Your reading abilites?

Galexy Angel, back when you were going to school, they thought that deaf and hoh kids were essentially retarded. Schools for the Deaf are SLOWLY but surely improving. And besides, a lot of kids back when you were little were probaly dx late or didn't get proper early intervention or whatever.
 
i am currently reading at college-level and when I was transferred to harder English, two years ago, my reading level BOOSTED up to 9th grade from 6th grade.
 
Very interesting...

I have always read far beyond my peers age level wise. I was mainstreamed in school after the first couple of years in a Deaf school. While in regular school, they would always place me in advance reading classes (I was average to above average in everything else). I always though kids like me (HOH at least) could generally read very well. But what I'm seeing here isn't always the case.

For me, reading was my way to be "equal" with the normal hearing kids as I couldn't always hear what they could. I knew lots of stuff that most of them didn't but they understood (obviously) the "cultural" lingo far better than I. It took me until I was in my late teens to early twenties to pull even with them on that.

I agree with those who mentioned that it depends on one's motivation. I was hyper-motivated to read everything and anything to understand my world better. However, it took me a long time to understand that reading only gets you so far. You still have to communicate with others. It was when my speech because practically indisquishable from the normal hearing folks that I had what I needed to do well and the reading is an added bonus.
 
Last time I took this reading test at community college two years ago. Guess what my reading level was? 5th grade. not something to be proud of. Oh well.
 
sr171soars said:
For me, reading was my way to be "equal" with the normal hearing kids as I couldn't always hear what they could. I knew lots of stuff that most of them didn't but they understood (obviously) the "cultural" lingo far better than I. It took me until I was in my late teens to early twenties to pull even with them on that.
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You raise a very good point about being able to have a high degree of comprehension, but still not being up to par with hearing peers. Let's use me as an example;

I graduated from FSD in 1987, and at the time, I felt I had a high degree of comprehension. However, if I ever got stuck at the water cooler in an office with regular hearing folks, I would not be able to follow their conversation 100% even if I could understand them clearly. Back then, CC wasn't that much prevalent, I had limited access to free TV, no radio, maybe went to the movies once or twice, rented a VHS tape or two, and rarely read magazines. I did read the newspaper, but only the sports section.

I missed out of a lot of lingo, cultural quirks and trends which my hearing peers have easily and rapidly adopted in their lifestyles. I'd be like a stranger living in a strange land, with apologies to Robert Heinlein. :) Of course, I never really felt that way, as I was still living in this 'insular' culture after my graduation, where I eventually attended Gallaudet.

Thankfully, today in 2006, this phenomenon is the thing of the past! (I hope!) CC is pretty much everywhere, even theatricial releases are open-captioned or RWC'ed, cable TV access, DVD's galore (extras need to be subtitled/captioned!), tons of magazines and newspapers, and of course, the great equalizer, the Internet. The radio remains inaccessible, but that's okay. :)

Deaf people growing up now, assuming they have decent reading comprehension, will have a much better path in integrating into mainstream society upon leaving high school than I ever would have been.
 
mimi said:
I can't read too well neither. :Oops: I have severe lazy eye and might have dyslexia. Hopefully, they won't prevent me from pursuing my dream of becoming a scientist.
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mimi,

If you can dream it, you can do it!! :thumb: You don't say how old you are, but, get cracking and get some help. There is no shame in getting it, just shame if you don't and no, they won't ever think, "Gee, that mimi sure is a dummy." Never would they think that. Please, go after your dream and, while you're at it, don't let anyone talk you out of it, okay? :nono: :hug:
 
jazzy said:
Last time I took this reading test at community college two years ago. Guess what my reading level was? 5th grade. not something to be proud of. Oh well.
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You can correct it, jazzy. Don't give up!! You can do it!!! :thumb:
 
deafdyke said:
Galexy Angel, back when you were going to school, they thought that deaf and hoh kids were essentially retarded. Schools for the Deaf are SLOWLY but surely improving. And besides, a lot of kids back when you were little were probaly dx late or didn't get proper early intervention or whatever.
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no.. One of School are totally lazy teaching proprite.. and decide slow down..
Everyone were learning slow climbing ladder their goal better english grammer but turns it out uglier rot banana! Which discoverd heard about my Amom and I were in the huge meeting that how started spreading rumours quicker than you expected perhaps small Deaf Community sort of fast grapevine.
They were file complaint and send to Ministry of Education board.. Few weeks later, become approval forced one school must removed old books level and everything proprite taught their level right for GRADE suitable as same other senior high school.

