NYTimes Blog: Teaching a Deaf Child Her Mother’s Tongue

**GrendelQ** · 05-09-2012, 09:09 AM

Interesting perspective on language choices, both in this article and the comments that follow it. The author mentions that her daughters use sign when not wearing their devices (I think 1 has CI, 1 has HAs).

The following video clip from her website is a brief snippet about (and showing) her daughter learning signs. http://www.ifatreefalls.com/images/LEARNING_SIGN.mov (I didn't see captions on that video excerpt -- she's describing briefly how both children picked up sign quickly starting at around 5 months.)

Quote:

MAY 8, 2012, 3:22 PM
Teaching a Deaf Child Her Mother’s Tongue
By JENNIFER ROSNER

Most babies are born into the culture and community of their families. If the family is Latino or Tatar or Han Chinese, so is the baby. The baby learns the family’s language — “the mother tongue.” Culture and language are passed down from parents to child.

Except when the child is born deaf. I am the mother of two daughters, both diagnosed deaf within their first weeks of life. My husband and I, both hearing, faced complicated decisions from the very start. Our babies needed exposure to language immediately (unlike hearing babies, they heard nothing in the womb), and we needed to make choices.

Most parents simply whisper and coo to their children in their native tongues. We had to decide — and quickly — what our daughters’ native tongue would be. Should we try to get our daughters access to spoken language through hearing technology, or to immerse them (and ourselves) in American Sign Language, or to try to do both?

We chose spoken language, primarily. We believed it would give our girls the greatest opportunities over the course of their lifetimes — and, maybe even more powerfully, we felt it would be best for us as a family. We were new parents, bonding with our babies, and we, like parents everywhere, wanted to do that in our own mother tongue.

Hearing technologies — in the form of digital hearing aids and cochlear implants — have come so far as to make this a viable option even for our younger daughter, who was born profoundly deaf. Many people we meet — hearing and deaf — understand the decisions we made to enable our children to hear and to speak our language. Many — but not all.

I’ve met people who believe that despite the fact that we gave birth to them, our children are deaf and should belong to the signing Deaf community (in the distinct culture and community of those with fluency in sign language, “Deaf” is always capitalized) — and neither spoken language nor the culture of hearing serves them. One woman expressed “deep sorrow” for us because (in her view) we failed to accept our children for who they are. We sought to change them into hearing people, wrongly imposing our world on them. (Most parents, it should be said, impose their world on their children without compunction.)

More than 90 percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents. Given the major advances in hearing technology in recent years, many of those children can gain very good access to the particular spoken language of their parents. They and their parents, through everyday communication, can connect with one another and share their family’s history, heritage and culture — just as other families do around the globe.

But this technological opportunity is relatively new, and a long and troubled history of deafness still reverberates with pain and anger. The older deaf remember a time when parents insisted on an oral approach for their deaf children without the benefit of today’s technologies, and many of those children suffered as a result. Of the parents who sent their children to signing schools, the majority never themselves learned more than preschool-level sign language, so that “home” was, for many of these children, isolating and alien.

With little connection to their hearing, speaking families back then, many deaf children found acceptance and camaraderie in communities with deaf people who signed. Today, a blanket insistence on Deaf language and culture for deaf children who can acquire the language of their families is outdated. Family bonds, forged through rich communication and the intimacy this communication brings, can be far more formative to identity than the fact of a child’s deafness.

Some will counter that the hearing families of deaf children should work harder to learn sign language. Perhaps they should, if only to share experiences with the deaf who do not or cannot use hearing technology. But the demands of fluency are out of reach for many parents (not to mention grandparents, siblings and family friends), and as a second language, it may prove inadequate for intimacy and community. Try to communicate with your newborn in Greek while raising your other kids and keeping your job, and the challenge will become clear.

Both of our daughters were fitted with hearing aids within weeks of birth, and our younger daughter eventually got two cochlear implants. We also learned some sign language, which we use when their technology is off. Both have learned to speak beautifully. They happily attend mainstream schools and feel a strong sense of membership in our family and our community. Our daughters hear so well that not only can we talk to them, we can whisper, and even coo — and all of this in our own mother tongue.

