Learning in silence

[Miss-Delectable]

[X] : Learning in silence

Imagine sitting in your economics class, drifting off into thought. You’re thinking about plans for the weekend: when you have to work next, how you better pay your electric bill before it’s late. But all the while, you are listening to the professor’s lecture and half-processing that information.

Now imagine you look over and see the professor’s lips moving, but no sound is coming out. In fact, there are no sounds at all in the room -- no clicking of pens, no rustling of papers, no whispering of the answers to number seven on the quiz -- just silence. This is what Steve Mayers experiences everyday because he was born deaf.

Mayers is a senior at SF State and has been through extensive schooling throughout his life. Much of his education involved learning oralism, a controversial method that teaches a deaf person to speak. He finds that American Sign Language is more effective.

The reason oralism is so controversial is because the deaf person usually is not allowed to use any other method of communication besides oralism. They are taught strictly to read people’s lips and then speak back to them.

He thinks his speech is awful. “No one likes to hear my rotten speech,” said Mayers.

He attended Mary El Bennett School in LA., Tucker Maxon Oral School in Portland, Org. and The Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis, MD that teaches a strict oral method according to Mayers.

Even after all his training, Mayers said oralism makes it difficult to communicate with people. If at all possible, he prefers to communicate through ASL.

Mayers said the SFSU disabled services department has been helpful to him. “If anyone who is deaf asks me about the programs at SFSU, I can refer anyone to disabled services.”

Mayers also said that getting a college education depends on the person and their ability to communicate. “I know that some deaf students are succeeding well in their courses, but others deaf students aren’t. It depends on how their brain works, and their skills in adapting.”

In January 2008, he will start teaching deaf children at elementary schools. He also plans to graduate in 2008 and teach ASL at adult night schools in the Bay Area.

 

[shel90]

[X] : Learning in silence

Imagine sitting in your economics class, drifting off into thought. You’re thinking about plans for the weekend: when you have to work next, how you better pay your electric bill before it’s late. But all the while, you are listening to the professor’s lecture and half-processing that information.

Now imagine you look over and see the professor’s lips moving, but no sound is coming out. In fact, there are no sounds at all in the room -- no clicking of pens, no rustling of papers, no whispering of the answers to number seven on the quiz -- just silence. This is what Steve Mayers experiences everyday because he was born deaf.

Mayers is a senior at SF State and has been through extensive schooling throughout his life. Much of his education involved learning oralism, a controversial method that teaches a deaf person to speak. He finds that American Sign Language is more effective.

The reason oralism is so controversial is because the deaf person usually is not allowed to use any other method of communication besides oralism. They are taught strictly to read people’s lips and then speak back to them.

He thinks his speech is awful. “No one likes to hear my rotten speech,” said Mayers.

He attended Mary El Bennett School in LA., Tucker Maxon Oral School in Portland, Org. and The Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis, MD that teaches a strict oral method according to Mayers.

Even after all his training, Mayers said oralism makes it difficult to communicate with people. If at all possible, he prefers to communicate through ASL.

Mayers said the SFSU disabled services department has been helpful to him. “If anyone who is deaf asks me about the programs at SFSU, I can refer anyone to disabled services.”

Mayers also said that getting a college education depends on the person and their ability to communicate. “I know that some deaf students are succeeding well in their courses, but others deaf students aren’t. It depends on how their brain works, and their skills in adapting.”

In January 2008, he will start teaching deaf children at elementary schools. He also plans to graduate in 2008 and teach ASL at adult night schools in the Bay Area.

More proof that that the strictly oral-only philosophy is so oppressive. See the bolded.

Another oral deaf person saying that ASL is more effective. HHMMMMM....why do these stupid oralists insist on using the most difficult approach in the educational setting???

 

[jillio]

More proof that that the strictly oral-only philosophy is so oppressive. See the bolded.

Another oral deaf person saying that ASL is more effective. HHMMMMM....why do these stupid oralists insist on using the most difficult approach in the educational setting???

Good question. I think we know the answer.

 

[Buffalo]

Ethnocentrism? Or Stupidity? I prefer stupidity because it was proved over and over that oralism alone doesn't work for any Deaf people.

