Hearing Aid And Sign From Birth?

Mieke

Mieke

Belgian ASL noob
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I'm intrested in hearing all your opinions on how you would feel about parents that from the moment they find out their child is deaf, get them a hearing aid, so they can hear a little at least or maybe ... And introduce them to sign language from baby on. As well as oral language. With the emphasis that sign language is their first language. Both parents would also learn sign language.

Would this give the child all possible choices for the future or does it rob a child from other options?

Im looking for opinions, not trying to offend anyone.
 
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That's exactly how I was raised when my deafness was diagnosed at 15 months old.
 
I wish my hearing loss could have been found sooner so I could have learned asl younger. But instead I was only taught oral. But don't get me wrong I like talking but if the other person has to reply or I am on the phone :( well it normally doesn't end well. You can only say 'what' (or similar words) so many times to a hearie
 
Here almost all babies are screened at 2 months and after that when they are in preschool (from 2,5 years on) it's monitored in schools.

But apparently also CI is almost forced onto parents already at that point.
 
And as for the amount of times you can say what to a hearie, the more aware people are the more they will learn to adapt. Or at least so I d hope
 
Mieke said:
Here almost all babies are screened at 2 months and after that when they are in preschool (from 2,5 years on) it's monitored in schools.
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Today, yes. Not 45 years ago (which is my age now.) My parents had to beg my pediatrician at every 3-month check-up to find out why I wasn't responding to things. My doctor thought it was probably that I was delayed, but he said "well, let's check out her hearing just in case." Well, there you have it.
 
I don't know when or how my parents knew I was deaf but considering the effect was from Rubella they already had an idea (along with the noticeable cataracts). Unfortunately I didn't get a hearing aid until I was 2 years old. I don't think there was ANY sign language going on (this was during the great divide- oral vs ASL) and didn't get into oral until my hearing aids were added (lower end of severe to profound loss).

Whether or not I had ASL as a baby or before 2 would have helped...I don't know..maybe? My vision wasn't good either- was going through 9 operations between about 6 months old to before 2 years old. No idea how I turned out so well- well academically speaking... socially is or was...so-so.
 
DeafDucky said:
I don't know when or how my parents knew I was deaf but considering the effect was from Rubella they already had an idea (along with the noticeable cataracts). Unfortunately I didn't get a hearing aid until I was 2 years old. I don't think there was ANY sign language going on (this was during the great divide- oral vs ASL) and didn't get into oral until my hearing aids were added (lower end of severe to profound loss).

Whether or not I had ASL as a baby or before 2 would have helped...I don't know..maybe? My vision wasn't good either- was going through 9 operations between about 6 months old to before 2 years old. No idea how I turned out so well- well academically speaking... socially is or was...so-so.
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You could have gotten deaf-blind intervention. Like the type that Usher's and other high functioning DB get. (not the DB severe intervener type of DB interventions) There's Visual Frame and Tactile ASL.
 
Mieke said:
I'm intrested in hearing all your opinions on how you would feel about parents that from the moment they find out their child is deaf, get them a hearing aid, so they can hear a little at least or maybe ... And introduce them to sign language from baby on. As well as oral language. With the emphasis that sign language is their first language. Both parents would also learn sign language.

Would this give the child all possible choices for the future or does it rob a child from other options?

Im looking for opinions, not trying to offend anyone.
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My humble opinon. Give the child EVERYTHING. Speech, Sign, Cued Speech. be child centered and offer every and anything. You don't know what will/won't be useful until you actually TRY IT! The approach you're suggesting does NOT rob a child from other options b/c ALL the other options are already included! Most kids who sign, also talk....and despite what some extremists think deaf ed is FILLED with speech and HOH style interventions!
 
deafdyke said:
You could have gotten deaf-blind intervention. Like the type that Usher's and other high functioning DB get. (not the DB severe intervener type of DB interventions) There's Visual Frame and Tactile ASL.
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Probably but I don't think it was fully available back when I was a tot. My parents did take me to the deaf school in the state I lived in...they screened me...and said No we won't accept- either because they pegged me as mentally retarded (due to vision and the fact my mother had me use markers/crayons/pens and not pencil0 or they just plain said.. "we don't have services or want to work with multi handicapped (aka deaf-blind) kids.

I think my parents were overwhelmed enough with the deaf part- that apparently was the more pressing issue than the vision as by the time the surgeries were complete and glasses- my vision was..ok enough that some would say didn't fall into the 'deaf-blind' category. I don't even think I saw myself as deaf-blind until I went to Gally- only deaf- with fat coke bottom glasses lol.
 
My kids got checked at birth and still haven't be checked again, my oldest is 3. One thing I do hate is central auditory processing disorder can't be detected until 7 years old. So if a child does have a damaged auditory nerve a parent wouldn't know right away
 
Well, I don't remember exactly when my parents found out that I'm Deaf, they did notice that I was not responding to the sounds. I would guess around 6 months old or so and had a hearing aid device strapped to my chest. I went off to preschool at age 2 to learn sign language and social with other Deaf/HOH toddlers at the time.
 
Thanks for sharing your experiences :ty:

It's more a hypothetical question, from my side. Already have 2 kids, I will already be happy if we manage to raise them to be respectfull and decent adults.

In Belgium 75% of children in 2014 got CI and the operation is fully reimbursed by mutuality. So there is a certain push here to make you get CI's. I'm some how dazzled by the figure and the little information parents apparently get from their medical advisors, although I can't imagine myself in their shoes.

Although here a lot of children are brought up in bilingual/trilingual environment, as in other hearing languages and the benefits of that are obvious and are not being questioned, Deaf Awareness is still low / non existing.
 
