Speaking and signing called key to richer life

[katz4life]

Wirelessly posted



Yep . I already have a deaf sister and three deaf great aunts. My parents were carriers

She passed the newborn screening.

Autism runs rampant in our family. That is what everybody but me believes.

Oh, gotcha.

 

[jillio]

Hello,
I just wanted to clarify something that has been bothering me ever since this article came out. I was misquoted and i want to set the record straight. I was advocating for SIGNING with ALL DHH kids regardless of whether they "hear well" have hearing aids, or use a CI. The simple fact is that any DHH kid who has any marginal residual hearing is, for GOD knows why, denied ASL! I was saying that in the length of time it takes people to teach speech "APPLE" i can teach a whole lot more and a whole lot more important information than just saying a word.
But the reporter and the other teacher and the administrator were all focused on TC while i was the lone lunatic trying to make a stand for more ASL and Deaf culture was ignored.
I am no longer a teacher in a program that is so heavily biased against ASL.
Sorry to anyone who read this and believed otherwise.
Thanks
R

You aren't a lone lunatic. There are a bunch of us advocating the same thing around here!:P

 

[jillio]

Have you considered that the reason you struggled is precisely because you missed 8 years of important language? It is a huge deal and nothing to "bah" about. It is terrible that this child missed out on 3 years of critical language learning.

Pfft. He could have still missed out on it even after a CI. In fact, he would probably have missed even more, as his parents no doubt would have taken an oral only approach that enhances delays.

 

[jillio]

Sigh .. That is so unbelievably true I don't know how to put that in other words. You said it perfect.

Agreed. And what I preach from dusk to dawn. Parents need to widen their focus. Difficult to accomplish when they only accept narrow oralist attitudes.

 

[deafdyke]

Pfft. He could have still missed out on it even after a CI. In fact, he would probably have missed even more, as his parents no doubt would have taken an oral only approach that enhances delays.

Yes exactly. Even with the spoken language improvement, CI kids still deal with a lot of spoken language delays, simlair to what hoh kids went through (and still go through. Even with early intervention a lot of hoh kids have delays!)

 

[faire_jour]

Yes exactly. Even with the spoken language improvement, CI kids still deal with a lot of spoken language delays, simlair to what hoh kids went through (and still go through. Even with early intervention a lot of hoh kids have delays!)

Just because you keep saying it, doesn't make it true....

Still waiting for something to back up the claims you keep making....over and over and over.....

 

[Bebonang]

Have you considered that the reason you struggled is precisely because you missed 8 years of important language? It is a huge deal and nothing to "bah" about. It is terrible that this child missed out on 3 years of critical language learning.

Oh, stop being so paranoid about having important language. It is not terrible for a young child miss out out on 3 years of language learning if you are talking about oral-only. I watched everything around me and it never bother me, of course I would like to communicate but it would be better if there is sign language when I was a toddler. I still miss out on the oral-only program a lot in both elementary and high school. I bet the CI children miss out too.

 

[faire_jour]

Oh, stop being so paranoid about having important language. It is not terrible for a young child miss out out on 3 years of language learning if you are talking about oral-only. I watched everything around me and it never bother me, of course I would like to communicate but it would be better if there is sign language when I was a toddler. I still miss out on the oral-only program a lot in both elementary and high school. I bet the CI children miss out too.

It is completely insane that you think it is ok for kids to miss out on years and years of language. I don't even know what to say to that.....

 

[AlleyCat]

It is completely insane that you think it is ok for kids to miss out on years and years of language. I don't even know what to say to that.....

I missed out on years of language. I caught up just fine. So did many others.

 

[Bottesini]

It is completely insane that you think it is ok for kids to miss out on years and years of language. I don't even know what to say to that.....

I am another one who did. I caught up pretty well.

 

[Bebonang]

Pfft. He could have still missed out on it even after a CI. In fact, he would probably have missed even more, as his parents no doubt would have taken an oral only approach that enhances delays.

If the hearing teachers or hearing principal keep saying that we are doing so well but still we miss out what everything is being said. It just make us frustrated that we want visual sign language like ASL to be communicated from an interpreter. That would help us get through understanding what is going on. Being deaf and trying to lipread is no picnic for me and/or anyone who could not understand what the hearing teacher and hearing students are talking about in the classroom. I did have special education with oral-only all the way through elementary school (one hearing class for gym) and first three years in high school (There are about at least one or two or three hearing classes) before 10th grade. From grade 10th to 12th, I am pretty much alone in all hearing classes trying to comprehend with lipreading which is a BIG FAIL. I missed out a lot BIG TIME. I never quite understand how I made to graduate from high school. I was jealous of my sister who is hearing when she was in high school and she was a straight A+ student. No problem for her, but problem for me which I need sign language soooooo bad.

 

[faire_jour]

I missed out on years of language. I caught up just fine. So did many others.

