yo when people realize I was hoh .
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I believe I mentioned it a few times here. I was about 15 months old when they realized I was deaf. I couldn't wear hearing aids. My ear infection was so bad and doctor had to put tubes in. When they finally cleared up, I started to wear them daily when I turned 18 month old.
 
Barbaro said:
I believe I mentioned it a few times here. I was about 15 months old when they realized I was deaf. I couldn't wear hearing aids. My ear infection was so bad and doctor had to put tubes in. When they finally cleared up, I started to wear them daily when I turned 18 month old.
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I don't read every comment that get posted here and I had said a few times that I am getting forgetful like my dad was. You were lucky your parents realize you were deaf so young and that you had speech therapy for 8 years.
 
Rose Massey said:
Not sure why they won't let the HoH kids use their speech. The requirements to get in are low too only 50db loss for unilateral and 20db for bilateral. With those numbers a person could definitely hear speech and be able to speak.
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Where are you? Virtually all the schools for the Deaf, I know of will not admit unilateral kids. Even getting HOH kids into a deaf school is hard a lot of times.
 
Rose Massey said:
My 8 yr old daughter has progressive unilateral hearing loss. She qualifies for a reputable deaf school. Our local mainstream school provides her with only 20 min a week of HHS and said they won't give her any more until she starts failing or goes 100% deaf. There are 1600 students in her school(overcrowded k-8) and no other HoH kids in the school. She wears a hearing aid and the teacher uses an FM system. Is this enough? Or should I consider the school for the deaf as a day student? When I visited the school for the deaf the student ratio was 1:6 which was great but the only downside was that the HoH kids were not aloud to speak. Only ASL was aloud in school. My daughter has excellent speech. Why would prohibiting speech be a good thing? Also about 80% of the kids had severe hearing loss or were 100% deaf. I am very stressed about what I should do.
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Well, the only difference between HoH and deaf, is that you don't need to worry about speech issues. If her speech is excellent.... AWESOME! She will keep and maintain her speech. But, Hoh kids often don't get ASL and deaf ed oppertunities. Attending a School for the Deaf could be an EXCELLENT oppertunity, as she could become fluent in ASL, and that would give her an additional safety net for when her loss becomes bilateral. Don't worry about severity of loss.... Severity of loss really is a nonissue. Pretty much ALL HOH kids can benefit from knowing ASL. Even unilateral loss kids can benefit from using ASL in a noisy enviroment, or to prepare them if their loss is progressive.
 
Mieke said:
See it this way Rose, if your kid went to a French speaking school, would you expect her to speak English there?

That's actually the same you are asking from this Deaf school. Which does not mean she can not also still speak at home.
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Exactly. And unless this school is somehow bucking the trend, virtually ALL Deaf Schools offer a VERY hefty dose of speech and HOH style interventions. There are some kids who don't use hearing technology, but at almost all schools for the deaf, you see a lot of kids on the dhh spectrum, from HOH, uses HA/CI to profound uniaidable/unimplanted and doesn't speak, and everything in between. There are even HOH kids who use ASL as a primary language due to expressive speech issues like apraxia, cleft palate and trachostomies
 
I was born hoh and went mainstream, I learned how to cheat, read lips, and smile and nod. I didn't learn asl until I was 14 and that is when I really found myself. I always wished my parents put me in a deaf school. But you can always start with mainstream and see how they like it.
 
Rose Massey said:
I have never been around a child who has no speech before. I observed for 30 min and left a little sick to my stomach. The kids could only make sounds. No words at all. My daughter has never seen this before either. Why would the school not teach them how to speak words instead of make grunting noises and bang on the table for attention? None of the kids are aloud to have behavioral issues but with the way they communicated it looked as if they did.
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YOu felt sick to your stomach? Why? They have language. My brother is 41 years old and has no speech but he is happily married with a child and living the life in Florida with a nice home and his wife. There is nothing sick about it.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
Do you really think it's going to easy for a 8 yo child to not try to talk when that what she is use to doing ?? If a child is able to talk they should be able to talk and use ASL at the same time . What harm is that doing to do!
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It is not ASL if one is using voice ..that's Sim com and it is not a language.

ASl and English are totally separate languages.
 
Snorri said:
Deaf school. Mainstream is horrible for hoh, and deaf.
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Totally agree. Grew up mainstreamed and didnt know ASL until 25 years old. NOw, I am 44 and ASL is my life. I HATED being mainstreamed.
 
shel90 said:
Totally agree. Grew up mainstreamed and didnt know ASL until 25 years old. NOw, I am 44 and ASL is my life. I HATED being mainstreamed.
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I have been between multiple mainstream schools, private schools, and deaf/hoh schools. It was amazing at the deaf/hoh ones. Others I never felt welcomed. I believe us deaf/hoh should stick with our kind.
 
