HilFiger785

I'm curious... IF you're in deaf school now and they want to change your school to ORAL... what would you do???

Deafness

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kevbo

Wrong forum.

Alex

I'd gather all the people I can and protest! "Give me Deaf or give me death!"

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BabyPhat21

jump for joy - I am oral

d

i would rebel. if it doesnt work then i'll leave. i can find better schools than the school itself.

nozobo

I agree with D otherwise

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ideafspy

Me.. I don't support the deaf school because of what I heard a lot thing happen. Even, I been there before at two different campus. I refuse to go Oklahoma School for the Deaf. It just too many reason!

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Wolfboy

Like babyphat said Ill jump for joy. Im am oral. Deaf school it too diffrent for me.

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Liza

There are some who seem to think oral education is the only best way to learn English impeccably.... that is not the case. I am a shining example.... I learned it the visual way.

BESIDES.... I know some hearing folks who misspell because of how it's spoken. Written form and spoken form are not usually the same.

I support the visual method in education being one of the good ways to educate somebody, either deaf/hoh or hearing... the teachers just need to stop using the floating standard with their students, and start working their asses. This goes the same for those using the oral method.

I never have been mainstreamed in a high school... just the res school in MD. It's very sad to see some teachers and supervisors in res schools AND many parents not meeting standards, and even resorting to the "Deaf Dog" tactic... making a deaf student feeling less than worthy of quality education. It is a learned behavior. And one of the social problems in the deaf community... it's a cycle... that ultimately the deaf individual or anyone else must break out himself/herself from.. that takes courage, and I support that!

This is strictly my observation... based on experience.

kuifje75

I would be against the decision to change a deaf school that had been using sign language to oral. I would really question the motives for it, and tell them to give ppl an option, to have education in SL or in oral, should be up to the students, not the school.

Liza

Kuifje, how would you address the issue that some deaf folks don't receive much English comphrension in many res schools?

I'm curious about everybody's take on this, too!

ChelEler

Ah.. for me, I wouldn't know what to do, since I was oral when I was growing up. Now I'm total communicated (ASL, PSE, SEE, oral).

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kuifje75

Liza - I totally agree with your point, where you said that the teachers should be more responsible for teaching English and other subjects. I do not mean res. schools but I mean any school in general. I feel that the American education system is very poorly set up and new approaches for education are not helping to make matters better. It seems like school administrators are only interested in "passing" the students and getting them out of school. For example, my friend could go on to 11th and 12th grade, even if he failed 9th grade English. He took 9th grade English in summer and passed it. So he will graduate this June. The schools do not want to keep students, so they make things wayyyy too flexible to help students pass and get out of school. I think we need to do something about education and make it a very serious thing. We need to start taking responsibility to teach the kids right stuff.

With what I just said in mind, teachers of res. schools should be more serious in teaching English comprehension. If the students cannot do it right, the teachers should not be soft hearted and just let them pass with near-failing marks. In one school for the deaf that I visited, I noticed that two English teachers (deaf) did not have good English comprehension at all. I was really shocked, and felt that it was wrong for the school to hire them to be English teachers. But I found out, that the mentality for deaf schools is that they rather to employ deaf ppl despite their levels, before hiring qualified teachers. Again, it is totally administrative decision-making that makes the students suffer... pretty sad, huh?

allisonjoy

I'll be pissed. I am not aginst the oral method, but a deaf school should represent the deaf culture and allow sign language and each child's preference of communication.

bbnt

I sent this to someone I thought would have a good educated answer. She replied to me thru email so I am going to cut and paste



Her responce


First of all, many deaf people don't improve their comprehension of English anywhere at all. This may be due to many factors. One is the critical period of language learning, which is believed to be from ages 0-5. This is when children learn language and internalize its rules and syntax. Once this critical period passes, it is difficult to ever become fluent in a language (of course, there are exceptions). It is very important that the child be exposed to a full, complete language - not a code, not isolated words or fragments of sentences.

Unfortunately, that is what happens all too often when a deaf child is born into a family unable to communicate with the child. If the deaf child is unable to understand spoken English with auditory aids, he or she will not have full exposure to English. If the child's parents try a mix of speachreading - impossible for a young child - and "home" signs and gestures, or even basic stabs at ASL, the child isn't getting exposure to a full language (ASL) either. That is why d/hoh children with good hearing and children born to deaf parents usually have higher reading levels - they have had this language exposure from birth.

Now, once the critical period is past, it's pretty much too late for true fluency to develop. I'm talking about first language development, not second language. Research shows that second languages can be learned and internalized at later ages if the person has a full first language - in deaf children's cases, it can be either English or ASL. But if this first language isn't developed, he/she can stay at the school until age 22 and still not read/write English fluently. In many ways, it's beyond the school's control - the parents have the biggest impact on the child's language development.