 

[Kaitin]

Another great post - , Miss-D!

 

[jillio]

Ethnocentrism? Or Stupidity? I prefer stupidity because it was proved over and over that oralism alone doesn't work for any Deaf people.

Ethnocentrism=stupidity, IMO.

 

[fredfam1]

Perhaps it is a little more than these. For years teachers
of hearing students taught phonics successfully. It was
then decided to switch everyone to sight reading. That
was memorizing the words and learning to read that way.
It was soon recognized this method was limited to about
500 words, after which time the child had no skills to use
to decode any unfamiliar words. Sight method has been
proven to be worse than ineffective! Yet there are still
people who choose to fight for its use. Why? Because
when people are unable to communicate effectively, they
can be controlled and manipulated. I think this same
thing is happening with the Deaf community. This is why
I teach all my children phonics first. Sight later AFTER I
have given them their phonics training and they have
mastered all the sounds. Then sight works for words that
do not follow the rules, and speeds the reading along. But
the same control issues were apparent here as they are
now in the Deaf communinty involving oralisum only. There
will always be a few children who are brilliant enough to
succede any way, but the majority will be left out.

 

[jillio]

Perhaps it is a little more than these. For years teachers
of hearing students taught phonics successfully. It was
then decided to switch everyone to sight reading. That
was memorizing the words and learning to read that way.
It was soon recognized this method was limited to about
500 words, after which time the child had no skills to use
to decode any unfamiliar words. Sight method has been
proven to be worse than ineffective! Yet there are still
people who choose to fight for its use. Why? Because
when people are unable to communicate effectively, they
can be controlled and manipulated. I think this same
thing is happening with the Deaf community. This is why
I teach all my children phonics first. Sight later AFTER I
have given them their phonics training and they have
mastered all the sounds. Then sight works for words that
do not follow the rules, and speeds the reading along. But
the same control issues were apparent here as they are
now in the Deaf communinty involving oralisum only. There
will always be a few children who are brilliant enough to
succede any way, but the majority will be left out.

I agree with everything you have said. There are those that hang onto outdated teaching methodologies because, in my opinion, it is easier than learning new methodology.

However, I think the push toward oralism in deaf ed is indeed ethnocentric due to the fact that oralism is founded on the ethnocentric belief that spoken language is superior to signed language. Likewise, the move toward mainstreaming reinforces such because it is financially the cheapest way to go.

 

[deafdyke]

Well its really a form of ablelism. The attitude is that kids shouldn't have the "crutch" of special methods. The best thing is using the method that everyone else uses.
This type of thing is also seen in the blind/low vision community. My best friend went to Perkins (school for the blind) and didn't even learn Braille!

oralism makes it difficult to communicate with people.

AMEN!!! The pro oralists are all "oh only a small percentage of people Sign, so learning speech is the best." Ummm NO.......What if your speech isn't clear and understandable? What then?

 

[jillio]

Well its really a form of ablelism. The attitude is that kids shouldn't have the "crutch" of special methods. The best thing is using the method that everyone else uses.
This type of thing is also seen in the blind/low vision community. My best friend went to Perkins (school for the blind) and didn't even learn Braille! AMEN!!! The pro oralists are all "oh only a small percentage of people Sign, so learning speech is the best." Ummm NO.......What if your speech isn't clear and understandable? What then?

**nodding agreement**

 

[Angel]

Well its really a form of ablelism. The attitude is that kids shouldn't have the "crutch" of special methods. The best thing is using the method that everyone else uses.
This type of thing is also seen in the blind/low vision community. My best friend went to Perkins (school for the blind) and didn't even learn Braille! AMEN!!! The pro oralists are all "oh only a small percentage of people Sign, so learning speech is the best." Ummm NO.......What if your speech isn't clear and understandable? What then?

Exactly.

 

[shel90]

Well its really a form of ablelism. The attitude is that kids shouldn't have the "crutch" of special methods. The best thing is using the method that everyone else uses.
This type of thing is also seen in the blind/low vision community. My best friend went to Perkins (school for the blind) and didn't even learn Braille! AMEN!!! The pro oralists are all "oh only a small percentage of people Sign, so learning speech is the best." Ummm NO.......What if your speech isn't clear and understandable? What then?

