District files appeal against deaf student

[jillio]

I have spoken to several deaf adults raised orally that have chosen to shut off their voice because of many different reasons including the ones you stated. It is there individual choice just has it is my children's choice when and if they are ready to make that choice. I am not going to take that decision from children and will not allow anyone else to take their choices away from them.

Don't you see that by not becoming fluent in ASL and exposing them to it in their home environment, you have given them the message that they must communicate with you orally? And do you not see how that limits the choices they can make, because the opportunity has not been made available to them?

 

[jillio]

Jillo...California doesnt allow BiBi education in their schools..same in AZ. My brother says that his deaf school is using TC..him and several other staff are fighting to get the Dept of Ed in AZ to approve of changing their program to BiBi.

Yeah, bi-bi is a relatively new concept in education, although some parents have been using the method in the home environment for a while. The push needs to be made to make it standard practice. TC in theory is not what TC in practice usually is.

 

[jillio]

Good thing you are not on a cochear implant team. Because they look at everything. A good implant center (and there are some not good implant centers) makes sure that the child would benefit from a cochlear implant if not why have surgery, if there is certain proven things that a deaf child needs in order for the implant to be able to function as it should. A cochlear implant is a tool not a miracle. Since I have work with cochlear implants for many reasons, I tell people an implant is like a part of the puzzle you need all the pieces in order for it function the way it should. And immersing the child in one enrich language environment is part of the puzzle.

(P.S. I have been part of cochear implant team)

And once again, why would acquiring spoken English be superior to acquiring spoken Spanish? Both are oral auditory languages, and the goal is to produce a child that will be able to function at an oral auditory level. An oral child speaking Spanish is still an oral child. A child who speaks Swahili with a CI is still an oral child. The ethnicity of the language spoken is not an issue. It is the nature of the language--that it is oral and auditory in production and reception.

 

[jillio]

My MS is in special education. My master's is from USC, although all of my classes and most of my training happen at John Tracy Clinic. I received my MS at the same time as my deaf/hard of hearing credential.

Yes, I know that special education is different then deaf education and this is why I went back to get my second credential in mild/moderate disabilities. Because when I first started teaching I would find that my d/hh students at times had other disabilites so I wanted to find out more about it.

That explains a lot!

 

[jillio]

I don't know about all oral parents I know about my family and my daughter's friends family and son's friends family.
I know that it doesn't take years to know if a child can be oral. At the most 18 months at the least 6 month. If a parent completely embraces and does everything they can to provide a language rich envirnoment.
I can see where you would be for the kids. I in return because of the young age I work with say that parents can make the biggest difference in their child's life.

And because you are limited to working with that young age, you do not see the harmful effect that shel and I see when the children are older. These effects are cummulative, and begin at the age with which you sork, but do not manifest until later. And because they do not manifest until later, you are not exposed to them and are therefore, lulled into a false sense of confidence regarding the success of oralism inproducing well educated, emotionally stable adults.

 

[jillio]

I can look at my work cuz we have a section in our library of research in the education of the Deaf..I will do that when I have time. I am very curious now...It has been 5 years since I graduated from college so I cant remember all the studies I have read but that one study really stuck in my head cuz I did believe that signing interfered with oral language development and that study completely changed my view cuz it was like I finally "got" it.

Probably the Marshark study. I posted the link for a more recent article done by Marshark, et.al. on the educational benefit of CI in children that was just published in an Oxford journal. I think the forum was CI and teen agers. Inf act, there are links to 3 articles in that journal that support our claims, shel. And this was research that was recently conducted.

 

[jillio]

I am talking about very young children before they have developed language because of their profound hearing loss. Those parents that are seeking an implant, the educational consultant would speak to parents and explain to them how difficult it would be learn to 2 languages at the same time. The team would also make sure that there is an available oral program for the child that will be implanted or that the child is already enrolled in an oral program. And that is where the educational consultant will contact me for my thoughts and for what I see in the family. They want to also know that the family has accurate view of what the implant can do and cannot do. They will also ask me questions is to how movitated the family is in learning English and ensuring that everything is in place. There centers are that do not prepare the parents to what to expect and they are the ones that think the implant is a miracle.