Jennifer Rosner is author of “If A Tree Falls: A Family’s Quest to Hear and Be Heard.” She lives with her family in Massachusetts.

Copyright 2012 The New York Times CompanyPrivacy PolicyNYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018

CSign · 05-09-2012, 11:10 AM

I saw that article and thought about sharing it

She makes some good points...

deafdyke · 05-09-2012, 09:20 PM

Quote:

The older deaf remember a time when parents insisted on an oral approach for their deaf children without the benefit of today’s technologies, and many of those children suffered as a result. Of the parents who sent their children to signing schools, the majority never themselves learned more than preschool-level sign language, so that “home” was, for many of these children, isolating and alien.

With little connection to their hearing, speaking families back then, many deaf children found acceptance and camaraderie in communities with deaf people who signed. Today, a blanket insistence on Deaf language and culture for deaf children who can acquire the language of their families is outdated. Fami

Oh give me a break! She acts like today's adults grew up with earhorns or those body worn hearing aids... oralism was alive and well back in the 80's with just hearing aids....and just b/c a kid is oral it doesn't mean that they automaticly reap the rewards of the hearing world or the hearing community. Yanno, a lot of HOH kids still feel like they don't fit into the hearing world totally. Ask oral deaf adults. They will tell you they don't feel like they fit into the hearing world, or entirely into their families....b/c HOH kids are HOH.....they're not hearing!

CSign · 05-10-2012, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deafdyke

Oh give me a break! She acts like today's adults grew up with earhorns or those body worn hearing aids... oralism was alive and well back in the 80's with just hearing aids....and just b/c a kid is oral it doesn't mean that they automaticly reap the rewards of the hearing world or the hearing community. Yanno, a lot of HOH kids still feel like they don't fit into the hearing world totally. Ask oral deaf adults. They will tell you they don't feel like they fit into the hearing world, or entirely into their families....b/c HOH kids are HOH.....they're not hearing!

You don't think technology has improved over the last 20-30 years?

Frisky Feline · 05-10-2012, 10:30 AM

technology does not give you 100 pecent as smooth. Same deal for the cell phone.

kokonut · 05-10-2012, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSign

You don't think technology has improved over the last 20-30 years?

Two words...

Sarah Churman.

**GrendelQ** · 05-10-2012, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frisky Feline

technology does not give you 100 pecent as smooth. Same deal for the cell phone.

Smooth as what? Are you comparing a deaf person's hearing with or without tech? Do you think a deaf person's ability to hear is "smoother" without tech than with? What does that mean?

Without a phone, I don't get to talk with my mother regularly, she lives far away. With a phone, I do.

Doesn't make me who I am, or mean that I am less of a person without a phone. It's just a great tool I use for communication.

Without tech, my daughter hears nothing. With tech, she hears more than I do.

She's not more or less with or without it. It's a great tool she uses for communication.

CSign · 05-10-2012, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frisky Feline

technology does not give you 100 pecent as smooth. Same deal for the cell phone.

I never said it did.

CSign · 05-10-2012, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrendelQ

Smooth as what? Are you comparing a deaf person's hearing with or without tech? Do you think a deaf person's ability to hear is "smoother" without tech than with? What does that mean?

Without a phone, I don't get to talk with my mother regularly, she lives far away. With a phone, I do.

Doesn't make me who I am, or mean that I am less of a person without a phone. It's just a great tool I use for communication.

Without tech, my daughter hears nothing. With tech, she hears more than I do.

She's not more or less with or without it. It's a great tool she uses for communication.

deafdyke · 05-10-2012, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSign

You don't think technology has improved over the last 20-30 years?

