Psychology of Parents on CI

[jillio]

Nah, not rosy...very miserable. Seriously, I did view myself that way for a long time.

There were accusations of deaf people wanting to take away parents' rights for educational options but isnt that hyprocritical to take away parents' rights to implant their children simply because they prefer ASL as their primary language?

Absolutely that is hypocritical. But it seems they only want to talk about parents' rights when it applies to what they want to do from a hearing perspective. They seem to forget those rights go both ways.

 

[A]

Good point, A. If you notice, the kids who get minimum benefit from their CI...such as accessing environmental sounds only...are not the ones we see paraded around. Oh, no! That would provide too realistic a picture. The ones we see paraded out and used as examples of the wonder of the CI are the ones that receive exceptional results. They are far from the average, and actually compromise only a small section of all CI users. Yet they are presented as getting results that all can expect.

I agree. For me, our son have asthma, and I can't trust him to tell me about it even though his doctor thinks he is sharp and capable of telling me. If my child can't benefit from hearing aids, and I decided to implant my child (which I don't have to because there are other ways to handle this, I'm just saying "if"), it would be because I feel that one day he'll have children who may have health problems, and he need to be able to hear environmental sounds (WITH MAPPING). if I don't, and when he get older and want an implant for the same reason why Ms. America wanted CI, CI would just sound like a bunch of static.

 

[jillio]

I agree. For me, our son have asthma, and I can't trust him to tell me about it even though his doctor thinks he is sharp and capable of telling me. If my child can't benefit from hearing aids, and I decided to implant my child (which I don't have to because there are other ways to handle this) but it would be because I feel that one day he'll have children who may have health problems, and he need to be able to hear environmental sounds (WITH MAPPING). if I don't, and when he get older and want an implant for the same reason why Ms. America wanted CI, CI would just sound like a bunch of static.

I understand exactly what you are saying. Even though a child may be very sharp and intelligent, they are not always capable of communicating the little nuances that are very important, because a) they don't have the expanded vocabulary to do that, or b) they just aren't developmentally able to yet. And when it comes to the CI, and how much a child is actually hearing, and how much that they are perceiving from limited sound and visual information combined, requires that they be able to communicate those nuances. Too many parents assume that because a child has reacted, they have heard the sound, understood it the way a hearing person would, and then reacted to it. Most of the time, that is more wishful thinking on the parent's behalf than anything else. Parents fool themselves into believing it is all hearing, because that is what they want it to be.

 

[jazzy]

Wow, I enjoyed this video about this bill. I read all comments here but it is mostly about this bill which it was passed in Calif two months ago. I agree all audiologists must give the information about sign language as communicate but I had this gut feeling, they will not follow this law and try to encourage parents to implant CI and put them in oral programs here in state of Calif before give out the information on sign language. I knew there is going to be many loopholes in this bill. Believe it or not we have so many deaf oral programs in Calif. I don't know what to do with those kids who will be fail in those program and left behind and we have to help those kids and fix them. It is a pattern that has been going for so long time. I am so tired of this.

 

[Juli-terp-to-be]

What I am disgusted with in this whole vid is that 'the professionals' gave the parents the Oralist side of the education of their child. And this will keep going on since deaf professionals and organizations were left out of the bill.

 

[shel90]

What I am disgusted with in this whole vid is that 'the professionals' gave the parents the Oralist side of the education of their child. And this will keep going on since deaf professionals and organizations were left out of the bill.

Yea, it is disgusting..It is like our input is not as valued as these oralists.

 

[Juli-terp-to-be]

Yea, it is disgusting..It is like our input is not as valued as these oralists.

I feel bad for the parents...at the end of the video the mother chokes up a bit when she talking about what time they lost going with Oralist view of deaf education.

 

[shel90]

Finally, I was able to have time to get on the computer instead of my pager and watch this video.

These parents know what they are talking about. I really wish the audiologists wouldnt cross the line of professionalism when it comes to language development and keep their audist opinions to themselves. Just fix the ear and leave it at that. Dont discriminate against ASL. I think there is a huge vested financial interest between the speech therapists, CI centers, and the audiologists and they all should rot in jail for screwing with these deaf children's lives!