That is not only audist in attitude, it is terribly ethnocentric.

 

[jillio]

This Thread began as a school district refusing to provide CART after a judge issued the order. Why does it always have to come to oral vs signing? Why cannot it be about making sure that a student with a special need received what she needs in order to successful in school. I just don't get it. I thought I was doing something good. A lot of you have made me feel like a bad parent and bad teacher. Honestly I have won awards for being a mother so involved. I got to meet Celine Dion because of my experiences as a mother. I received a Hispanic mother of the year award. I received a working with families award. When I left my last school district, I had a parent crying because I was leaving. Parents from my old district still ask about me. My old aide wants to come work with me to my new district. I was given 3 going away parties. Here on this site, I feel I can do no right. You make me feel like a failure. It is not because I am insecure it is directly because of your comments. I have always tired to keep an open mind but now I know why parents aviod the Deaf culture. Think about it. I thought that since I am a strong parent I would fight for this and then all the other deaf students oral and signing can benefit for what we have done. At first I was so excited to find a site devoted to deaf issued now I am sorry I found it. Good Bye

And, like shel, I am sorry you feel that way. You have criticized my beliefs regarding the educational approach that I advocate, but I do not feel that I am any less of an excellent parent or that the work I do with my deaf students is any less valuable. And yes, this site is devoted to deaf issues. And because the majority of the psoters are deaf, you maight do well to take their words to heart, because they are the true experts here. They have lived with being deaf, they have been deaf students. Their experience is first hand, not second hand from a hearing perspective as your and mine is. That is why I use the deaf population as my guide. Only they know what it is to be deaf, and therefore, only they can reasonably determine their needs and the negative effects they have experienced at the hands of those hearing who propose to know better what they need than the Deaf/deaf themselves. If you choose to leave, that is your choice, but it only idicates that you did not come here to actually become more informed regarding the issues, but simply to gain sympathy for your situation and praise for your accomplishments as a parent. Those who are truly interested in expanding their awareness stick around and engage in meaningful exchange of information and ideas.

 

[shel90]

Probably the Marshark study. I posted the link for a more recent article done by Marshark, et.al. on the educational benefit of CI in children that was just published in an Oxford journal. I think the forum was CI and teen agers. Inf act, there are links to 3 articles in that journal that support our claims, shel. And this was research that was recently conducted.

Ok thanks...It has been over 5 years. I will look for that link.

 

[Gemma]

This brings back memories of my childhood. Growing up, I did not have interpreters or note takers. I could only understand the teachers but 80 percent of dialogue that takes place in classrooms are among the students responding or asking qqs or discussing. Thus I missed out on 80 percent on classroom learning!

Entering college - I asked for a notetaker and it opened up the entire world for me.

I do not understand why the student cannot be given CART. Had I been given CART in my high school, I probably would have enjoyed getting up every morning and going to school without having butterflies in my stomach, worrying whether I missed teacher saying we had a test or whatnot. No wonder I developed an ulcer.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

I thought a lot about this site for the past couple of days and have really wanted to just turn around and run the other way, but before I do that I would like to explain some things to you. First I am not your typical oral deaf educator nor am I an extreme oralist. I am an oralist no doubt about that but I am an inform oralist and know what it takes to be oral and know when oral is not working. I was really ready to not come back but I have had a couple of PM and have been asked to stay so I am not sure but I do need to clear the air.

