CSign

Hello ;-) I'm the proud mother of a 6 year old son who wears bilateral hearing aids. He is doing tremendously well, and as most mothers I am proud. We can communicate clearly whether his HA's are on or off using voice and sign. I am proud to be his mother, and I'm proud of every thing he has accomplished so far.
I look forward to participating in the forum, as I've been here for a while just hadn't gotten around to registering (I suppose).

Anyways, hope everyone has been enjoying the holiday season...

C

Deafness

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Sarfarigirl2011

hey, welcome to AD!
I'm also a kid with bilateral hearing aids and is about to be 16 in 2 days!

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18 yr old girl with a moderate/severe in the right and severe on the left.
currently wearing purple Oticon Safari P 600s

deafdyke

AWESOME!!!!!!!
Do you know about the American Society for Deaf Children? American Society for Deaf Children
What state are you in? Are you in contact with your state's School for the Deaf? He may be a bit young to go off to school (if you live far away) but I mean he can always take advantage of summer camps and outreach services. We have a couple of posters who teach at schools and programs for the Dhh. Are you guys happy with his educational placement and services? Feel free to ask anything....glad to have you!

Bottesini

Hi there.

BecLak

Welcome CSign!

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Severely deaf from birth.
Deaf with a Purpose. God designed me this way so I do everything by God's Grace.

Exodus 4:11 Ignorance is no longer bliss. Be Educated.

KEEP IN STEP WITH ME: Sign Text Email Pen and Paper

MidnightSun

Hello and Welcome...wow you are an awesome mom...Hope to see you in forum everyone here is eager to help and so very friendly..I am returning to AD after 3 years and its great to talk to old friends and make new ones..i learn something new each day.
Peace to you...M..♥♥♥

Sosie

to AllDeaf forum!

Happy Holidays,
Sosie

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CSign

Thanks for the kind welcome...
Deafdyke- I was on that other forum that was closed down some months ago. It was funny because before I knew you were on here, I could tell it was you by your writing style ;-)
We have visited CSDF, but since my son does have some residual hearing with his HA's on, it wouldn't be an appropriate placement for him unfortunately. I'm certain they wouldn't accept him even if we tried. I've tried looking for summer programs in the last 2 years but haven't found any.
No, we are not entirely happy with his educational placement, but as of now we really have no other options. I'm looking to try and get a regional program going but that will take some time. That would be the ideal situation, having one location where the mainstreamed DHH kids go, so that way the staff and students are already familiar. It gets old having to explain my Childs needs over and over again. Especially when his teachers make comments like, " he is so smart and doing so well that I often forget he has a hearing loss." um, yeah. That's both good and bad. That was at the end of the school year too.
It's an ongoing process, and an ongoing battle. I look forward to not having to deal with the stupid district in 11 years ;-)

deafdyke

You can run but you can't hide! Glad you reconized me!
Wow....that is AWESOME that you're reconizing that hoh kids need more specialized services then just being plopped in the mainstream. Have you contacted CSDF's outreach services to see if there's any regional programs nearby ? I thought that California was one of the states that offered good contunium of placements? Are you looking to try to create a magnet school model?
I do have to say that I think the majority of hoh kids can significently benifit from that type of setting. Glad to see you here!

Pepsi

deafdyke

Oh, is it one of the voice off campuses? I think it may change in the next few years. I've noticed that the best Deaf Schools tend to be Hoh friendly. In order to survive Deaf Schools are going to have to become hoh friendly. I checked out CSDF and was amazed not to see a mention of a summer program.

hardofhearing87

I really hope you choose to send him to a deaf institute. From parents that didn't (my parents mainstreamed) I hope you choose a deaf school for your baby!