Oh GAWD. Even with the best hearing aid, a HOH kid is still HOH.
And I KNOW technology has basicly stayed the same......I have been wearing aids in that time frame. You're acting like a HA from back then was akin to one of those 1960 body worn aids.
Heck, about ten years ago when digital aids started being popular, you saw the same predictions.....
Technology is faulty, and cannot mimic the nautral human experiance.
Kids with hearing aids and CIs do not hear like hearing people. They hear like HOH people.

flip · 05-11-2012, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deafdyke

Oh GAWD. Even with the best hearing aid, a HOH kid is still HOH.
And I KNOW technology has basicly stayed the same......I have been wearing aids in that time frame. You're acting like a HA from back then was akin to one of those 1960 body worn aids.
Heck, about ten years ago when digital aids started being popular, you saw the same predictions.....
Technology is faulty, and cannot mimic the nautral human experiance.
Kids with hearing aids and CIs do not hear like hearing people. They hear like HOH people.

This is proof that people actually belive companies when they say "what we got this year is so much better than the stuff from last year".

CSign · 05-11-2012, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deafdyke

Oh GAWD. Even with the best hearing aid, a HOH kid is still HOH.

Yes, no one stated otherwise.
And I KNOW technology has basicly stayed the same......I have been wearing aids in that time frame. You're acting like a HA from back then was akin to one of those 1960 body worn aids.

No, technology has actually improved over the last 20-30 years.
Heck, about ten years ago when digital aids started being popular, you saw the same predictions.....
What predictions are you referring to?
Technology is faulty, and cannot mimic the nautral human experiance.
Kids with hearing aids and CIs do not hear like hearing people. They hear like HOH people.

A CI or HA in many cases provides some auditory benefit. Again, no one said they hear like hearing people.

deafdyke · 05-11-2012, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSign

A CI or HA in many cases provides some auditory benefit. Again, no one said they hear like hearing people.

Yes, but with your insistution that technology has improved, you're basicly goinng " they hear like hearing people! There's NO need for Sign. Technology is GOD!

**GrendelQ** · 05-11-2012, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deafdyke

Yes, but with your insistution that technology has improved, you're basicly goinng " they hear like hearing people! There's NO need for Sign. Technology is GOD!

That's a really odd leap to make, that saying tech has improved in the past 20, 30, (40,50) years since some of our posters were children to saying 'they hear like hearing people' or tech is God or there's no need for sign. You are the only one here saying those thngs.

What you're missing dd is that csign's child doesn't wear a CI and does use sign as his primary means of comm ( correct me if I'm wrong csign, that's the impression I've gotten).

deafdyke · 05-11-2012, 07:33 PM

Oh and the author of this piece is the mother of relatively young kids. If you went back in time, I am sure my parents, and the parents of shel90, DeafCaroline, bajagirl, kristine, and many many others here would have expressed simlair feelings and thoughts. Wait a while. Her kids are now "you like chocolate milk? I like chocolate milk? We'll be best friends."
Wait til fourth grade and things get more complicated.

kokonut · 05-11-2012, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deafdyke

Yes, but with your insistution that technology has improved, you're basicly goinng " they hear like hearing people! There's NO need for Sign. Technology is GOD!

It's great that technology continues to improve in all areas of our lives but that doesn't necessarily mean signing wouldn't be considered.

flip · 05-12-2012, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deafdyke

Oh and the author of this piece is the mother of relatively young kids. If you went back in time, I am sure my parents, and the parents of shel90, DeafCaroline, bajagirl, kristine, and many many others here would have expressed simlair feelings and thoughts. Wait a while. Her kids are now "you like chocolate milk? I like chocolate milk? We'll be best friends."
Wait til fourth grade and things get more complicated.

Yes. Someone is trying to ignore the elephant in the room. Notice that the article have classic oralists arguments that are at least 150 years old. "signs is too hard to learn, we choose spoken language which of course is best for our child, technology/methods have improved vast".

I'm not amused by the article, it's old news. My question is what's the point with this article? What do the posters want to discuss? Or do they just want to prove how little they know? Weird.

deafdyke · 05-12-2012, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flip

Yes. Someone is trying to ignore the elephant in the room. Notice that the article have classic oralists arguments that are at least 150 years old. "signs is too hard to learn, we choose spoken language which of course is best for our child, technology/methods have improved vast".

I'm not amused by the article, it's old news. My question is what's the point with this article? What do the posters want to discuss? Or do they just want to prove how little they know? Weird.