Jillo, a couple of times you have mentioned where I came on this site to look for sympathy. I have explained this to you already did you read it. I came on this site because I Google my daughter’s name. When I read the beginning postings there were some things that I wanted to clarify like why should my daughter learn more sign language just to make easier for the school so they only have to provide an interpreter. I am not sure if the special education laws are all the same everywhere but in California it states that the school must respect and encourage the child’s preferred mode of communication. You are asking my daughter to change so that she can fit your mold of what a deaf teenager should be like. You talk about me not accepting my daughter but you and people like you are the ones that are accepting of my daughter. From the research I did about CART, I found out that both oral and signing community feel that CART gave them much more access to the curriculum and that they felt much more a part of the class, so I did think I would get some support. I do not need sympathy; sympathy does nothing for me or my children. If I need sympathy I would go to my mother, not people I know are against my choices, really did you think I was trying to get sympathy. You have no idea the horror stories us oral parents have heard about people involved in the Deaf culture. I am sure you have heard horror of us oral parents too. So why would think I was looking for sympathy.

When I talk about finding a middle ground I am not talking about approaches. I am talking about trying to find a way where we can respect each other and accept that there are just certain things we cannot agree upon. You are not going change my mind(not because I am closed mind but because I have done my research and having my teenagers I have seen many oral deaf kids) and I know I am not going to change your mind. I am also not saying the CIs and the oral approach is for everybody. The reason I want to find a middle ground is because there are deaf children out there that need another approach that is not just oral only. I would love to find somewhere to send these parents, to find out about different approaches, I would never send hearing parents to someone like Jillo or even you Shel. Parents are already feeling bad, can you image me sending one of my parents to someone like you so that they can feel like failure. They need to go somewhere get information in a positive way, to feel it is OK to go in another direction that they will get supported and will feel good about themselves and their child.

I am a strong person and a strong mother. And you have made feel awful. So if you are able to do this to me image the damage you can do to a parent that is already feeling bad. That parent could just shut down and what good would that do that child. Parents need to be able to go to somebody for support and guidance but someone who is not going to judge them. Someone who is going to say OK you tried this way it didn’t let try something else. This is what I want.

Jillo you say that I “have criticized my beliefs regarding the educational approach that I advocate, but I do not feel that I am any less of an excellent parent or that the work I do with my deaf students is any less valuable”. I have not. Please go back and read what I have said. I think you made the right decision for your son. And that decision work well for your son. What I did say is that decision need to be informed and based on each child individual. I can quote over and over again how you think my approach is not good and has not worked for my children, how I am accepting of my children. YES there has been problems, different sorts of problems, normal everyday problems, problems that all children face, problems because I have across people like you, problems because people are unaware of my children’s needs, problems because people have closed minds, and mostly problems because schools districts don’t want the take the time to find out about what a child needs and are only worrying about the cost involved. And if you never go through these problems I am happy for you. Overall we have met some amazing people in this journey I have share with children. My children have some the same friends they had when they 2. I have met my closest friends through my children’s deafness. My marriage is stronger then ever. We had some problems in beginning but my children’s deafness brought our family closer. I know that you are dealing with college age students that are having a difficult time but times have change and methods have and technology is so much better. Honestly I do not feel I am less of an excellent parent or teacher, I just feel that in your eyes and the eyes of some people in the Deaf culture I can do no right. I am 100% OK with that because I do not live in the Deaf culture. I am so happy that I have people from the Deaf culture in our lives that are not closed minded as you are and some of you others are. I would NEVER EVER expose my children to people like you. But I do now and will always make it a point of exposing and encouraging my children to develop relationships with positive people who sign and are in the Deaf culture but would not make them feel bad about themselves.

Shel you mention in one of your postings how when you first learn sign language how other signers were not very nice to you. Why does that have to happen? You were making the attempt to communicate with them and were learning sign language why couldn’t they just accept you for who you were. You had to move another state to feel accept.

