dreama

Hi Lissa,
Thanks for letting me know about your school days. It's nice that you and the other deaf kids stayed together. I also used to get into trouble a lot only we went to the PHU (partial hearing unit).

I noticed they changed to american grades. When I was at school in the 80's primary school was divided between the infants and the juniors. The infant classes were the nursery, reception (similar to Kindergarten). There were 2 other years but I never went to them since I transfered to special school at that time where I stayed before attending mainstream high school.

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Deafness

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Lissa

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Left Ear Nucleus Freedom
Implanted-October 25th 2000
Activation-November 28th 2000

missywinks

cool. im just wondering how you find yourself in a group setting though? with everyone talking and stuff? isn't it hard?

deafdyke

Just gotta say that I think a mainstream formal program can work really well.
What I think is horrible is mainstreaming to the max....too too easy for kids to fall through the cracks.
You know.....I think it should be the law that dhh kids should require a " split placement" early on, so they can find the best placement possible. I hate how it's kneejerkly assumed that a mainstream placement is always the best.
A kid could do OK in the mainstream but could REALLY thrive in a formal dhh program.
Ditto.....There are some pretty damn good deaf schools out there......and a lot of deaf schools have wonderful programming in the early grades that can't be matched by anything at a public school.

whatdidyousay!

I did go to a small private school in Boston, Ma. It was not for the deafs or
HOH
but the class rooms were small and there were no more than12 students in a class.
I had one teacher who taught math and english and he was a real neat teacher. We became friends and we wrote to one another for a fews years.
I will never forget this teacher for taking an interest my life.

Edwin

My experiences wasn't that great like many on here. We weren't allowed to use NPSL and if we did, we were punished as the teacher made us use ASL. She would punish us by keeping us after school, writing letters home to our parents, basically denying our cultural heritage.

Of course the teacher was white.

It was not until our junior year in high school that we got a teacher that understood NPSL and embraced us for using it in the classroom. He even went furthur and established an after school club for us kids to use NPSL as well as share it with the local community to carry on the traditions of our people.

That was awesome.

Lissa

NPSL?

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Left Ear Nucleus Freedom
Implanted-October 25th 2000
Activation-November 28th 2000

Bottesini

Nez Perce Sign Language

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It's a joke Nathan!

Lissa

Never heard of it.

Is it a country's sign language?

__________________

Left Ear Nucleus Freedom
Implanted-October 25th 2000
Activation-November 28th 2000

Edwin

Wow! You got it right! Many people don't even know what it is!


NPSL is known on the Nez Perce Indian reservation where I live.

deafdyke

That's right....wasn't Nez Perce the "Indian Sign language?"
Wow.....can you tell us more? That's very interesting. And Edwin, depending on how old you are your teacher's not teaching you NPSL might have been the residual effects from the old " Indian Schools"

jillio

Missywinks and Shel,

In reading about the wonderful memories you both have of playing softball in school, something occurred to me. I think you both have such fond memories not just because you were doing something you enjoyed, but because it was the one place you were able to compete with hearing people on an equal basis. On the softball field, your deafness, or another player's hearing, didn't matter. What mattered was your skill with a ball, a glove, and a bat. Period. You felt included and respected for your talents, and your deafness was not an issue.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could translate that into the classroom for all deaf students? Or better yet, into the wider society?

deafbajagal

My experiences were pretty awful but there were some highlights here and there. The best times were when I finally moved to a residental school for the deaf and finally was able to blossom.

Ironcially in public school I enjoyed choir more than anything. I was "allowed" to use signing to "sing" and it gave me that freedom to express myself. I actually learned about music and began to explore the genre, which opened doors for me. I was able to meet many bands and music artists.

Edwin

Nez Perce SL is one of the many sign languages in the Native American culture. There are many that aren't recognized yet. Just like anytime a tribe is trying to get federal recognition from the government to establish a reservation, it takes time.

The teacher that I had was a deaf teacher from Gallaudet that was against NPSL as she wanted us to use ASL only. Understand that this occurred in the 1970's when there was a huge movement of Native Americans taking a stand against the government especially the Lakotas and the Sioux.

Anyway, the teacher didn't necessairly wanted us to use NPSL even though it was explained to her that it was sign language, like ASL. Long story short, she would teach us to sign, "10 Little Indians" in ASL and one of my classmates would sign, "10 Little White Girls" which would infuriate the teacher.

The residual effects of the Indian schools was still prevalent but not as strong as it was.

dreama

It's good that you finally got out of mainstream where you were unhappy. Could you tell me more about experiences at your deaf school?

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I speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.
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deafdyke

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA.......That's brilliant. I can imagine.

dogmom

Edwin,

"10 Little White Girls....."