 

[A]

Finally, I was able to have time to get on the computer instead of my pager and watch this video.

These parents know what they are talking about. I really wish the audiologists wouldnt cross the line of professionalism when it comes to language development and keep their audist opinions to themselves. Just fix the ear and leave it at that. Dont discriminate against ASL. I think there is a huge vested financial interest between the speech therapists, CI centers, and the audiologists and they all should rot in jail for screwing with these deaf children's lives!

i think all professionals should keep their audist opinion to themselves as well .. teachers doctors audiologist speech therapy.. Just do what they suppose or ask to do.

 

[rockdrummer]

Looks to me like the bill they spoke of (AB2072) should not be passed without some additional details so that folks can make a more informed decision not only about the bill but about their options when they find out their child is deaf.

 

[shel90]

i think all professionals should keep their audist opinion to themselves as well .. teachers doctors audiologist speech therapy.. Just do what they suppose or ask to do.

I think the CI doctors should just only focus on the surgery, medical aspects, and recovery, the audiologists focus on fixing the ear, and leave language development options to professionals in the educational system but with the problems of all the attempts of different educational policies regarding to deaf education, I dont think it would really solve the problem. I think keeping both languages true to their forms should be valued...keep spoken English in the spoken form and ASL in the signed form so eliminate the concept of Total Communication. As for oralism only, too many risks for deaf children falling behind.

 

[Juli-terp-to-be]

I think the CI doctors should just only focus on the surgery, medical aspects, and recovery, the audiologists focus on fixing the ear, and leave language development options to professionals in the educational system but with the problems of all the attempts of different educational policies regarding to deaf education, I dont think it would really solve the problem. I think keeping both languages true to their forms should be valued...keep spoken English in the spoken form and ASL in the signed form so eliminate the concept of Total Communication. As for oralism only, too many risks for deaf children falling behind.

the bold statement scares me the most. I see an entire generation with little life skills and lost cause they don't 'fit' into either the hearing or the deaf communities. Though I truly believe the deaf community will welcome them with open arms.

 

[jillio]

I feel bad for the parents...at the end of the video the mother chokes up a bit when she talking about what time they lost going with Oralist view of deaf education.

Exactly. But rarely do we get to hear from these parents that feel this way. There are many, many out there, however.

 

[jillio]

finally, i was able to have time to get on the computer instead of my pager and watch this video.

These parents know what they are talking about. I really wish the audiologists wouldnt cross the line of professionalism when it comes to language development and keep their audist opinions to themselves. Just fix the ear and leave it at that. Dont discriminate against asl. I think there is a huge vested financial interest between the speech therapists, ci centers, and the audiologists and they all should rot in jail for screwing with these deaf children's lives!

+1!

 

[jillio]

Looks to me like the bill they spoke of (AB2072) should not be passed without some additional details so that folks can make a more informed decision not only about the bill but about their options when they find out their child is deaf.

Absolutely. I think that point was brought out in the thread opened to discuss this particular bill, but those of us who were in favor of the addition of addendums to insure that parents would be getting accurate information were, as usual told that parents are already getting acurrate information. Yeah, sure they are.:roll:

 

[Juli-terp-to-be]

Unfortunately IMO I think there is enough in this bill to soothe the conscious of the hearing government who are still of part of the 'fit it' mentality. It will pass cause they are thinking they are helping the next generation.

WHAT A CROCK! :roll:

 

[jillio]

Unfortunately IMO I think there is enough in this bill to soothe the conscious of the hearing government who are still of part of the 'fit it' mentality. It will pass cause they are thinking they are helping the next generation.

WHAT A CROCK! :roll:

Unfortunately, I tend to agree with you, as "soothing the conscious" appears to be of greater concern that doing what is necessary for the benefit of the deaf child.:roll:

 

[deafdyke]

Right. I think instead of having the mandatory speech therapy, I think they ought to maybe have options, but make it mandatory that they follow through with one or more of the options. Like they could have ASL classes, speech therapy, bi-bi options, the list could go on. The parents could choose one. Perhaps they could make basic ASL mandatory and allow for speech therapy in addition to it, or vice versa, like strong ASL with some speech therapy backing.