I am not sure how many times I have had to explain my educational background. My entire college education focus was on children, the way they learn, their development, specifically on the education of oral deaf children. I understand that your focus now is on deaf education but my entire college education focus was on the educational system with a huge focus on oral deaf education. I am not working on a PH.D currently, I might some day. But as a classroom teacher having a PH.D doesn’t help my salary. I love being in the classroom so I am not sure I will ever set down and work on a PH.D. Not that salary means all that much too. But going for a PH.D does take a lot of time and money. I have taken many classes beyond my master’s. I am actually at the end of salary schedule on the educational/units side. I think I have 95 units post BS. Once you finally understood that although my master’s degree was focused on just oral education then you had to say yeah it makes sense what you thought about me because I received my training at John Tracy Clinic/USC. You are prejudging my education because of what you have heard about John Tracy Clinic. I do not know how John Tracy Clinic was before my children. But I know how they are now. We had a deaf studies class that was just about the Deaf culture taught by someone in the Deaf culture. We also had a sign language class during that year. In order for me to receive my level II credential I had to take another ASL class, which I did and I do have.

Times have changed a lot; they have even changed so much more since my children were young. My children were not part of the newborn screening. In my children age, if a parent wants their child to be oral some of them did have to wait until 4 or 5 years old. And I agree with you there that that is late. With son he was implant at the age of 3, and he was the first kid with his type of hearing to get implant. Although he was profoundly deaf in every db, he did have some hearing aided in speech range and at the time they were only implanting kids that had no hearing in speech range. When he was 4 years old, he really wasn’t doing much maybe had 10 oral words. When he was 4 ½ years he was beginning to make some progress, but not a lot. At this point, I was beginning to look at other programs. When he was 5, something click in his brain, he was talking up a storm. In 6 months, he was made 6 months growth. The next year he made 18 months growth in 12 months. It was like that since then. He is about to enter 9th grade and is reading at a 10th grade level. His math skills range from 9th grade to 11th grade. I know I took a chance with him but he is your true oral success story. I know not all kids can do what he did. But there is a good chance if everything in place.

Now a days we do not have to risk what I did with my son because technology has changed and because of newborn screenings. Deaf kids are being fitted with strong digital hearing aides at the age of 2 months. Kids can get implanted by the age of 1. Shel and Jillo talk about deaf kids being deprived of language and yes it use to be like that but it is not like that anymore. A child implanted by the age of 1 ½ will be slightly delayed in the beginning but will be able to make it orally if everything is in place. There will be still some children that will not be able to be oral but at least by the latest 3 years old we will not and can make the necessary changes.

Jillo I get that you are dealing deaf kids being raised oral and are now so behind in college. But when the students you are now dealing with where toddlers, they didn’t have digit hearing aids, they didn’t have implants. I know that they have only been implanting kids for about 16 years. I could be off a year or 2. My son received his implant 12 years ago. When he received his, it had been about 3 years since the FDA finally approved implants in kids. Times are changing.

Shel I think I would be out of a job before you. There will always be signing programs. I never think that should be taken away. I just want parents to make informed decisions. If a parent decides on the signing route then everybody in that house should sign fluently. Deaf parents I think will usually always pick signing that who they are and that is who they should be.

Shel I think it was you who mention that the society we live has to change in. I agree. You mention this when I told you that one of the main reasons I want my children if possible to be oral so that they had better opportunities in life. Academics were and will always be number one in my children’s lives. But if possible to have both, first a good solution foundation in their academic and also be able to have good oral skills, my children will have more opportunities. It is not me that makes it this way and I cannot change the society we live. If the deaf people that live in this world cannot change our society, I most certainly cannot if I could I would but I can do everything in my power to give my children a better chance in this world that we live in.

Another I mention this thread began because of the due process case my daughter won and because the school district would rather spend the money on attorney fees instead of giving my daughter what she needs and what is ordered. I think Jillo said we wouldn’t win but we have won. And the district going to give us CART while they appeal the decision.

 

[shel90]

Jackie,

In my professional life, I dont speak out my opinions to nor I criticize the parents for their decisions like I do here because it is not my place to do so. I do tell them the benefits of the BiBi approach and up to them to take it or not. If they decide not to, then I just wish them luck but in my head I am really praying that their children do ok. My heart is for the deaf children. Here, on AllDeaf, I can express my feelings on the risk of an oral-only approach for deaf children duiring the critical years of language development because this is a public forum and everyone has the right to express their opinions or beliefs. This is a place where I can freely express whatever I desire with the effort of not personally insulting anyone. I do admit that a few times, I have insulted some people but if someone tells me and shows me where I insulted them then I will apologize. I am sorry if my comments or whatever made u feel terrible but I dont feel that I purposely went out of my way to insult you. I felt that I was disagreeing to your beliefs on which educational approaches to use.