That what I've heard since I left from that school and transfred me another school for mainstream and helped me improved my english grammer. That school was huge improved much better grade level as same hearing senior high school.. I'm very applaud for this much better.
Never that forget the moments long years back!
 
Oh, you mean the first school was really bad? Can totally undy that!!!! And there ARE horrible Deaf schools, but there are also really bad hearing schools too! Deaf ed doesn't have a deadlock on bad.
 
Eyeth said:
I missed out of a lot of lingo, cultural quirks and trends which my hearing peers have easily and rapidly adopted in their lifestyles. I'd be like a stranger living in a strange land, with apologies to Robert Heinlein. :) Of course, I never really felt that way, as I was still living in this 'insular' culture after my graduation, where I eventually attended Gallaudet.
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I attended to mainstreamed schools and I still haven't caught on some "lingo and cultural quirks", an element of America's pop culture. Especially when it comes to idioms and phrases... I admit that I understand more idioms than an average Deaf friend in my circle but I still have to ask my husband to explain several to me since he was growing up in a 100% hearing world and understand all lingos. His mother has the strangest lingos of all-- well she is from the South so she would say strangest idioms ever.

But you have to wonder-- is it worth it? To contain yourself into hearing world to achieve a high level of "intelligence" when you cannot relate to a Deaf peer because you don't know the Deaf culture or to a hearing person because you never watch MTV? My husband still don't understand some Deaf jokes and stories which allows me to explain him (in exchange for his lessons in "Hearieology") or some jokes that are being provided by a stand-up comedian about a famous pop singer that my husband never heard of.

Intelligence-- there are two types: book smarts and street smarts.
It is best to have both so you can relate to all levels of people-- from a doctoral graduate to a layman.

For me, it doesn't matter whether you have grammar skills of a "post-high school" level or you are able to read "War and Peace" without using a dictionary-- it is the capacity of expressing your thoughts, ideas, or opinions. There are people who *cannot* write an essay just to save themselves. And to measure your reading/writing skills is a difficult thing to do-- because what exactly is a college-level reading? Education is everchanging with things that a 1950s high schooler did in school is now what a college student does in his/her university classes.

Admittedly, I do try to strive to "pass off" as an average hearing (note: I didn't say "normal"... because we are NORMAL too) student but I always remind myself that many average students don't have that great English skills anyway. They do have difficulties to distinguish between "they're" and "their" and many more... I was apaging when I had to explain to a hearing classmate about this and she still refused to believe me because I am Deaf. :sure:

Literacy is something that one attributes to their status to gain a sense of power over "lesser" beings. It is being abused. In America, I think we value literacy, not education. And it is far worser in Deaf communities where they would judge you based on your reading level-- they don't even care if you are in NTID working your butt off to improve your reading level.
 
Well, literacy is becoming worse for both deaf and hearing regardless. I've noticed my few nephews and nieces write quite atrociously, and they're hearing! Many schools are forgoing the three R's if I remember it correctly, which is a pity. They're cramming in too many subjects so students are missing out on how to spell and write grammar properly as well read proficiently.

Also there has to be motivation if one wants to succeed. But with encouragement from educators and family are imperative to your motivation and will help you achieve.

As for me, I've always had a high reading skill. I was tested to measure my IQ and it said that at 11 years old; I was reading equivalent to that of a 17 years old. Right now, I would say my reading and comprehension skills are much higher than average deaf and even some hearing, not that I'm boasting or anything.
 
But you have to wonder-- is it worth it? To contain yourself into hearing world to achieve a high level of "intelligence" when you cannot relate to a Deaf peer because you don't know the Deaf culture or to a hearing person because you never watch MTV? My husband still don't understand some Deaf jokes and stories which allows me to explain him (in exchange for his lessons in "Hearieology") or some jokes that are being provided by a stand-up comedian about a famous pop singer that my husband never heard of.
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GREAT POST. EVERY hearing parent of a dhh kid should read that. I see TOO many hearing parents brainwashed into thinking that hearing and talking will allow them to acheive total assimulation into hearing society. Even many of the superstars have crap social skills or are out of it about popular culture.
Well, literacy is becoming worse for both deaf and hearing regardless. I've noticed my few nephews and nieces write quite atrociously, and they're hearing!
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Oh you're not kidding! I remmy helping a hearing peer with an English paper, and he couldn't even write a coherent essay!!!
 
I would like to add this thought...

It really doesn't matter in the scheme of things if you don't know alot of the cultural milieu especially when it relates to TV. Let's ask the question "What is the hearing world?" It is many things and many hearing folks could care less what is the latest trend in fashion or the latest and greatest TV shows out there. Too many people (both hearing and deaf) get caught up in it and think that is the common culture. It is not but TV does has alot of influence but that is mostly with the younger set. The older one gets, the more one gets set in certain ways and the influence of TV becomes less important. It is another way of saying you become a period piece (think of your grandparents).

