Deaf college for cochlear kid?

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Tommy01

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My nephew will start college soon and I am concerned about how ready he is. A little background---he was born deaf and had cochlear implants when he was 2, and is now 17. He does fairly well, is athletic and highly intelligent. He has been mainstreamed all along and does not sign. The implants are wonderful in that he can speak, and move safely around his environment, however I estimate he depends 60-80% on lipreading. This has caused his speech to be somewhat affected, relative to a hearing person. He would never pass for a hearing person. In addition he has a serious language processing problem; his grammar is terrible, which causes him to test (very) poorly. Even things like the math on the SAT are structured as word problems and he has a very hard time translating that into equations. While he can speak he often omits articles, transposes words, etc., things that seem unrelated to his hearing loss.

These issues have made it very difficult for him to socialize at school and he is often alone. I worry that his parents desire to mainstream him have robbed him of the sense of community deaf peers may have provided. He has picked up on his parents desire for him to be "normal" and wants nothing to do with the deaf community. I fear he's in for a difficult, lonely, life if something doesn't change. I think (hope?) that a deaf college would provide the sense of community he's longing for though here would be a huge initial adjustment, and he will be resistant to the idea.

Making things more difficult is that he is very immature for his age. I believe his lack of socialization has stunted his emotional growth. His parents agree on this last point and are trying to help him find safe(er) venues to socialize with other kids his age. I think it would be very difficult for him to move away to school next year but he would misinterpret keeping him at home as some kind of punishment.

I know that's a lot. I love the kid to death and would do anything for him, but I'm the uncle, not a parent, and am a hearing person so can never truly understand what he's going through. I would appreciate hearing from anyone, parents or relatives, who've been through something similar.

Thanks for any help!
Tom
 
Story of my life growing up minus the cochlear implants. I went to Arizona State University and took ASL as to meet my foreign language requirement. It changed my life ...

Fast forward 18 years, I am a full member of the Deaf community and use ASL 99% of the time in my daily life.

I cant imagine life without ASL and there is no way that I would go back to the hearing world/oral-only full time ever again.

He can go to Gallaudet University or start taking ASL classes at a nearby college if they offer them.

That example is one of the reasons why I am very very against the oral-only/mainstreaming philosophy for deaf/hoh children.
 
Social structures change SO much in college. For the writing and academic part have him seek out the disabilities resource center or whatever it's called for his school. They can proof his papers. I agree with the comment above - take ASL as a language.

There's a club for EVERYTHING at college. There are clubs for athletics, math, martial arts, computers, art... Tell him to join a club. I think in HS I used to find my friends based on how they look and act. In college I started befriending more people who had opinions and might be very different from me. Just tell him to have an open mind and be forward and prideful about the things he's good at. He'll attract people who are into that.

My sister is horrible at socializing too. She joined a sorority (common on her campus, maybe also on his) - it gave her a "family" who had support for classes, tutoring, and also a big social life.
 
Either Gallaudet or RIT .. I suggest him to visit both of Gallaudet and RIT then he will decide which he would like to attend, if he is an athletic boy then go to Gallaudet. :D

it is going to be a big challenge for him but he will be fine only if his self esteem is well handle.
 
NIU (Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, IL) has a huge deaf population, dorms set up for accessibility, and very good disability services. Matter of fact, if you live on campus and have documented hearing loss, you have to live in those dorms or prove you can hear a regular smoke alarm and wake up from it. They even have special dorm rooms for people with service animals.

I almost forgot. They have their own audiology clinic on campus, because that's one of the majors taught there. If something happens to his CIs, he can just go over to the clinic and get it taken care of there. For a big, regular college it's got some great stuff. If he ends up in law school, my SIL would be one of his teachers ;-) I went there for graduate school (found out about the fantastic stuff after I went), they provided me with new hearing aids at no cost and it's low cost to most students at the time, I can't say enough about that part. Even in the hard sciences, which I was in, there was at least one deaf student at the graduate level. It was just...nice and they made it so damn easy for me after a lifestime of struggling. There was even a recent deaf lawyer who interviewed for a professorship there.
 
Thank you for all the good information. I do think it would be good for him to go to RIT or Gallaudet but he has a preconception that deaf kids, without CI, "hate" CI kids. As I said, he's immature for his age and will take some convincing. What should he do this next year to prepare for one of those schools? He's taking ASL now but is way behind. Perhaps an immersive course next summer?
 
Tommy01 said:
Thank you for all the good information. I do think it would be good for him to go to RIT or Gallaudet but he has a preconception that deaf kids, without CI, "hate" CI kids. As I said, he's immature for his age and will take some convincing. What should he do this next year to prepare for one of those schools? He's taking ASL now but is way behind. Perhaps an immersive course next summer?
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I can see how he might feel that way, however you're also going to encounter people who are sexist, racist, against people in your major, or against people who dress a certain way. It worked for him, so he's the only one he has to account for. And I'm sure he would meet more people who have CIs there.