CSign

From our experience, there really is not much to choose from. CSDF as it exists now would not be an appropriate placement for him. It does seem to be more of a "voice off" campus, although we haven't been in over a year. We did place him in a school for DHH children when he was 4, but the school only went to 5. I would love for him to be in class with more peers who are DHH which is why I want to get a regional/magnet program going. He does have residual hearing with his HA's on, and does a decent job at discriminating the speech and language around him. But he does have a severe hearing loss, so that is why he HA's an interpreter. The situation isn't perfect, but as of now we really have no other choice. Mainstreaming isn't perfect for him... Neither is the school for the Deaf so we are trying to figure out how to make it appropriate for him.
If I had an alternative, or something between the two we'd place him there. Unfortunately at this point there are no alternatives. The school for the deaf wouldn't accept him anyways. It's kind of an unfortunate situation... I must say though, that he has a lot of friends and is happy at the school. So I guess that counts for something.

deafdyke

Oh wow that really sucks that you've only got two options for schooling....and it's the two that were only available in the old days. (either a deaf school or a mainstream placement) But then again, that's awesome that you want to start a magnet style program. ...I think many if not most hoh kids can really benifit from that sort of setting......They can attend a mainstream school, but ALSO get benifit from special educators who are familair with teaching dhh kids. I think you'll find that there are prolly a lot of parents of dhh kids who are really frustrated with battling mainstream teachers for appropreate accomondations, but who don't want to send their kids to a Deaf School.

Tousi

CSD-Fremont would definitely accept your child. I don't know why you said they wouldn't unless it is for some reason why you don't want to enroll him there.

CSign

A dew years ago when we began having problems with the SD we went and busted, observed, and met with some people who worked there. The individuals that I spoke with said something about it not being an appropriate placement. I think it had something to do with the fact that he has decent residual hearing among other things. I don't remember the details, just remember that they didn't think it would be an appropriate placement. I agreed to a certain extent because what was offered didn't quite meet his needs. Although we are kind of back at square one because where he is at isn't perfect. I can tell you that he would be there if it were the most (or even more) appropriate placement. At this point, it isn't. I long for my child to be educated with more DHH peers. That is why I need to figure out how to make things happen around here.

C

CSign

Correction... A few years ago ;-)

rebeccalj

Welcome CSign!

I understand what you mean when you say he seem so smart and doing well so why would you try to improve his education. I mean, hey, he's Deaf, why try to improve on how well he is doing? The thing is that hearies will often express shock at how well a Deaf person does in society. Why shouldn't we excel? Sorry, ranting. Touchy subject for me. ETA: What I mean is that educators, just like many hearies, will be shocked at how well your son is doing simply because he is Deaf and that should, of course, mean you are retarded and will never do well in life. It's because they naturally don't expect much from deafies. This is sad. Continue to push your boy and continue to push the hearies that are teaching him to excell just like any other child. He obviously has it in him to do well and I am sure he will.

I was in that situation myself. Extremely high IQ, desire to know more, to learn, always. I did not have hero like your son have. I was own hero. Hero wish for. Sorry, passionate and not speak proper English.

You are doing a great job as a mother to even care. My mother was *SO* ashamed of me. My whole life. I never learned how to speak with my *people* if that makes sense? I had to learn/self teach and I know I'm not good at what I know. I wish I knew how to communicate with my *people* more.

Welcome to the site. I only just joined myself. Curious to finally know my community.

deafdyke

You know, if it was a few years ago I would check again. It might be a good idea to keep the idea of a deaf school as a possible placement on the back burner. He may never need that placement (and that is amazing that he's doing well socially) but we all know that the middle and high school years can be really bad. I wonder too.....Maybe a neat idea might be to start a mainstream hang out group for elementary school aged kids in your area, and you guys could have "retreats" to the Deaf School. Like, I dunno....do activities with the dorm kids. I assume the Deaf School is kind of far away.....but I wonder if you could argue a split placement sort of dealie.like argue that since there's no regional dhh programs around where you are, and the mainstream school isn't experianced with dhh education, he could get services that would be given to him by a TOD at a part time school for the deaf placement. I'm not one of those people who think that all dhh kids should automaticly go to deaf schools.....BUT, I'm also of the mind that deaf schools are really underutilized especially for hoh kids. Also, maybe the Deaf School could help you set up your regional dhh program.
I