jaismom

Hi! My name is Shy and I have 3 boys ... my youngest (2 months old) is HOH. I just want to learn as much as I can and get as familiar with the "deaf community" as possible. Any ideas? Live in Florida, if that matters.

Deafness

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Beach girl

Hi and welcome. What part of Florida? There are a couple people here from Florida; hope they will stop by.

What are you considering for your son? Are hearing aids or CIs an option?

Most people here will tell you to get started with ASL right away no matter what else you do.

jaismom

I live in Ocala. I have been learning ASL (online) ... trying to teach it to my two oldest too. We want to go with hearing aides and speech therapy. CIs seems a bit extreme ... I don't if I'm totally comfortable with it. Either way, the doctor said that it wont even be an option until he's one. It would be great if I got to meet other deaf/HOH people because I've never interacted with them. Not by choice. My son is actually the first I've ever met.

dogmom

it's very common that someone's own child is first deaf person they ever met.

interact here and locally with d/Deaf people as much as possible. Kids need role models who are like them.

in addition to the folks here from FL, here's these links Florida Association of the Deaf and calendar: Florida Association of the Deaf

Florida School for The Deaf & The Blind

Florida Hands & Voices

shel90

to AD! Born deaf here and an ASL user. Glad you are using ASL with your son. I was mainstreamed orally all of my life and life was more difficult for me than my life as a Deaf ASL user.

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jaismom

That's exactly what I want to do!! I want him to grow up knowing that he's extraordinary just the way he is and would like for him to have people that he can relate to him in ways that I obviously cant. Thank you so much for the links!!!!

Frisky Feline

Hi.

Dogmom has a few good links for you to look up into the deaf community. I know many who are deaf people lives in florida and most of them are ASL users. Hope the links help. I was born profoundly deaf and am an ASL user.

so welcome!

jaismom

I have told my family and close friends that ASL will not be an "option" ... its going to expected! Especially because he might not be comfortable being verbal.

Sarfarigirl2011

HOH here my friend and welcome 2 AD

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deafdyke

*grin* This is AWESOME that we have parents of HOH kids wanting their kids to learn ASL!!!!! Is he HOH with hearing aids? dogmom already gave you some great links (and Florida School for the Deaf and Blind is AWESOME)
In addition please check out American Society for Deaf Children: American Society for Deaf Children

Phillips

Hello and hope you find some deaf or hoh ppl in Fla!

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jaismom

We're still waiting on his hearing aides. Hopefully he will get them in the next month or so. I think its very important for him (and all who surround him) to know ASL so that he can have a back up. There's so many what if's. I looked into that school ... it's two hours away from where we currently live. But it's still an open option for our family. I'm hoping though that if I get him enough help now, he may be able to go to a "regular" school with ease.

deafdyke

I know it's early but I would look into regional dhh programs first. I think very few mainstream/hometown schools can provide what a good dhh program can. I think very few of us think that little kids should go off to live in the dorms, but many of us acknowledge that the dorms can be a good option for say middle school and up. Keep an open mind as to educational placement...trust me, it can be a nightmare trying to deal with clueless teachers and admins who can usually only offer a minimal accomondations type of educational placement.

jaismom

I understand what you're saying but I couldn't imagine putting him in a dorm room while having his brothers home with me. It can be passed as favoritism or like I'm trying to outcast him. Not to outsiders (could careless about what others think of us) but to my boys. They are all equal to me. I have 5 years to figure out what to do about school ... in the mean time, my main concern is finding camps and organizations that we can be involved in as a family and to learn as much as I can.

deafdyke

Oh yeah...... and none of us are saying to put him in a dorm room as a little kid. Just look into regional dhh programs. These are programs housed at hearing schools where dhh kids are also grouped. It's actually not too unusal for kids to attend formal dhh programs in elementary school and then either contiue at a dhh middle school or high school or sometimes attend a deaf school. It's also possible to move a bit closer......I'm sure that there are prolly a lot of regional dhh programs in your area. I think you may have misunderstood my post. Mainstreaming with a regional dhh program can be really good, and I would strongly reccomend that most parents look into that sort of placement. I think many if not most dhh kids should be served by a regional dhh program set up. What I'm trying to say is that try to avoid a mainstream SOLOTAIRE placement, where he's the ONLY dhh kid at his school. That will help you too, as you won't be fighting with teachers and admins who don't have a lot of experiance teaching dhh kids. (b/c unfortunatly most even sped teachers don't have a lot of training in how to teach/manage kids like us)

PowerON

Shy? You're not shy anymore. Welcome!

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jaismom

Nope not "shy" at all @poweron ... just the name on my birth certificate lol.

@deafdyke, I actually got a call today from the early steps program which will help with his speech therapy and things of that nature. she told me that the deaf school will assign a case worker to him to help me with pretty all of his special needs. and they do house visits!

Chefboogie

Hello you come to the right place!! welcome to Alldeaf!

jaismom

thank you!!

Lily7

Welcome to alldeaf! Seems you are on the right track Thank you for being so accepting of your son's deafness. He will thank you in the long run too!

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Smithtr

welcome to alldeaf

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deafdyke

In that case, ask her about the local regional dhh programs. I mean yeah he's still young, but on the other hand it would be good to know about your options for schooling. Especially since they try to get away with providing minimal accomodnations, for HOH kids. I think what I'm trying to say is try to find a school that has an actual sizable formal program for dhh kids.....make sense? Like, he could take advantage of mainstream stuff but also have the advantage of dhh curriculum and teachers who are familair with dhh kids, as well as other dhh kids. But that's gonna be in awhile.......you still have a few years to wait!

jaismom

aww of course!! he's my baby and we are a family. he may not be perfect in someone else's eyes but he is to me. while others see a disability, i see so much potential and an opportunity to learn and explore new things and communities. believe me, ill be the to thank him in the long run!!

Frisky Feline

Have you contact any deaf services in florida yet? They would give you the right referral office where you can get meeting. Hopefully the agency is not that far from your home. Ask them to see if any deaf worker there so you can meet and give you some ideas. some agencies have deaf mentor that can show you about deaf community, ASL and any deaf events. I dont know anyone who works with agency or deaf services in FL. =?

jaismom

The lady I spoke to yesterday was from Early Steps ... she said that a caseworker will be assigned to him from the deaf school (which is in St. Augustine ... about 2 hours from me) and that he/she will be making house visits and be able to help me find everything that you've mentioned

AlleyCat

Welcome!

PowerON

Never knew it exist. Cool!

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whatdidyousay!

I am guessing your son hearing aides are child friendly. I wanted purple HA and got child friendly hearing aides ! The battery door can be locked so a child can't get the battery out on their own. My HA also has a red light that start flashing when I battery is going dead so the parents or teacher will know it time to replace the battery.

Sarfarigirl2011

I'm guessing so 2 since I have them myself and they got swag.

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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

jaismom

He hasn't gotten them yet since his medicaid was cut off for the month of January for some odd reason ... Apparently he's supposed to have medipass started now in Feb so then we can get his molds done ... we already picked out the baby blue ones for him