What I'm getting at is that by being involved in either the hearing or deaf worlds or both, one will pick up the "drift" or "lingo" of these groups naturally. Getting back to the topic of reading and one's ability with it, the better one is able to read the better one will have a command of the language. I cannot stress how important that is all the way around. Technically speaking and in a practical sense, speech or sign (adhoc forms of communications) are not exactly the same as the written word. It is very lively with much give and take. It is very rich and new ideas ("words") can be formed instantly. On the other hand, the written language is much more static and it takes time for new ideas ("words") to become accepted and a part of the language.

Taking this further, I used my reading skills as a bridge to allow me to easily make that transition into the hearing world. As I mentioned early on in this thread (earlier posting), it took me a little while to close this gap between book knowledge and the common "lingo". What I found out was that it was experience more than anything else which allowed me to catch up. It is even more true today as I have gotten older. When you know the language quite well you get a "feel" for how the language is used and what slang/idioms/colloquial expressions really mean with little background or understanding. This was more from observing how it was used and in what context.

I remember when the term "My Bad" came out. Believe me, I sure didn't learn that from Hollywood. I figured it out quite quickly but I never liked it and thus never used it. "Doh" is another one but I do use that sometimes especially in emails :D as it expresses one's cluelessness so well. Most of us know that came from Bart Simpson (I hate the show and never watch it but it didn't prevent me from knowing the origins of the expression).

Bottomline...it helps if one can read well and it can be parlayed into many advantages...
 
I've never had any problem with reading comprehension as far as I know but when I'm writing I do have a problem with grammar and spelling. :dunno:
 
This is an interesting thread to bring out alot of valid points. It's also good to brainstorm and bring different perspectives into this.

I am not exactly sure of what my reading level is but I was told that I could read and comprehend much better than my deaf peers when I was in high school. That was based on the tests that I took back then. I have always enjoyed the literature and the poetries. Certainly, I could come up with some of those struggles trying to comprehend some of the vocabularies along with the lingos, idioms, quirks - you name it. I do better at reading and writing than I do with math. I'm not a mathematic person because I don't really love to play around with the numbers.

Literacy is something that needs to be taken seriously, especially with the deaf people. It is even better now than it was back then with all of the educations that has been offered to give the children to explore their options to take up with.

I do remember my mother kept enforcing my younger brother (who is hearing) to read the closed captioning on the television because she believed that it would boost his reading level with his spelling skills. It helped him in the long run but he always hated watching the television with the closed captioning. It did help me alot too when I was younger, being the sole deaf member in the family, oftenly I was left out at any family events ending up watching the television to kill the boredom or to keep myself entertained. The point is, there are so many ways to expand your horizions with tons of informations that can enrich your knowlege and boost your reading level.
 
I agree about the part where teachers don't make deaf students learn harder. It just give some deafies hard time later on with learning. Some are embarrassed due to their lack of grammar and etc. It sucks. My mom's ex's grammar probably 2nd grade level. I couldnt understand what hes writing and his spelling are horrible, he couldnt spell simple words. He is hearing :S I wish my English is the same as hearing level. It's never too late though, I gotta learn!
 
Iceriver...I hope it gives you a good confidence boost to say that just from reading your message, I think you're starting off with grammar and spelling as good as many well-educated Europeans I've talked with and I have respect for. Nobody expects non-natives to be perfect, but it looks like you're already well on your way. The more reading you do, and writing (keeping a journal is great, if you don't already), the more and more you'll learn. Keep up the good work! :)
 
Rose Immortal said:
Iceriver...I hope it gives you a good confidence boost to say that just from reading your message, I think you're starting off with grammar and spelling as good as many well-educated Europeans I've talked with and I have respect for. Nobody expects non-natives to be perfect, but it looks like you're already well on your way. The more reading you do, and writing (keeping a journal is great, if you don't already), the more and more you'll learn. Keep up the good work! :)
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Thanks :) I learned alot from reading closed captioning on TV and chatting in hearing chat rooms over the years, I have improved a lot, but now it's lacking now I think because i havent been to hearing chat rooms and chatting with more deafies now. Some of their grammar are elementary level so it has affecting me. I guess I should start going to hearing chat rooms again if I want to improve my grammar.
 
A warning about hearing chats...sometimes we're MAJOR slackers in the English department, in those places. ;)

And you're very welcome. :)
 
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