Agreed...that happened to my brother BIG time. He suffered but did the oralists suffer? NO!

I am more limited in an spoken environment than I am in a signing environment due to my speech not being perfect at all times and my inability to lipread 100% of what is being said.

 

[Buffalo]

I'd like to share with you guys some excerpts from "Gazette van Detroit" (a Flemish newspaper)'s weekly installment of "Son of War and Peace" by Marcel Alberic Defever, that reminds me of this thread. [Flanders is the northern half of Belgium (it is sandwiched between Netherlands and France) and the language is similiar to Dutch).]

"For centuries, Flemings had to adapt to the ways of culturally more dominant and more powerful neighboring countries. Consequently, they have traditionally been good linguists. Also, at the same time and for the same reasons, we suffered less from narrow patriotic sentiments than the French, English and Germans did. Their overweening, blind chauvinsim turned out to be their own worst enemy throughout the course of Western European history.".......
"Most German, French (including Walloon [southern half of Belgium that speak French/Walloon] and English people, by reason of their being citizens of historically dominant societies, cannot possibly begin to understand the mindset of those they oppressed. For this reason, they have never been able to permanently conquer the soul, the patrimony, and the spirit of the Fleming.
In their smugness, they became careless vis-a-vis the Flemings, who saw and seized or created political openings for renewed attempts at self-determination."

Now, Why don't those people that are in less dominant societies understand the deaf people this way and start to require Bi-Bi education for the deaf people???? I mean, I can see the parallel of Flemings to the deaf people so why don't those kind of people (not just the Flemings but others as well) help out the deaf people by allowing ASL (and its equivalent Sign Language)???

 

[shel90]

I'd like to share with you guys some excerpts from "Gazette van Detroit" (a Flemish newspaper)'s weekly installment of "Son of War and Peace" by Marcel Alberic Defever, that reminds me of this thread. [Flanders is the northern half of Belgium (it is sandwiched between Netherlands and France) and the language is similiar to Dutch).]

"For centuries, Flemings had to adapt to the ways of culturally more dominant and more powerful neighboring countries. Consequently, they have traditionally been good linguists. Also, at the same time and for the same reasons, we suffered less from narrow patriotic sentiments than the French, English and Germans did. Their overweening, blind chauvinsim turned out to be their own worst enemy throughout the course of Western European history.".......
"Most German, French (including Walloon [southern half of Belgium that speak French/Walloon] and English people, by reason of their being citizens of historically dominant societies, cannot possibly begin to understand the mindset of those they oppressed. For this reason, they have never been able to permanently conquer the soul, the patrimony, and the spirit of the Fleming.
In their smugness, they became careless vis-a-vis the Flemings, who saw and seized or created political openings for renewed attempts at self-determination."

Now, Why don't those people that are in less dominant societies understand the deaf people this way and start to require Bi-Bi education for the deaf people???? I mean, I can see the parallel of Flemings to the deaf people so why don't those kind of people (not just the Flemings but others as well) help out the deaf people by allowing ASL (and its equivalent Sign Language)???

Because many hearing people dont value deaf people as signers. They value deaf people who have good oral skills. That is what it is looking like.

 

[restless_heart]

I learned how to speak when I was two years old, some read lipery but I didn't learn SEE till I was 9. Back then you were not allowed to sign SEE till the case was won.

Are you saying they are going to change things...at first they wanted deaf people to use ASL, before they learn to speak? And now other way around, they want them to learn to speak first, then learn ASL? I am little lost here....

 

[deafdyke]

due to my speech not being perfect at all times and my inability to lipread 100% of what is being said.

AMEN! Although someone may have awesome language skills, their speech isn't always easy to understand. Even many oral sucess kids don't have perfect speech, and can often miss out on stuff people say.
I also can't tell you how many times I've dealt with people who think I'm MR b/c of the quality of my voice. I speak well, but I also have a very distinctive "deaf" voice. Oral skills do not 100% equalize dhh children. It gives them a good skill yeah..........but they don't equalize dhh kids at ALL.
And don't even get me started on stuff like being yelled at in the library or being embarrassed by strangers b/c they think I'm being loud on purpose.