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DeafDucky said:
Probably but I don't think it was fully available back when I was a tot. My parents did take me to the deaf school in the state I lived in...they screened me...and said No we won't accept- either because they pegged me as mentally retarded (due to vision and the fact my mother had me use markers/crayons/pens and not pencil0 or they just plain said.. "we don't have services or want to work with multi handicapped (aka deaf-blind) kids.

I think my parents were overwhelmed enough with the deaf part- that apparently was the more pressing issue than the vision as by the time the surgeries were complete and glasses- my vision was..ok enough that some would say didn't fall into the 'deaf-blind' category. I don't even think I saw myself as deaf-blind until I went to Gally- only deaf- with fat coke bottom glasses lol.
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That's right.... I mean when you were super young expectations for dhh kids were really low anyway. Even today most "DB" kids are actually severely multihandicapped. Like they have the DB as a secondary issue, rather then "high functioning but is DB" Do you think you would have appreciated some blind specific interventions?
 
deafdyke said:
That's right.... I mean when you were super young expectations for dhh kids were really low anyway. Even today most "DB" kids are actually severely multihandicapped. Like they have the DB as a secondary issue, rather then "high functioning but is DB" Do you think you would have appreciated some blind specific interventions?
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What??? No they weren't . I'm older than he is and I'm pretty sure we can both tell you of quite a few high achievers. Quit insulting us!
 
deafdyke said:
That's right.... I mean when you were super young expectations for dhh kids were really low anyway. Even today most "DB" kids are actually severely multihandicapped. Like they have the DB as a secondary issue, rather then "high functioning but is DB" Do you think you would have appreciated some blind specific interventions?
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Most? Eesh.. I don't know what the numbers are but I can't imagine them being that high. I knew more DB people at Gallaudet than I did in the student practicum I did at KDES and another school in their MHHI program or at my 1st job where there were were a number of ID deaf clients (almost all from Rubella- but none of them DB as far as I remember). The one school I went to in grad school- that WAS a DB program- but as a primary disability- I think there may have been ONE kid out of 5 or 6 who had other disabilities (ie ID).

As for if I could have/would have appreciated blind intervention... I don't know. My vision was lousy but not so lousy that all I really needed was a)sit in the front of the class (for the deaf dealie too), b)had white paper with dark black lines instead of the yellow with really pale blue lines that most kids used back then (when we actually wrote stuff...lol)... accommodations were mostly deaf related with some vision stuff to make things easier to see for writing. Reading I was fine at and always got my ass in trouble for reading when I wasn't supposed to be lol.

Bottesini said:
What??? No they weren't . I'm older than he is and I'm pretty sure we can both tell you of quite a few high achievers. Quit insulting us!
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^^what she said-- mentioned in above paragraph. Knew a lot of DB folks at Gally and after (through FB). Haven't really come across many DB with Intellectual Disability in all my years since entering Gally except maybe 1 or 2 kids during grad school.
 
Bottesini said:
What??? No they weren't . I'm older than he is and I'm pretty sure we can both tell you of quite a few high achievers. Quit insulting us!
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No, I'm not insulting you. I KNOW dhh kids even back then were high functioning. I have to dig up the cite ( have to go to the library) BUT, a big part of the reason why deaf schools were so bad back in the day, was b/c of VERY low expectations. I remember reading a cite from the '70's that said that b/c dhh kids couldn't function at a high level b/c of speech issues. Let me look that up tomorrow. It was due to low expectations... That's what I meant. That's why people thought that mainstreaming back then was going to result in high acheivement. I would NEVER say that dhh kids were low functioning!
 
DeafDucky said:
Most? Eesh.. I don't know what the numbers are but I can't imagine them being that high. I knew more DB people at Gallaudet than I did in the student practicum I did at KDES and another school in their MHHI program or at my 1st job where there were were a number of ID deaf clients (almost all from Rubella- but none of them DB as far as I remember). The one school I went to in grad school- that WAS a DB program- but as a primary disability- I think there may have been ONE kid out of 5 or 6 who had other disabilities (ie ID).

As for if I could have/would have appreciated blind intervention... I don't know. My vision was lousy but not so lousy that all I really needed was a)sit in the front of the class (for the deaf dealie too), b)had white paper with dark black lines instead of the yellow with really pale blue lines that most kids used back then (when we actually wrote stuff...lol)... accommodations were mostly deaf related with some vision stuff to make things easier to see for writing. Reading I was fine at and always got my ass in trouble for reading when I wasn't supposed to be lol.



^^what she said-- mentioned in above paragraph. Knew a lot of DB folks at Gally and after (through FB). Haven't really come across many DB with Intellectual Disability in all my years since entering Gally except maybe 1 or 2 kids during grad school.
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Oh wow..... Maybe back then they were better at making sure that the severely multihandicapped kids were in severe programs, or at blind schools. I thought that a huge percentage of DB were DB as a secondary disabilty...like the type of kid in a wheelchair, who is on such a low level that they don't have the mental capacity to walk or talk.......Not nessararily a DB with a "severe LD" style level of mild ID functioning. (although there are DB like that) I know that the mental capacity and functioning of DB is all across the board, and many different levels of functioning can be seen.
 
I stayed back in first grade and didn't past the second time around . I had the same teacher both time , she trying show me the correct way to ties my shoes and kept telling me to watch what she was doing but I kept looking at her face instead . My teacher kept me after school and gave me a hearing test and found I was hoh , I was 3 yo when I got my first hearing aid . It was a body style one and I was send to second grade the next year and I never passed first grade.
 
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