Between this summer and next have him to go meetups or get involved with your local center or club for ASL/Deaf/HOH - it would probably give him peace of mind that people don't hate CI kids and also improve his ASL and help him learn to meet people.
 
I graduated from RIT and I did go to Gallaudet for a year. Both are GREAT but if he wants to be in BOTH world (hearing and deaf), RIT would be a great fit for him. It also depends on his major....

I believe that RIT would be a better fit because it has both world AND more likely will convince his parents! (haha).
 
My life changed for the better when I started to get more involved with the deaf community. I went 10 years without seeing anyone who had any kind of hearing loss and I felt quite isolated in that I couldn't relate to anyone.

Now I have a huge amount of deaf friends, some sign and some speak but my confidence has grown along with a lot of other things.

Even if your nephew is around hearing people 99.9% of the time. I believe that 0.1% will really help him.

My language skills is still really bad still but have way improved from what they were before I got to know lots of deaf people.

That's the one thing I still want to really improve apon.
 
Oral student at Deaf College?

I am a teacher of the Deaf and yes, he sounds like he would benefit from being exposed to a missing part of his life. Deaf culture is not replaced by mainstreaming......that void will still exist. BTW, the nuances you spoke of with transposing words and omitting articles is very typical for some Deaf children. Depends on what kind of intervention, communication, services etc. It takes a tremendous amount if work to put it all together!
 
Tommy01 said:
Thank you for all the good information. I do think it would be good for him to go to RIT or Gallaudet but he has a preconception that deaf kids, without CI, "hate" CI kids. As I said, he's immature for his age and will take some convincing. What should he do this next year to prepare for one of those schools? He's taking ASL now but is way behind. Perhaps an immersive course next summer?
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not true....there is SOME anti CI sentiment,but overall kids with CIs are accepted...there are implanted kids at virtually ALL the Schools and programs for the Deaf....it's no longer 1993 any more. Your nephew sounds like a typical oral/mainstreamed kid......Let me guess....he experianced inclusion up the wazzoo right? He never even got to go to Ora Linga right?Remind me to kill the person who thought mainstreaming was all that....the trouble is that while some kids can do well all over,most kids still have issues with things like socialization and incidental learning.....which are the things that REALLY count!!!!!
Have his parents get this book:On the Fence: The Hidden World of the Hard of Hearing by Mark Drolsbaugh Assistive and Hearing Aids Products - Deaf, Hearing Loss, Sign Language
I wonder..........A summer camp would be AWESOME for him...I know many mainstreamed and dhh kids who went to Deaf camp and it opened up so many doors for them!:Summer Camps for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and Teens
Couple of thoughts ....Look into the NTID camps,the Gally ones,Aspen Camp School for the Deaf and HOH,and Iso Bella especially......That would help him SO much in terms of social emotional development....You know social emotional development is almost as important as academics....but it's really brushed under the rug......very sad if you ask me.
I also wonder.....maybe he should transfer to Deaf School or at least a school with a strong dhh program....Kids can stay in school until they're 21...then that way he could strenghen his skills....he could even get speech therapy etc....one of the things about deaf schools is that they are ALL in one....academic,social emotional etc etc etc.......the California Schools might be a little too voice off for him.....but there's always regional programs (which might be right up his ally)Schools and Programs for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in the United States
 
Sounds like the parents are in denial. Now that he's going to college, he should be independent. Going to a deaf college might help him with acknowledging his deafness.

Any deaf college that he's considering?

I went to RIT and that's a good college for those who are oral and deaf. Even the local community is deaf-friendly.
 
I would suggest Gallaudet or RIT. I never looked into RIT, but I was accepted and enrolled at Gallaudet. Once I spent some time there, I realized that it wasn't for me right now... But I had a few friends with CIs. I don't think that they felt people hate against them. Also, it is a Deaf campus, everyone signs, so if need be, he could just not wear his CIs. One of my friends was bilaterally implanted and he didn't always wear his. It all depended on where he was going and if he needed to hear. Also, Gallaudet has a new signers program in the summer, it's called Jumpstart. I had a few friends that attended this program as well. He could learn some ASL there or just learning how to immerse himself in the Deaf culture. I would definitely suggest getting involved in any way he can. Get involved in the Deaf community, wherever you are. It truly pays off. Best of luck!
 
thats interesting...now we're talking about deafcolleges for cochlear kids....its goes to show, you can't get rid of deafness, and i dont mean the audiological aspect, i mean the Being of a Deaf!...and society are ever so slow to accept...not surprising anyway...
 