Snorri said:
I have been between multiple mainstream schools, private schools, and deaf/hoh schools. It was amazing at the deaf/hoh ones. Others I never felt welcomed. I believe us deaf/hoh should stick with our kind.
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You know why? Because language and communication is not fully accessible to us at the public schools with the hearing kids while at the Deaf schools, they make sure that NO deaf child is restricted to access to information and education. I work at a public school teaching deaf kids and I see that nothing is different from my days of growing up being mainstreamed. Hearing people who are ignorant about ASL and Deaf culture really have no clue how left out deaf kids are among hearing peers.
 
shel90 said:
You know why? Because language and communication is not fully accessible to us at the public schools with the hearing kids while at the Deaf schools, they make sure that NO deaf child is restricted to access to information and education. I work at a public school teaching deaf kids and I see that nothing is different from my days of growing up being mainstreamed. Hearing people who are ignorant about ASL and Deaf culture really have no clue how left out deaf kids are among hearing peers.
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Exactly! Then we struggle with either going to college or, not. Even if we have the same credentials as everyone else, it is super hard on us. But I have had ignorant people tell me "You got the disability act". That is so outdated and is hard to hold companies accountable. We need more deaf friendly jobs. Not just Starbucks. We need deaf friendly colleges built. So much more.
 
Here's my take - as someone who grew up with SSD (which became Deaf right, Hoh left, flux and APD) :

If she's got good speech, and is following well in a hearing environment then consider looking for options for a blended curriculum split between schools. That, or find out how to allow her to participate in various afterschool / weekend programs at the local School for the Deaf.

The early years are "easiest" - and they are *not* easy. They are exhausting. She needs to have CART in place or ASL interpreters now, even if she isn't really "ready" to use them yet. Demand at the very least CART (or TypeWell).

My parents seemed to view ASL as a "failure" - they seemed to think if they pretended I was hearing, I'd "be" hearing. I am Hoh / Deaf no amount of them thinking otherwise changed that, but it did harm my self image. It also prevented me from learning an *additional* language (ASL) that would later prove critical to my university success.

Once I got to grade 3 or 4 (in the early 80s) things became significantly more difficult - As someone stuck in an oral only environment, the in class time spent with conversations increases, and the complexity of the conversations often leave us completely lost (and sometimes we don't even know we've gotten lost - we're excellent "fill in the gap"/"guessers").

I believe the current stats are that more than 80% of students with SSD / SSHL will fail at least one grade (if it's a no-fail environment, then they'll just continue to fall behind ...which is worse because it snowballs and can have lifelong consequences in learning, careers etc).

I was mainstreamed throughout k-12 ... I didn't get much needed supports and it had deep social consequences. It also meant I had to do almost all of my learning at home after school - re-reading the textbooks for what I'd missed in class in an attempt to catch up.
In-spite of all this, I graduated from an IB program with honours - I fought like hell for every single percentage point and NO child should have to do what I did.

As soon as I graduated High School I took a lot of intensive ASL classes, started socializing with Hoh/Deaf signers, got involved with an ASL immersion summer program. It changed everything. It opened doors that had been closed. It gave me the ability to attend social gatherings and be able to fully participate.

When I attended university - I elected to have notetakers as well as ASL interpreters (I also was able to follow a little bit aurally) - this gave me complete access to the lectures, the interactions and conversations and truly made for the first "barrier free learning environment" that I'd ever had.

I have plenty of Hearing friends, my entire family is hearing and even though I don't use ASL all the time, everyday - I would never ever want to be without it. There have been so many educational, social and career opportunities that ASL has made possible.

I can't say how important learning ASL, and having a Deaf community would be for them- even if they don't attend a school for the Deaf, being connected is extremely important.

Please feel free to PM
 
whatdidyousay! said:
You're missing my point !
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What point is that? verbally speaking and using ASL do not go well together if at all. Pure ASL is in a format that a person would not be able to speak English at the same time as using ASL it won't 'jibe'. Shel is correct that if a child or adult is speaking orally or signing, they're really using Sim Com or PSE (or whatever it's being called). ASL is generally used with no to little voicing.

It's a huge challenge to learn when you are trying to 'speak' two languages at the same time.

Yes the kid can talk and sign at the same time if they want to but don't confuse ASL with Signed English or PSE.

*watches as this flies right over....*
 
DeafDucky said:
What point is that? verbally speaking and using ASL do not go well together if at all. Pure ASL is in a format that a person would not be able to speak English at the same time as using ASL it won't 'jibe'. Shel is correct that if a child or adult is speaking orally or signing, they're really using Sim Com or PSE (or whatever it's being called). ASL is generally used with no to little voicing.

It's a huge challenge to learn when you are trying to 'speak' two languages at the same time.

Yes the kid can talk and sign at the same time if they want to but don't confuse ASL with Signed English or PSE.

*watches as this flies right over....*
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Ever since WDYS's first post in this thread of allowing ASL and speech at the same time I have been wondering if she means not forcing the child to go voice off but having time to use her voice as well as the time when ASL is used?
 
Jane B. said:
Ever since WDYS's first post in this thread of allowing ASL and speech at the same time I have been wondering if she means not forcing the child to go voice off but having time to use her voice as well as the time when ASL is used?
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Nobody has said the child could not use her voice.
I'm sure WDYS meant what she typed - use voice while signing.
If not, then she needs to clarify what she said and not just post "you missed my point".
 
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