Yes exactly. Yes, response to spoken language training has improved drasticly for kids with deaf losses. There's no longer a ton of kindergarteners at Clarke with severe delays in speech. Well, granted that's b/c the kids with severe issues (who are enrolled in the big name schools) are being nudged to ASL/sign programs earlier.....BUT, HOH kids STILL deal with not fitting into the hearing world. Ask any oral dhh adult....they will tell you that they feel like they don't fit into the hearing world.
This is just another version of those " Oh the oral only choice is SO wonderful and empowering." If you go back and read some of the AG Bell magazines like Volta Voices you'll see the SAME stuff.

flip · 05-13-2012, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deafdyke

Yes exactly. Yes, response to spoken language training has improved drasticly for kids with deaf losses. There's no longer a ton of kindergarteners at Clarke with severe delays in speech. Well, granted that's b/c the kids with severe issues (who are enrolled in the big name schools) are being nudged to ASL/sign programs earlier.....BUT, HOH kids STILL deal with not fitting into the hearing world. Ask any oral dhh adult....they will tell you that they feel like they don't fit into the hearing world.
This is just another version of those " Oh the oral only choice is SO wonderful and empowering." If you go back and read some of the AG Bell magazines like Volta Voices you'll see the SAME stuff.

This is for some strange reasons not mentioned in this "good and interesting" article. Read some recent papes showing that hoh and oral deaf people generally speak slower than hearing people can do, and also have a slower internal voice, affecting their thinking abilities. Old news, but worth to mention, too.

deafdyke · 05-13-2012, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flip

This is for some strange reasons not mentioned in this "good and interesting" article. Read some recent papes showing that hoh and oral deaf people generally speak slower than hearing people can do, and also have a slower internal voice, affecting their thinking abilities. Old news, but worth to mention, too.

Yes, and bear in mind that while kids can speak, they STILL have issues with spoken language. It's just that their delays aren't as severe as they once were. Dhh kids still have lower verbal IQs then do hearing kids...and they still say stuff like " how many spiders have legs?" for how many legs do spiders have? Partial access is NOT complete full and unfettered access.

CreatedNat · 05-15-2012, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deafdyke

Yes, but with your insistution that technology has improved, you're basicly goinng " they hear like hearing people! There's NO need for Sign. Technology is GOD!

I never saw anyone say they were "like hearing people". I would never think of myself or my princess as a hearing person, we are deaf... and that is perfectly okay.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deafdyke

Oh and the author of this piece is the mother of relatively young kids. If you went back in time, I am sure my parents, and the parents of shel90, DeafCaroline, bajagirl, kristine, and many many others here would have expressed simlair feelings and thoughts. Wait a while. Her kids are now "you like chocolate milk? I like chocolate milk? We'll be best friends."
Wait til fourth grade and things get more complicated.

I had no issue making friends past 4th grade. I met and married a hearing man while I was in High School. The majority of my friends are Hearing, and yes I may not have been able to understand people 100%, but the people who mattered, they gave me patience. I was never insulted in classes because of having an interpreter, because of having hearing aids. People were actually very interested in them, and pleasant about them. Once they understood what they did and what they didn't do, people were more understanding.

My only "issue" with this article, is I really wish the mother would have continued with signing... it honestly makes a huge difference in a kids life. I grew up with speech and ASL, and for many years, I would not speak in public, because I knew my voice was not what it "should" be, but then... my parents sat down with me, and, in ASL, told me how perfect I was, and that it was only what Jesus thought of me that mattered, that was when I realized, I can speak, and no one can make me feel less because I am Created by the King just as I am. ASL still played a huge role in my life, and many people in school were actually very interested in my interpreters, picking up signs here and there. I do remember when I was young, in early elementary school, I thought I was so very special because I had a "teacher" all to myself... I didn't realize that my interpreter wasn't actually a teacher!

deafdyke · 05-16-2012, 01:36 AM

Quote:

I had no issue making friends past 4th grade. I met and married a hearing man while I was in High School. The majority of my friends are Hearing, and yes I may not have been able to understand people 100%, but the people who mattered, they gave me patience. I was never insulted in classes because of having an interpreter, because of having hearing aids. People were actually very interested in them, and pleasant about them. Once they understood what they did and what they didn't do, people were more understanding.

