regular school vs. Deafschool

A

*Abilynn*

New Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2003
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Hi all,

I'm new to this site..our son Isaiah is 80-85% deaf caused by Meningitis, one month ago, and he's 3 yo. We have to decide if we put him in a regular school with help, or into a deafschool. The problem is, we live in Lorain, Ohio, and the nearest deafschool is in Columbia...we would probably have to move if we put him there, but that's almost impossible for us...

Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance,

Abilynn
 
there is a school that provides interpreters in Beachwood city schools... Have u checked that out yet? how old is ur child.. by the way?
 
What would your kid decide when he grow up "want go to deaf school"? after mainstremed school years.

What would your kid decide when he want to stay school with deaf program (mainstreamed if needs treps)?

I myself not want go to deaf school since I grow up so stayed all the years in mainstreamed school with treps. It is challenger for you and your kid in which school and finding better edcucation for him. Good Luck....
 
Isa is 3 years old....we've been checking out some local schools, and we've found one that provides some sort of programm, but not sure if we want that.......anyway, thank you Cheri for the Beachwood suggestion, it's not that far away...

Greetings,

Abilynn
 
You are very welcome..... I do not know if they have a preschool for that in beachwood but it wouldnt hurt to ask... Its a good school area Beachwood is a rich area and they do pay for interpreters and even cabs to take ur child to school or even a little bus to drive to where u are living at now and pick up ur child... I love it it was a good education there i was raise mostly in mainstream school all my school years.. in Akron they didnt have interpreters and i hated it very much because it was very tough for me to read lips.. Mayfield also dont provide interpreters either they believe in lip readers... which that is why i dont go to Mayfield either... dont go to Akron either ok?.. tell u the truth its a terriable education for deaf people there... My dad wanted me to be in mainstream with interpreter we have a tough time to find one for us to attend.. and it took us a while to recovered about Beachwood city schools.. but thats when i got into High school.. So never too late to find one right now while ur child still young at age..... Im sure there are preschool are for free for deaf children... it depends how smart ur child is and they might let u pay for the preschool program if the child passes it level expen.
 
don't put your kid in deaf school. Don't ever give up on your child, if you love kid so much. Give him/her a better chance.

Look at me! My parents is only in in my family in town who ever put me in maintain in K to 12. And I turn in a better life than I knew other deafs in town who their parents sent their kids to Deaf school and it turn out their are not good.

Hmm.. maybe you need to take a good research about deaf school if they give good education by teacher and influence by kids. And you, the parents.
 
Cheri said:
You are very welcome..... I do not know if they have a preschool for that in beachwood but it wouldnt hurt to ask... Its a good school area Beachwood is a rich area and they do pay for interpreters and even cabs to take ur child to school or even a little bus to drive to where u are living at now and pick up ur child... I love it it was a good education there i was raise mostly in mainstream school all my school years.. in Akron they didnt have interpreters and i hated it very much because it was very tough for me to read lips.. Mayfield also dont provide interpreters either they believe in lip readers... which that is why i dont go to Mayfield either... dont go to Akron either ok?.. tell u the truth its a terriable education for deaf people there... My dad wanted me to be in mainstream with interpreter we have a tough time to find one for us to attend.. and it took us a while to recovered about Beachwood city schools.. but thats when i got into High school.. So never too late to find one right now while ur child still young at age..... Im sure there are preschool are for free for deaf children... it depends how smart ur child is and they might let u pay for the preschool program if the child passes it level expen.
Click to expand...


I agree with you, Cheri. I had attended Millridge/Mayfield all my life...I was not very happy. They strongly believe in oral method and never change since 1969!! They also are too harsh on children. I never liked it so much. If I have a child in Ohio, I will not send my kid to that dreadful school!!!

Anyway, Beachwood is very good school. My best friend's daughter attends there after she was transferred to Beachwood from Millridge. I was told that she hated it there. LOL Yes, Beachwood is mecca for rich people, of course..don't forget about Mayfield, too... (remmy Gates Mills?). Oh, well, I do miss Ohio while I am in San Francisco. I don't mind moving back to Ohio where I can afford comfortably, so on...
 