This is how I feel about that particular approach for young deaf children. If the child feels more comfortable in an oral only environment when they are older as long as they are performing at their academci level and can gain access to all information to everything, then by all means go for it just like with your children. Like u said about us not being able to change your views, you cant change mine.

I dont believe in the oral-only apporoach due to several reasons..one being that I prefer not to use it on young deaf children who are developing language because we dont know how much they are picking up or how much they are not picking up. You say technology is changing and that deaf children are able to "hear" better than before. If that's the case, then why does my school still get numrous of kids with digital HAs and CIs being referred to our school after falling behind in oral education due to not understanding everything being said around them? Last year, we got around 10 kids ranging from PrK to 8th grade referred to us..in ONE school year! U probably would say it is due to lack of parental involvemnt but ironically, some of those kids' parents are very involved with their education. They admitted that they thought the oral-only approach was the way to go. Do I criticize them for their earlier decisions? No, but I do criticize the specialists who told them that the oral-only approach was the only way to ensure their success. Oooops..look at what happened to them. I have seen the changes in self-esteem and movtivation levels in some of those children when they discovered that, with signing, they have access to all information. Yes, I am talking about children who have been implanted since they were babies. It makes me wonder if they had signing along with oral language from the beginning, would they be performing on their academic age level istead of 2 or more years behind? I see the difference between those kids and the kids who had been in our program since infants. The latter group is doing better. Yes, some of them do have oral sills along with signing skills.

Along with recent research on the BiBi approach, my deaf ed training especially in linguistics and language acquisition, my own personal experiences, and personal observation of the students I have worked with in the past 7 years in different educational settings are the reasons and justification for my beliefs against the oral-only approach. In having that view, my concerns for the children, and wanting them to have the best of both (yes, oral language included), I feel that I am in the right place. If you and others feel that by my believing in the way I do, I am someone that all parents of deaf chidlren should avoid or shouldnt be exposed to, then that's your feeling and I wont hold it against you. I would never say something like that about you to any parents of deaf children despite our differing views because that would be immature of me. I would tell the parents to meet you and get your point of view and up to them if they want to follow your philosophy. All I know is that I feel and strongly believe that the oral-only approach is too risky now. U feel that by introducing signs to young deaf children while they are developing language is too risky on their speech skills, while I, on the other hand, feel that by not introducting signs to them is too risky on their language and social/emotional development. It all comes down to what's important to each of us hence the disagreement happening here. Maybe later it will be less but as of now, I am still seeing too many children struggling with literacy skills due to missing out years of language development and I do not like it. If that makes me an awful person, then it makes many others awful too cuz so many other professionals in this field share the same view as I do and they are both deaf and hearing people. Some are fully active in Deaf culture while others are not. I feel this debate has nothing to do with Deaf culture and I dont know why u and others think that way.

I cant believe that u are using Jillo and I as the respresentatives of the Deaf culture as a whole. It would be like taking a few Spanish speakking people who do not believe in the same things as I do as representative for the whole Spanish speaking community and saying that I refuse to be involved in it all all due to them. That would be generalizing. In fact, my ex hubby was born in Mexico and my daughter is Mexican who is fluent in ASL, English and Spanish. By being trilingual, she has more opportunities. The same thing goes with two of my deaf friends..one from Puerto Rico and the other who is Mexican born in AZ. They are fluent in all 3 languages and I think that is awesome! That's another advantage of the BiBi approach..the deaf children become blingual or even more when they master all the languages.