Nat, there are exceptions, andit's good that your experiance was so positive but overall kids start struggling around 4th grade, both academicly and socially.
It's very common and very universal, with both oral and Signing kids alike.
The reason why Clarke's dorm programs lasted so long, wasn't b/c a lot of parents were sending their little kids off to live in the dorms, but b/c until recently a lot of kids started struggling and transferred there for middle school.
A sucessful mainstream experiance tends to have to have the right ingreidants to be 100% sucessfull, and unfortunatly those ingrediants aren't always available at every single mainstream school. Heck, even a lot of the superstars have major social emotional issues....it's a VERY big issue at the Clarke School Mainstream conferences.

CSign · 05-16-2012, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deafdyke

Nat, there are exceptions, andit's good that your experiance was so positive but overall kids start struggling around 4th grade, both academicly and socially.
It's very common and very universal, with both oral and Signing kids alike.
The reason why Clarke's dorm programs lasted so long, wasn't b/c a lot of parents were sending their little kids off to live in the dorms, but b/c until recently a lot of kids started struggling and transferred there for middle school.
A sucessful mainstream experiance tends to have to have the right ingreidants to be 100% sucessfull, and unfortunatly those ingrediants aren't always available at every single mainstream school. Heck, even a lot of the superstars have major social emotional issues....it's a VERY big issue at the Clarke School Mainstream conferences.

Did you go to school at Clarke, or attend any of their mainstreaming conferences?

deafdyke · 05-16-2012, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSign

Did you go to school at Clarke, or attend any of their mainstreaming conferences?

I attended a mainstream conference a few years ago, and they were just parrotting the SAME crap they were when I was in the system and when a lot of the other dhh folks here were in the system. Granted they are not alone.....the trend in special ed seems to be treating Inclusion as Something Amazing without reconizing the enourmous downsides. But major social issues can be and are the norm,(for kids with disabilties/differneces except if you're lucky enough to be in a school district/town that has the right mix of things to create sucess.
I have many friends who are both regular and sped teachers and they say they're seeing the exact same things with their students, that they witnessed ME dealing with as a student.

CSign · 05-17-2012, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deafdyke

I attended a mainstream conference a few years ago, and they were just parrotting the SAME crap they were when I was in the system and when a lot of the other dhh folks here were in the system. Granted they are not alone.....the trend in special ed seems to be treating Inclusion as Something Amazing without reconizing the enourmous downsides. But major social issues can be and are the norm,(for kids with disabilties/differneces except if you're lucky enough to be in a school district/town that has the right mix of things to create sucess.
I have many friends who are both regular and sped teachers and they say they're seeing the exact same things with their students, that they witnessed ME dealing with as a student.

Well it looks like it's a new year, and a new theme. Maybe you'll be interested in attending this year...

"October 25 - 26, 2012: "Apps to FMs: Expanding Opportunities through Technology",*The 33rd Annual Fall Conference on Mainstreaming Students with Hearing Loss, Sheraton Hotel, Springfield, MA."

Annual Mainstream Conference

CreatedNat · 05-17-2012, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSign

Well it looks like it's a new year, and a new theme. Maybe you'll be interested in attending this year...

"October 25 - 26, 2012: "Apps to FMs: Expanding Opportunities through Technology",*The 33rd Annual Fall Conference on Mainstreaming Students with Hearing Loss, Sheraton Hotel, Springfield, MA."

Annual Mainstream Conference

I think it is an interesting aspect for the conference, and I do think that being able to have intelligible speech is a wonderful thing, something that can help create a brighter future for a child. But from my understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) but Clark school is a purely Oral Environment, and does not allow for ASL. I think ASL is a vital to a deaf child, their linguistic development, as well as their development of fluent English.

**GrendelQ** · 05-17-2012, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CreatedNat

I think it is an interesting aspect for the conference, and I do think that being able to have intelligible speech is a wonderful thing, something that can help create a brighter future for a child. But from my understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) but Clark school is a purely Oral Environment, and does not allow for ASL. I think ASL is a vital to a deaf child, their linguistic development, as well as their development of fluent English.