We have to decide if we put him in a regular school with help, or into a deafschool.
Click to expand...
What about a regional day school/program for the Deaf? I think initially that virtually ALL deaf and hard of hearing kids NEED to go to a educational facillitily that is specificly for deaf and hard of hearing kids. The problem with mainstreaming him right off the bat, is that there's a VERY real risk he may end up falling through the cracks and he won't get appropreate services and teachers who KNOW how to teach deaf and hard of hearing kids. Most mainstream teachers do not get too much training on how to teach kids with classic disabilties.....even many sped teachers don't get too much training on how to teach kids with classic disabilties (I attend a college with a very high percentage of future teachers and I know more about educating kids with classic disabilties then THEY do!) Talk to grads of the programs available in your area... self-contained classrooms, Headstart type programs, regional educational collabratives for deaf students, total mainstream with not much support etc.
 
thank you all for your reply's..it has been very hectic days around here, and i'm pregnant again (we sooo hope for a girl now!, since this baby will be our last one!) but besides that:
Isaiah is doing a lot better each day, his ASL isn't going that great, but ours is..i'm a stay-at-home-mom, so between my housethings i have to do, i'm excercising a lot! when my DH comes home, i fill him in with what i've learned that day...
Well since i've got a lot of stress on my mind (and vomiting, the other kids etc.) i've let the whole school choice to my DH...but we both agree it's going to be a local, regular school...now we just have to find some form of help for him! my twins school (they're 5) says they offer aids for disabled, but we've got to check that out somewhere in the new year!

Well thank you for listening anyway!

Greetings,

Abilynn
 
Abilynn, maybe a good idea might be to get in touch with your local branch of NAD and find out if they offer Early Intervention services,(many branches of NAD offer mentoring programs where Deaf adults act as mentors to hearing parents with Deaf kids) and if they might be able to help you find an appropreaite educational setting.
but we both agree it's going to be a local, regular school.
Click to expand...
What if you found a really good center based educational program that wasn't local?
I think it's great that you're going to mainstream Isiah, however maybe initially it might be a good idea to do a split placement with him, so he gets the best of BOTH worlds! Especially if you live in a small town with not too many other Deaf /deaf/hoh folks. I was always mainstreamed (except for preschool, when I was in a general early intervention program) and I can remember vividly thinking that I was the only deaf kid in the entire universe....I remember feeling like I never totally fit in with hearing people...please do lots and lots of research and please do consider a split placement at least for early on in his school career. It may prevent him from falling through the cracks.
BTW...that rocks that you've chosen to Sign with your son, even thou he isn't prelingally deaf!!!!!!
 
*Abilynn* said:
thank you all for your reply's..it has been very hectic days around here, and i'm pregnant again (we sooo hope for a girl now!, since this baby will be our last one!) but besides that:
Isaiah is doing a lot better each day, his ASL isn't going that great, but ours is..i'm a stay-at-home-mom, so between my housethings i have to do, i'm excercising a lot! when my DH comes home, i fill him in with what i've learned that day...
Well since i've got a lot of stress on my mind (and vomiting, the other kids etc.) i've let the whole school choice to my DH...but we both agree it's going to be a local, regular school...now we just have to find some form of help for him! my twins school (they're 5) says they offer aids for disabled, but we've got to check that out somewhere in the new year!

Well thank you for listening anyway!

Greetings,

Abilynn
Click to expand...

Hi Abilynn,

I'm also a mom of a deaf son secondary to meningitis. If you aren't already aware, I wanted to let you know about a wonderful parent group through the American Society for Deaf Children. It's called parentdeaf-hh, and can be accessed thru the ASDC website, deafchildren.org (click on the list, not the group link). I have found it very helpful. But also, reaching out to Deaf adults is very smart. I wish more parents would look to the Deaf Community for input when making decisions. I also feel it's important to involve your child in activities with other deaf children and Deaf mentors, whichever way you choose to educate him. We are sending our child to the School for the Deaf. All I can say is it's important to listen to all viewpoints, look at all options, and know your own child. And be willing to change if it's not working. We have so little time! My son drowned in a mainstream setting. Just providing an interpreter really doesn't cut it if your child doesn't have the language or ability to divide their attention to use the interpreter. He's getting a much better education where he's at. That doesn't mean I think all deaf students should go to the School for the Deaf. I think the decision has to be made carefully, and always re-evaluated. Well, that's my 2 cents.
Best of luck!