Exactly!!!!! We need to encourage as much speech skills as possible. It IS a good skill and abilty to have. Some kids can't develop speech abilty yes.....but the more tools in the toolbox the better!
I really do not think that most oral experts understand that oral all the time, is basicly an eternal speech therapy session. Oral abilty does NOT and cannot equalize us 100% (unless you're talking about unilateral loss or maybe some postlingal kids) Stuff like being yelled at b/c we can't modulate our voices, being made fun of b/c we have a "deaf voice", missing out on a lot of stuff.
And natt... you're SO dead on! English abilty rocks! But oral only refuses to reconize the fact that most dhh kids are very strong visual processors.
We have educated kids with ALL sorts of disabilties by insisting that they use residual vision and not hearing/tactile for blind/low vision kids (did you know that Braille literacy is actually VERY low b/c of the emphasis on using residual vision at ALL costs? One of my friends actually went to a School for the Blind and NEVER learned Braille!) Some kids have done well under that model...but many haven't THRIVED. Same with kids with mobilty issues.....there's an emphasis on keeping them away from the wheelchair b/c it's seen as a "crutch" Heck kids with fine motor skill issues are forced to learn manual writing instead of typing fast. We have too much of "healthy normal functioning" way of thinking in educaing kids with disabilites!
We need to give kids ALL the skills possible, instead of making a judgment on what's right or wrong

 

[Miss-Delectable]

I feel bad for the parents...at the end of the video the mother chokes up a bit when she talking about what time they lost going with Oralist view of deaf education.

What did the parents lose? Want to hear more about what they said.

Wish I could watch youtube easily but internet speed's not high enough yet

 

[Miss-Delectable]

Here is my clarification. Does anyone agree with my idea of clarification?

To clarify the roles of Professionals:

Speech Therapist: their job is to train the child how to speak. They are not qualified to advise parents their beliefs regarding communication and education methods.

Audiologist: their role is to test the child’s hearing and explain the severity of the hearing loss. Also they educate the parents on the benefits of Hearing Aids and Cochlear implants and how to use it. Again, they are not qualified to advise parents their beliefs regarding communication and education methods.

Cochlear Implant Doctor: their job is to assess the child’s suitability for the implant, inform parents the pros and cons of this device and risks associated with surgery. Their other role is to perform surgery on the child and insert the implant. It is unprofessional for them to tell parents not to use sign language because of their biased belief that sign language will impede child’s language development.

Who are the best people to get proper assessment of what is right for your child:

Teachers of the Deaf: They are trained to educate the child and study child’s strengths and weaknesses. Prepare an education plan that’ll help the child learn. Also they’re the best judge of which communication method and education method is the best for the child. What’s more they are the most dedicated professionals to deaf children’s education, social and communication needs.

Deaf people from the deaf community: Parents could learn heaps from them because they’re deaf just like your child, and they know what your child is going through and what trials and tribulations they may face down the road. They are passionate about deaf children because they are the future and deaf community wants the best for them by ensuring they have a full access to communication, language, socialization, education etc. Yes, there are different factions in the community who have different ideas of what works for deaf children. If you are laboring under the illusion that all deaf communities hate CI therefore will reject your child. That’s nonsense. They will not reject your child. Sure, they do object to CI because of audist attitudes perpetuated by medical community, and the fact they don’t espouse about sign language. However, it is safe to say that all of them want every deaf child to have full access to language and not be discriminated against or denied their rights.

Parents: they have to do all the assorted research, do all the fighting for their child, and do not take the medical professional’s advices as gospel truth. They have to face their fear with the unknown and start talking to many people such as deaf people, parents of deaf children, educators, and learn from them and their experiences. Most importantly of all, they have to watch and listen to their child and rely on their feelings whether a communication method or education method is correct choice or not. Most importantly, don’t stay in denial for too long because it’ll damage your relationship with your child and could potentially have adverse impact on their development. Lastly, it is quite okay for you all to think outside the box if you feel the prescribed advice was unsatisfactory.