In some residential schools, however, the problem may also be with the school. It's hard for schools to find good teachers who are fluent in ASL if they're hearing. If the teachers don't sign well either, even students below the age of 5 never get a reliable adult language model, either at school or at home. Some res. schools really do not have good teachers. Many other res. schools are good, but they are dumping grounds; very often, students don't go to residential schools until they are at least 10 or 11 and have already "failed" in public schools, "failed" their parents' vain attempts to make them "normal." By the time they get to a school for the deaf, it is too late.

I'll be honest and say some teachers are terrible. Some may sign well but not teach well. Some may be great teachers but not communicate well. There are too few who can do well. But in any case the res. school is still better than the public school for many kids because there are other language models, such as peers, classroom aides, and very often the staff will be deaf (counselors, dorm staff, etc.).

Another problem is that students don't get continuous exposure to English (that is changing, with closed-captioned TV, AIM, pagers, Internet use, etc - but use of slang on AIM doesn't really help). English class at a res school isn't enough to develop fluency in English.

Now, one thing you must remember: Many hearing people have terrible English. I have a hearing secretary with a bachelor's degree, and she simply does not write grammatically correct sentences. She doesn't understand the e-mail I send her, even when I simplify it. Her manners are wonderful, she communicates very well verbally, and she does her work promptly, but written English just isn't something she understands.

Another thing to remember: With new medical "lifesaving" techniques, many babies are being saved that would have died before. They're deaf, with many additional disabilities. Today, many deaf babies are born with crack addiction, FAS, or a wealth of other problems. Those lead to learning disabilities that any child would struggle with, and present new issues for residential schools to face: How to allocate resources to a small number of "plain deaf" kids and a rapidly growing population of deaf kids with multiple disabilities, mental health issues, etc.

All in all, there really are just too many factors to answer the question simply.

wildzerica06

no offense taken but GOD some of u aders need to chill on writing a LONG damn post.. lol it drives me nuts.. now u know how I feel soo.. ta-da for now.

bbnt

I didn't write it I simply cut and pasted so

Catmandu

Fly Free

*looking to drive Purrs nuts making a long post* jkjk haha but i DO agree with what bbnt posted altho is LONG

t e d d y

school can't afford to change deaf school to oral school (im not against oral method) i would be pissed off if they do

wildzerica06

BBNT- I don't care but STILL it doesn't sound right anyways later.

bbnt

explain how it doesn't sound right?

PepsiTazLover

I am against oralism. I am PRO ASL! and PRO DEAF schools. I just dropped off my application for my daughter to enroll at WSD.
am waiting to hear back from WSD.

wildzerica06

if u wanted to know PM me

MDCodeRedFreak

same here !!!! then i joined my deaf school in 8th grade and grad from there in '02

deafdyke

Well....if the deaf school was a public school, as of right now they probaly couldn't afford to shift methodology to a pure oral program b/c of all the budget cuts that states are experiancing right now. I mean it is WICKED EXPENSIVE to orally educate someone!
Think about it.....special teachers who've graduated from wicked competive schools, ALD (like auditory trainers and stuff like that), speech teachers, audis, special teaching materials and so on! I know that oral schools tend to be thought of as giving a better education then the manual schools, but in all liklihood it is just the private school effect. (private schools can pick and choose students who can suceed under their methods, whereas public schools have to take anyone and everyone that comes down the pike, no matter if they are deaf special needs or whatever)
I would be pissed as I think limiting a child to hearing and speaking only is child abuse! I would ALSO be pissed as if there was any other academic program that offered the chance to be fluent in two languages, it would not be axed...however b/c ASL is thought of as not a "real" language, people are eager to distance themselves from it. That's a big reason why so many parents force their kids to be oral...b/c ASL is speshal needs and not "normal" or nautrual! (note...I am being sacastic here)

Amby

If It happened in my school... well I'd ask for questions and why they wanted to change it......... But honestly I wouldn't be the right person to ask since I'm mainstreamed, have been for 6 years now. I was in a deaf program prior to mainstreaming... but still... I could answer questions relating to mainstreaming and some other things.. but this question... I don't know.

I'm not against oral, but I'd suggest to keep the language... oral doesn't work for everyone. I've tried to speak, and I can speak clearly enough for some, but it doesn't really work for everyone. And in the deaf world, what do you use the most, oral or signing? I'd say signing.

GoldenLeaf74

I have no problem in School for the Deaf in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Amby

really? interesting.

shel90

Due to the growing number of CI children, some deaf schools are now incorporating Spoken English into the curriculm. It is starting to become a reality. *sighs*

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