BTW deafdyke, for people like you who really seem to care about our kids, you might want to check out the parent site too, if you're interested!
 
peacetrain...thanks for posting here...see, it's not just us rabid Deafies who are telling you to be careful in your educational placement.:D Not all mainstream programs are great and wonderful and not all deaf schools are horrible. I am NOT against mainstreaming....I just really do not like the kneejerk automatic placement of kids with classic disabilties in the mainstream. Seperate schools can and should be an option as well!!!!
Maybe you should get in touch with the deaf school at Columbus and see if they can help you with finding an appropreaite school/ deaf program.
Also, Issiah might do semi-OK in a mainstream setting but if he went to a Deaf school or a program for the Deaf, he could really achieve!!!! Let me use an analogy from my own experiance....I am a skier and have been skiing for about 14 years. For the first six or seven years I skiied, I took skiing lessons in the regular ski school. I did OK but at the beginning of high school when I was 15 (started skiing when I was ten) I was still at a very low intermediate level. I was still snowplowing slash parelell skiing. Then I started taking adaptive lessons at a local ski resort....I finally got the hang of parellel skiing, and can now kick butt on the slopes...Everyone's now..."Oh my gawd...You're an awesome skier!"
 
weekend said:
don't put your kid in deaf school. Don't ever give up on your child, if you love kid so much. Give him/her a better chance.

Look at me! My parents is only in in my family in town who ever put me in maintain in K to 12. And I turn in a better life than I knew other deafs in town who their parents sent their kids to Deaf school and it turn out their are not good.

Hmm.. maybe you need to take a good research about deaf school if they give good education by teacher and influence by kids. And you, the parents.
Click to expand...

That's not true, weekend. Not ALL are like that -- look...I graduated from a deaf residential school and look at where I am! :D I attended CSDF and graduated in 1989. Now I live in Australia and have a good life here.

It really depends on each child and how they'll absorb the type of education they're taught at either school. (mainstream or deaf school)

You can try both school and see which ones will be best for your child's educational future.
 
Will hearing aids help? If he's 3 years old, that's old enough to understand what most things sound like. With hearing aids, he might still be able to continue in regular school as he was already in. If you still are unsure, then maybe moving might be your best option. I suggest you do some research on his deafness and his education before deciding to move.
 
Yes, some deaf schools are good and some deaf schools are horrible. Actually most EI programs at deaf schools are pretty good, especially compared to the public EI system. Unfortunatly the public EI system is very bad for deaf and hard of hearing kids, especially Deaf kids, as most public EI therapists only know a bare handful of signs. Admittly the upper grades at a lot of Deaf schools are really bad but that's b/c most older students are transfer students, who didn't get proper early intervention in the public school system or who are oral failures.
 
Well, I've been to 10 schools in my life. Already been to public schools, mainstream, and deaf schools.

My experience with public school, they didn't provide good education to me...They always have me sit on table alone and interpreter sit in front of me, do some works which level was low and isn't same level as theirs (for example: it was 5th grade, my level was 2nd or 3rd grade.) I never sit with classmates as group to discuss about such as history, math, science,etc. I was isolated most of the time, didn't have lot of friends or did not participate any sports due to my deafness or any special events.

And my experience with Mainstream isn't too bad compare to public school because there were several deaf students like me, able to play together or discuss, etc. Its more of small setting, more focus on each indiviuals, etc.

Lastly, my experience with Deaf schools I was more much happier. Because there's lot of students who are deaf just like me, some deaf teachers and hearing teachers with sign language skills, able to communicate, to make friends, participate sports/events/etc. I've caught up lot, learned SO much because I was so behind with education from public school before I was transferred to deaf school. There's lot of opporunities for deaf kids to do at deaf school such as sports, trips, special events such as swimming, camping, bowling, park, and much more to list. I felt comfortable and blended in so I've been staying that deaf school for 6 yrs and graduated.

Now, I have 6 months old son who is Deaf and I will put him in deaf school from my experience I've been through. :)
 
Heather... I dont think playing sports has anything to do with u being deaf. I have went to mainstream school all my life and I have played softball, volleyball and basketball in School inculding high school...I been in softball for 3 years in a row , Volleyball in 3 yrs in a row.... That did Not stop me or make me feel not included.. everyone treat the deaf equal in sports... I had alot of friends in school cuz I talk to them and they talk to me back.. My sister Angel didnt have friends of her own because she was the shy type I was the most outgoing type.. so of Course I let her fit in with my friends... Some hearing people are scared to talk to the deaf because they might think u wouldnt understand them once u talk to them they will relized that they are not scare anymore and would try their best to communcate with you equally....and There are some hearing people who would be immature and insulted the deaf.. but not everyone... U have to go half way and they go half way.. then everyone is happy... Understand what im saying hon?..*smile*
 
I been in mainstreamed school all of my life and I been played sports in school and hearing leagues. I see nothing wrong about being deaf and hearing learning each other. :)
 
err... I wasn't talking about mainstream that I didn't join sports...I was talking about Public school. :lol: ;)
 
Back
Top