helpless mom
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2011
- Messages
- 12
- Reaction score
- 0
In which school a deaf child should go? A public school or a deaf school?
In which school a deaf child should go? A public school or a deaf school?
In which school a deaf child should go? A public school or a deaf school?
There's no one silver bullet: it depends upon your child's needs, your local resources, your choice of language, your own philosophy about education, so many things unique to you and your child. I've sat in so many classrooms, spoken with so many who were in the programs I've taken a look at, read so much research and found that people just can't conclude that any one option is right in general -- and the experts say this, too. Only you can decide which one is right for your child. Find every possibility and take a look at them all with an open mind, try to avoid preconceptions, and just imagine your child interacting in that environment, learning from the teachers you meet.
You can choose a "mainstream" approach in which your child adapts to the regular classroom, possibly wearing HAs or CIs, with an interpreter or an aide accompanying him in each class. "Inclusion" classrooms are situations in which the teacher and class is supposed to adapt to the student, with curriculum designed to meet different needs. Often inclusion classes have several students with various special needs participating, their assignments differ to varying degrees, and they sometimes share aides. So, depending upon the population, there may be several deaf and HOH kids in the room in addition to typically hearing students. I've seen that sometimes regular mainstream and inclusion classes can be nearly indistinguishable in practice.
Sometimes schools have special "units" or special classrooms in which multiple deaf or HOH kids are educated together using dedicated deaf ed staff -- TODs or specialized teachers. Students may leave to join the general population for certain classes or common activities. Again, depending upon the school, these can vary in size from a couple of kids to -- in one case I've visited, a population and staff of teachers larger than some dedicated schools for the deaf -- sharing the resources of the school (swimming pools, theatres, gyms, media labs, etc), but operating much as a separate school within a school.
Then there are special schools for the deaf, with an emphasis on specialized instruction for the deaf that differs from that which hearing students receive and include interaction with a population of deaf peers. There are several types of these schools, although the numbers are dwindling -- by 2006, the number had dropped steadily to about 15% of deaf kids in the US attending such schools, similar trends hold worldwide. Some of these special schools for the deaf emphasize spoken language to the exclusion of sign language, like Central Institute for the Deaf and Clarke schools in the US, stressing auditory-verbal approaches -- and CIs are prevalent. Other special schools like the Clerc Center at Gallaudet in DC and The Learning Center for the Deaf in MA emphasize the use of sign language while making varied levels of accommodation for the support of spoken language development, especially for HOH kids and those with CIs.
The majority of students with hearing loss (in the US and UK), by far, currently attend local schools in which they are grouped in special classrooms or if primarily in general classrooms, they may receive special services from a resource room teacher who provides a range of services from consultation with the general teachers to direct one on one instruction with the deaf and hoh students. Much of the direct teaching the resource room teacher provides is remedial.
You'll find that many studies show that academic outcomes for deaf and HOH students in general classrooms is higher than in special units and in special schools, but that can be misleading. It's very difficult to compare academic outcomes of these different settings, because of the variables involved: many students with multiple disabilities that complicate the effects of their hearing loss are at special schools, which are better equipped to handle their needs. Students in the general classrooms are often HOH, have lesser degree of hearing loss than those in special units and special schools, there are often socio-economic factors involved that differentiate students placed in special units instead of general classrooms, and often initial placement is based on general skills levels, with a filtering of those with lower skills into schools for the deaf, then special units -- and this initial placement level often factors in to expectations and outcomes. Yet even if deaf and HOH students in general classrooms outperform their peers in other settings, they still lag behind hearing students, falling into the low-average range. One important factor discovered in mainstream environments that many here back up: often students in general classroom are assumed to understand and be processing more info than they actually do -- this is found to be the case with both students in HS and colleges using either spoken language or sign language. And many deaf students aren't aware that they are missing the degree that they are missing. What this means is that the teachers and specialists involved with your child have to be prepared for this and heavily involved, because your child won't realize what he's missing, so he can't effectively self advocate in many cases.
I recommend touring every option available to you. Sit in the classrooms, watch how the teachers interact with the kids -- watch the kids work together, take a look at the ratio and attention given to each child, imagine your child in that room. And learning environments change quickly, so you'll want to keep assessing broadly.
Huh? CID and Clarke do auditory-oral education, not auditory verbal.like Central Institute for the Deaf and Clarke schools in the US, stressing auditory-verbal approaches -- and CIs are prevalent. Other special schools like the Clerc Center at Gallaudet in DC and The Learning Center for the Deaf in MA emphasize the use of sign language while making varied levels of accommodation for the support of spoken language development, especially for HOH kids and those with CIs.
I am all for a Deaf School in which case my city has (but, I really do not like it) so if you live in San Antonio I prefer public school. We have Sunshine Cottage School for the Deaf but, they urge parents for HA & CI and do not teach ASL or communicate in ASL they think its more benefit to the children to teach them to learn and use their voice. Which I guess is okay, I see nothing wrong with that as long as they would teach ASL and use both. Just my two cents though.
Another thing to remember is that mainstream/hearing school teachers (including special ed) will only have had minimal teaching training on how to teach dhh kids.
And the reason I speak out for CI kids, even thou I do not have one myself is b/c their experiance is going to be the exact same as those of us who are hh with HAs were, back in the day.I've observed several classes in local schools at different age levels, mainstream, inclusion, self-contained: amazing teachers and aides, gifted, experienced, caring. But as you say, minimal training in deaf / HOH education, a spattering of sign language here and there, a lack of familiarity with cochlear implants. The only true expertise I found was in one of the collaborative programs within a public school: great teachers, strong aides -- rivaling the big deaf schools in terms of staffing, and public schools typically require more qualifications, even the aides often have at least one masters degree in relevant subjects. But again, little, if any, ASL in use, so that's a non-starter for us.