That's true, I think Csign was kindly redirecting deafdyke to look further into what the Clarke program is all about before she (DD) continues to inform people that bi-bi schools for the deaf provide "Clarke-style" auditory-oral programming and intense speech therapy for the majority of students, neither of which is the case. My little one has attended a bi-bi school for 4, nearly 5 years, and I've researched schools pretty extensively in the course of making that decision (and making a case for it each year): a bi-bi school where ASL is the primary language of instruction and interaction is a significantly different educational environment compared to Clarke's programs.

CreatedNat · 05-17-2012, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrendelQ

That's true, I think Csign was kindly redirecting deafdyke to look further into what the Clarke program is all about before she (DD) continues to inform people that bi-bi schools for the deaf provide "Clarke-style" auditory-oral programming and intense speech therapy for the majority of students, neither of which is the case. My little one has attended a bi-bi school for 4, nearly 5 years, and I've researched schools pretty extensively in the course of making that decision (and making a case for it each year): a bi-bi school where ASL is the primary language of instruction and interaction is a significantly different educational environment compared to Clarke's programs.

Thank you for that clarification

. My parents, when I was younger looked into so many different schools for me, but none were what they had wanted. Ether they used only ASL and there was little to no actual Speech Therapy, or they were purely Oral, where there was no ASL allowed. This is what I fear for my daughter, that this will still be the same situation. I would not mind her going to a deaf school, but I also would like her to have high quality Speech training. This is something I am going to need to research in my search for a proper school for my princess. Are you still pleased with the bi-bi school for your daughter?

CSign · 05-17-2012, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CreatedNat

Thank you for that clarification

. My parents, when I was younger looked into so many different schools for me, but none were what they had wanted. Ether they used only ASL and there was little to no actual Speech Therapy, or they were purely Oral, where there was no ASL allowed. This is what I fear for my daughter, that this will still be the same situation. I would not mind her going to a deaf school, but I also would like her to have high quality Speech training. This is something I am going to need to research in my search for a proper school for my princess. Are you still pleased with the bi-bi school for your daughter?

I think you're in a good place in terms of quality education for DHH students.

Colorado is one of few states that includes a "Communication Plan" (I'm pretty sure that's what they call it) for the students, so everyone is clear on methodology.

Most states don't take the time to lay it out like that.

**GrendelQ** · 05-17-2012, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CreatedNat

Thank you for that clarification

. My parents, when I was younger looked into so many different schools for me, but none were what they had wanted. Ether they used only ASL and there was little to no actual Speech Therapy, or they were purely Oral, where there was no ASL allowed. This is what I fear for my daughter, that this will still be the same situation. I would not mind her going to a deaf school, but I also would like her to have high quality Speech training. This is something I am going to need to research in my search for a proper school for my princess. Are you still pleased with the bi-bi school for your daughter?

Love TLC and recommend it so very highly! But placement is very hard to maintain -- even for a profoundly deaf child whose primary language was ASL, and it's currently in jeopardy -- because the school succeeds so well at teaching deaf students effectively. I've had to employ the "stay put" protective regulation, rejecting her IEP, which makes no one happy, but maintains placement "as is" to keep her there.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Today
Deafness	Sponsored Links __________________ This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members. Register your free account today and become a member on AllDeaf.com

05-09-2012, 11:10 AM	#2 (permalink)
CSign Registered User Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Best Coast, USA Posts: 3,191	I saw that article and thought about sharing it She makes some good points...

05-10-2012, 10:30 AM	#5 (permalink)
Frisky Feline Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 20,213	technology does not give you 100 pecent as smooth. Same deal for the cell phone.

05-11-2012, 07:33 PM	#15 (permalink)
deafdyke Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Trebekistan Posts: 13,078	Oh and the author of this piece is the mother of relatively young kids. If you went back in time, I am sure my parents, and the parents of shel90, DeafCaroline, bajagirl, kristine, and many many others here would have expressed simlair feelings and thoughts. Wait a while. Her kids are now "you like chocolate milk? I like chocolate milk? We'll be best friends." Wait til fourth grade and things get more complicated.