Regarding to you comment about me moving to another state simply because the deaf community there didnt accept me at first is a very wrong assumption. At that time, I had a house, my ex had a good job, and the majority of my family resided in AZ so I would never move out of state for that reason. That would be stupid and cowardly of me. I moved cuz I wanted to go to grad school at Gally since I felt I had a lot to learn about ASL and the Deaf culture before I could become a teacher for the Deaf. Heck, even there I faced discrimination from some members of the deaf community due to not being strong ASL, but instead of running away, I stuck it out. Life is not perfect and shit happens. However, it was the best decision of my life but I dont go around telling deaf/hoh people they need to go to Gally. The deaf community in AZ didnt accept me right away cuz I looked down on them growing up so it was partly my fault. Now, they fully accept me and the past is forgotten. I know that not everyone is gonna accept everyone in any culture or community and that's a fact of life. Up to people if they want to stand up for themselves and find those who can accept them or not.

If u feel in your heart that you are doing the right thing, that is your perogative. There will be some who wont agree with your views just as there will be some who wont agree with mine. That's life.

I never called u an extreme oralist even thought I did think that at first until later throughout the debates that I learned I was wrong about you. The only thing I disagree with u on is when to introduce sign language to children and oral-only for all young deaf children. I dont know why something like that makes people call me a deaf militant or whatever (referring to previous threads on other debates). If I was, i would have said ABSULOTELY NOT to any oral language exposure of any kind to all deaf/hoh children. I am not that stupid.

People who have strong beliefs and stick by them tend to have enemies and I know that there are some AD members here that dont like me but this is not a popularity contest for me. This is about the education of deaf children and the elimination of poor literacy of deaf children. I dont care if u and others think badly of me. It would be nice if we all can agree to disagree but it seems not to be working cuz for some reason, people start taking each other's comments too personal.

 

[shel90]

Oh, another thing Jackie...when I was debating with u , I was seeing u as a educator not as a parent. I have forgotten that u are a parent of deaf children a few times when I responded to some of your posts.

Educator to educator, do u think at 3 years old is too long of a wait before deciding the deaf child is not picking up on spoken language as his/her hearing counterparts and time to switch to signing? To me, 3 years is a lot of time lost on language development. I mean, even a year is still too much for me.

 

[BearBeauty]

Jackie,

Personally, I think you are doing a good job trying to respect your children's wishes. And I appauld you for that. I guess sometimes people see parents encourage their children to be oral, and while this can be a good thing, it's the deaf children that fall through the cracks that most educators do not want to see. I am not a parent or an educator. I am a woman who grew up in a oral enviroment who's mother did not learn to sign, yet I learned to sign as i grew up. I support your decision to allow your children to learn the way that they want to learn.

Educators want to see all deaf children succeed. This is something I've learned from reading the posts of deaf educators on Alldeaf.com And while they may not respect the way the child is learning, they do respect that the child is learning. I read that your daughter learns signs socially, and that is her preference. I can understand that.

At least you are trying to help your child succeed in her education and her life. And we have to applaud you for that. Some deaf educators may not like it, but we have to respect your drive to allow your children to suceed in life.

 

[shel90]

Hey Jackie...I went back over the whole thread and I couldnt find anything that I said criticizing u and your decisions. In fact, I found many of my posts applauding u so I have no idea what u are talking about that I made u feel bad? It looked like we were having a good dialogue and some disagreements here and there but nowhere did I say that u were a bad parent and bad teacher so I am What was that I said was so bad that turned u off? Some things u said I felt offended by but I let it go and continued the discussion or debate with u. I thought we were having a good rapport going on..I must have missed something.

When u expressed your feelings, I thought I better read back to find where I said insulting things to u but I found none.

 

[Tousi]

Well, in that case, since she's not coming back, I want to say this without insulting her, personally, but about her position. As I understand it, she is an 8 year teacher, is hearing and all that. I mention hearing because for a while I thought she was deaf. Now, as a general rule, we are not to criticize a person's grammar/handling the English language on this site and I abide by that; however, in the case of this thread where we are trying to speak of educational strategies, etc, I must admit I wonder about her writing, especially for someone "so well educated" and I am not sure what it is I am wondering about here. I'm at a loss.