BIA schools part of the cultural genocide-



Anybody ever read Zinn's "People's History of United States"? Text-like, but I enjoy history, and this teaches aside from the dominant white perspective....lotta stuff from even my late 80's school books, inaccurate/missing, from perspective of Zinn's book.

Edwin

Like the AG Bell oral methods against the Deaf schools.

dogmom

Edwin,

<of yours>True, True!

melissa

I know this is an old thread, but I had very mixed experiences at school and this is really the only place people will understand.

My hearing loss wasn't noticed until I was 4 (my mum said she never noticed anything) and for some reason unknown to me and my parents I didn't get any help at school until I was 6-7. When I was 6 I got a wireless unit with headphones on, the kind on a headband with 2 circular foam pads. I don't remember getting it, just that I didn't have it, then one day I did, and people used to tease me about it. I had no help other than this at that point.

When I was 7 I got ITEs, and I attended a 'special needs unit' ('The Unit'- basically a small room at one end of the school away from all the other classrooms). This was for children with additional needs; there was me and about 5-6 other kids with hearing aids, a boy with severe eczema and behavioural problems, a girl with CP. I used to have most of my lessons in The Unit at this point- it was a small room with teachers of the deaf and assistants. I liked being friends with the other children, but I remember feeling awkward about my hearing aids as I was the only one with ITEs and had a different type of lead to my radio aid, so I was different from the other hearing aid users. We did have a rabbit though which was nice, but we got told he died 'of germs' which I remember at 8 thinking it was insulting to my intelligence.

At some point I got a SEN (statement of educational needs) which stated I needed to use the radio aid in class, sit near the teacher and have the help of the assistants. I don't know if they were teachers of the deaf or not, but they used to sit next to me (and I wasn't always near the teacher- there were 30+ kids in a class!) so none of the other kids would sit with me as I didn't have many friends, and when I was doing something easy, like writing my name in a space where it said 'Your Name _______' on my work, they would take their pen and do it for me- I hated this aspect of it. It felt intrusive but what can you do when you're 8 years old...

I remember a particular event with one of the assistants which hurt my feelings. The other kids had BTEs with shoes to connect them to the radio aids, whereas mine connected via 2 small pins a mm apart, which I had to plug in to the aid while they were in my ears as I had difficulty putting the aids in myself. I asked the assistant to do it for me, and her response was 'You should be able to do this by now, all the others can manage it.' I felt very upset, I was about 9 and had only had them for 2 years, and never managed to do it as it's very fiddly, eventually I took the aid out to connect the cable then put them back in.

I was a so-called teachers' pet, but I didn't have many friends and, while I liked the work, I hated the other kids and the environment. I was absolutely awful at PE/sports/games- I couldn't hear when the rules of a game were being explained to me (wind outside), and because I was so bad the other kids told me to do things like go in left field when we played rounders (a bit like cricket)- the teacher said 'What on earth are you doing out here?'- but I was just doing what I was told. I wasn't co-ordinated, I wasn't a fast runner, I'm terrified of heights and I couldn't understand anything when we did sports outside.

I was also terrible at music, which I hated. Ironically I took piano and saxophone lessons as an adult last year, and loved them. I found an understanding teacher who teaches in a small room, and doesn't belittle me for learning things which are at a childrens' level these days.

I hated music- I could barely read the notes, my hearing aid used to whistle in lessons but I couldn't hear it, and everyone would be shouting at me to fix it. We had a large class with 30-odd people in, and somewhere along the line I learnt to say 'yes' when asked if my radio aid was working/I could hear, just to make things easier. I remember one day we watched the video of pirates of penzance, the teacher put the mic next to the tv speaker, but I couldn't hear it- but they can't do anything about it, so saying I can't hear was pointless. I had a lesson where we had to compose something on the keyboard. I did so, but when it was time to play it to the teacher I'd moved to a different keyboard and for some reason the one I was using emitted a very loud buzzing sound, and I barely played a few notes before he said 'yes, very good' and moved on. We used to get report sheets with columns like 'good understanding/limited understanding/no understanding in class' with ++/-- signs and it would just be ticked all the way down on the -- sign. I was academically good in other classes, and I wish someone would have asked me why I was struggling, or what they could do to help.

Hearing aside, I got teased a lot, bullied and did other peoples homework so I didn't get hit. I made a few friends but not many. Sorry this is so long; I think my schooldays directly affected my confidence- I have virtually no confidence and hate public speaking/group situations where I struggle to hear, am scared of meeting new people and prefer to work alone. I really think this is a result of my school experiences.

KarissaMann05

I never went to mainstream schools but I do have some good memories at my old schools.