I am another one who did. I caught up pretty well.

So that makes it ok? You guys are the ones who say that it isn't fair for a child to be oral only because they miss out on so much, but then on the other hand it is fine to go years without language???? I don't get it.....

 

[Beowulf]

It is completely insane that you think it is ok for kids to miss out on years and years of language. I don't even know what to say to that.....

Oh, the horror! Quick, whisk those toddlers into speech labs where they can give you satisfaction! Lard have mussy, time's a-wastin'!
Relax, kids catch up. I know I did.

 

[Bebonang]

So that makes it ok? You guys are the ones who say that it isn't fair for a child to be oral only because they miss out on so much, but then on the other hand it is fine to go years without language???? I don't get it.....

You did not mention about sign language like ASL. How come? You would rather have many CI kids go through the same thing we had gone through trying to lipread or listen if they can understand, but fail to understand what the teacher and the students are saying. Yeah, we could go for years with no language if being force us to be in the hearing school or hearing classrooms.

I finally went to Seattle Central Community College in Seattle, Washington where they have interpreter and notetakers. I feel like a whole chest lift up and began to understand what is going on with the aid from an interpreters and it make my whole life easier, not struggling anymore.

 

[AlleyCat]

So that makes it ok? You guys are the ones who say that it isn't fair for a child to be oral only because they miss out on so much, but then on the other hand it is fine to go years without language???? I don't get it.....

That makes no sense whatsoever.

What does being oral-only have anything to do with going years without language?

 

[shel90]

You did not mention about sign language like ASL. How come? You would rather have many CI kids go through the same thing we had gone through trying to lipread or listen if they can understand, but fail to understand what the teacher and the students are saying. Yeah, we could go for years with no language if being force us to be in the hearing school or hearing classrooms.

I finally went to Seattle Central Community College in Seattle, Washington where they have interpreter and notetakers. I feel like a whole chest lift up and began to understand what is going on with the aid from an interpreters and it make my whole life easier, not struggling anymore.

Same here..I felt like a weight was lifted when I could understand what was happening around me for the first time in my life. ASL ROCKS!

English ROCKS too as we are using it here to participate in the forums.

 

[faire_jour]

That makes no sense whatsoever.

What does being oral-only have anything to do with going years without language?

Because you are missing out on all the language around you....

I don't understand what is going on....it's like the Twilight Zone....

The whole point of providing ASL is to make sure the child doesn't go years without language, and here everyone is saying that it isn't a big deal.....

So, if it isn't a bad thing to be years behind in language, and oral kids catch up just fine, why are you fighting against oral only????

 

[AlleyCat]

Because you are missing out on all the language around you....

I don't understand what is going on....it's like the Twilight Zone....

The whole point of providing ASL is to make sure the child doesn't go years without language, and here everyone is saying that it isn't a big deal.....

So, if it isn't a bad thing to be years behind in language, and oral kids catch up just fine, why are you fighting against oral only????

I missed out on all the language because of the time it took for my parents to get me diagnosed with my hearing loss. I was well behind everyone else. That was very typical.

So, once I was diagnosed, started learning ASL and to speak, I caught up in no time.

You have been talking about the window of opportunity that closes if a child doesn't start soon enough. We are evidence that isn't always true.

What I'm saying has nothing to do with oral-only. I'm talking about language, whether it's speech or ASL.

 

[Bebonang]

Because you are missing out on all the language around you....

I don't understand what is going on....it's like the Twilight Zone....

The whole point of providing ASL is to make sure the child doesn't go years without language, and here everyone is saying that it isn't a big deal.....

So, if it isn't a bad thing to be years behind in language, and oral kids catch up just fine, why are you fighting against oral only????

I see that you refuse to believe what we have said. You still think that we can listen and speak orally without ASL. It is a BIG DEAL when it comes with ORAL-ONLY and we go not knowing what the hearing teacher talk and what the students talk with no ASL interpreters. That is no language which mean we missed out a lot of topics that the hearing teachers was trying to teach us both hearing and deaf. We are fighting against oral-only because it is very difficult for us to understand with the hearing aids (so is CIs) and not provide us with ASL interpreters so that we can understand what we need to learn. Do you understand now?

 

[faire_jour]

I see that you refuse to believe what we have said. You still think that we can listen and speak orally without ASL. It is a BIG DEAL when it comes with ORAL-ONLY and we go not knowing what the hearing teacher talk and what the students talk with no ASL interpreters. That is no language which mean we missed out a lot of topics that the hearing teachers was trying to teach us both hearing and deaf. We are fighting against oral-only because it is very difficult for us to understand with the hearing aids (so is CIs) and not provide us with ASL interpreters so that we can understand what we need to learn. Do you understand now?

Do you understand that there are plenty of oral deaf people who hear and understand spoken language? That do not struggle and some who don't even lipread?

And it is not ok with me for a child to miss out.