 

[shel90]

Well, in that case, since she's not coming back, I want to say this without insulting her, personally, but about her position. As I understand it, she is an 8 year teacher, is hearing and all that. I mention hearing because for a while I thought she was deaf. Now, as a general rule, we are not to criticize a person's grammar/handling the English language on this site and I abide by that; however, in the case of this thread where we are trying to speak of educational strategies, etc, I must admit I wonder about her writing, especially for someone "so well educated" and I am not sure what it is I am wondering about here. I'm at a loss.

I think English is her 2nd language since she metioned she is first generation American or it could be cuz she was typing so fast as she mentioned in another thread resulting in errors?

Curious...do u and other AD members think teachers should have perfect English grammar at all times? That's a lot to live up to and I would be :Ohno:about making any grammatical mistakes here cuz I am a teacher. LOL!!!!

 

[Tousi]

Shel, you said: "Curious...do u and other AD members think teachers should have perfect English grammar at all times? That's a lot to live up to and I would be about making any grammatical mistakes here cuz I am a teacher. LOL!!!! "
__________________

Lol, Shel, okay, let me answer your question by way of an example: Since we believe that the apparent best way to educate the vast majority of deaf children is through the Bi Bi method, the teacher would need to be PROFICIENT in BOTH ASL and English, right? And this is where I am at a standstill because I do not think that there are enough teachers (both deaf and hearing) in this country who are proficient at both languages to fill all of the classrooms for the deaf & hoh students in this country.

As for you, I would venture to guess (notice "venture", lol) that you possess enough to join those ranks. Anyway, ya see what I'm getting at, tho?

And, finally, lest a contract be taken out on my life, I will say (and I mean it) that Jackie's heart is in the right place.

 

[shel90]

Shel, you said: "Curious...do u and other AD members think teachers should have perfect English grammar at all times? That's a lot to live up to and I would be about making any grammatical mistakes here cuz I am a teacher. LOL!!!! "
__________________

Lol, Shel, okay, let me answer your question by way of an example: Since we believe that the apparent best way to educate the vast majority of deaf children is through the Bi Bi method, the teacher would need to be PROFICIENT in BOTH ASL and English, right? And this is where I am at a standstill because I do not think that there are enough teachers (both deaf and hearing) in this country who are proficient at both languages to fill all of the classrooms for the deaf & hoh students in this country.

As for you, I would venture to guess (notice "venture", lol) that you possess enough to join those ranks. Anyway, ya see what I'm getting at, tho?

And, finally, lest a contract be taken out on my life, I will say (and I mean it) that Jackie's heart is in the right place.

I was just being silly with u. LOL! It is not a big deal to me. Yea, the teachers need to be proficient in both languages which is why the two deaf ed programs that I know of (Gallaudet University and McDaniel's college) requires all students to pass a signing skills test before they can do their internships. I dont know if other deaf ed programs with the same philosophy require students to pass the same tests.

Also, regarding to proficiency in English, all teachers in MD must pass the Praxis I test (reading, writing and math) in order to get certifiied. I barely passed the math part of it but passed the reading and writing tests with flying colors.

 

[pek1]

Curious...do u and other AD members think teachers should have perfect English grammar at all times? That's a lot to live up to and I would be :Ohno:about making any grammatical mistakes here cuz I am a teacher. LOL!!!!

Shel,

I had dropped a letter on a thread I started a few days ago and I had been hard on you about proper English. Let me put it this way: My parents moved into an assisted living complex last weekend and I was talking with their new neighbor. As an elderly lady, she was very nicely dressed. So, I took the chance and asked her if she used to be a teacher. She said she did, then asked how I knew. I told her it was the way she handled herself and her mode of dress.

I said all this shel, to say this: We're all due a few mistakes, dear. I think you can afford a misspelled word from time to time . . . providing that it's not a regular habit!