Grummer said:
thats interesting...now we're talking about deafcolleges for cochlear kids....its goes to show, you can't get rid of deafness, and i dont mean the audiological aspect, i mean the Being of a Deaf!...and society are ever so slow to accept...not surprising anyway...
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Yes....exactly!!!!!! The device is different,but the experiance is the SAME......The ONLY difference is that oral kids aren't transferring to Clarke/CID and St. Joseph's in droves like they did in the old days.......the CI kids are experiancing everything the HA kids have previously......Just b/c a dhh kid can hear and talk,it doesn't mean their experiance is gonna be exactly like a hearing kid's....Plus I think AG Bell and pro inclusionists seem to have this fanasty that hearing schools for dhh kids is like something out of the 40's (gosh a rootie! Let's go down to Bill's for a malted after Bible Study)
 
deafdyke said:
Yes....exactly!!!!!! The device is different,but the experiance is the SAME......The ONLY difference is that oral kids aren't transferring to Clarke/CID and St. Joseph's in droves like they did in the old days.......the CI kids are experiancing everything the HA kids have previously......Just b/c a dhh kid can hear and talk,it doesn't mean their experiance is gonna be exactly like a hearing kid's....Plus I think AG Bell and pro inclusionists seem to have this fanasty that hearing schools for dhh kids is like something out of the 40's (gosh a rootie! Let's go down to Bill's for a malted after Bible Study)
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If they aren't having to transfer to these schools, because their language is caught up and they don't need the intensive therapy and special setting, wouldn't that mean that something is different?
 
TODtobe said:
If they aren't having to transfer to these schools, because their language is caught up and they don't need the intensive therapy and special setting, wouldn't that mean that something is different?
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No...It just means that the spoken language gap isn't as severe. Public schools very often have regional programs or classes for dhh kids. Or they can be served through mainstream sped...Also some of the oral kids(who would have transferred to CID/Clarke/St.Joseph's) are transferring to programs/schools that use ASL/Sign.(FSDB,CSDB,Maryland School,Special School District of St Louis)..Also spoken language mastery is only a very small part of life sucess...there's still tons of flaws and struggles with oral only
 
deafdyke said:
No...It just means that the spoken language gap isn't as severe. Public schools very often have regional programs or classes for dhh kids. Or they can be served through mainstream sped...Also some of the oral kids(who would have transferred to CID/Clarke/St.Joseph's) are transferring to programs/schools that use ASL/Sign.(FSDB,CSDB,Maryland School,Special School District of St Louis)..Also spoken language mastery is only a very small part of life sucess...there's still tons of flaws and struggles with oral only
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But right in this post you have mentioned several things that have changed. You say that language gaps aren't as severe (which is true because research is showing that kids are catching up and staying caught up) and that they are being educated in different settings, which is also a change.

Also, I was told that enrollment is going down at ASL schools, not up. Do you have different data that I have seen?
 
TODtobe said:
But right in this post you have mentioned several things that have changed. You say that language gaps aren't as severe (which is true because research is showing that kids are catching up and staying caught up) and that they are being educated in different settings, which is also a change.

Also, I was told that enrollment is going down at ASL schools, not up. Do you have different data that I have seen?
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Actually that research is biased,and is done on OPTION school kids..(very selective oral schools.) Not the oral population as a WHOLE...they're just getting better at telling kids who NEED ASL early on,that they need it...They're still getting a plethora of transfers from CID/Moog/St Joesph's at the Special School District ..Yes,the language gaps aren't as severe.....that doesn't mean they don't exist.Very few dhh kids completely graduate/sign off from speech therapy..(and most of them are in it due to LANGAUGE issues not mechanics).also many oral kids still have significent written language issues (reading and writing)....the ONLY difference is that their speech skills are a bit better (like on the level of HOH kids basicly....did you know that 30% of HOH kids still have a lot of the same issues that deafer kids do?
Like it's common for an oral kid to be say 10 years old but have the receptive and expressive spoken language skills of a 5 year old. Also, oral kid's verbal IQs (which measure mastery of spoken language) are still not up to par with hearing kids....if oralism worked then dhh kids would have on par verbal IQs.
Finally I did not say that enrollment was increasing at res schools.....There ARE schools such as Texas School and Rocky Mountain Deaf School as well as some others that have seen increased enrollment (TSD has 500 students this year) There are regional dhh programs....res schools aren't the only options.....I said that the difference is that oral kids(who struggle) tend to now be transferring to their state Deaf schools or regional dhh programs,instead of transferring to Clarke/CID/St Joesph's around fourth grade like in the old days.
 
Oh............almost forgot.....there have been closures of the speech schools (oral preschools/kindergardens) in recent years,as well as an oral school(P-6) just last year......Whereas there have been some new Signing schools cropping up in recent years.....SSDHH
http://jeanmassieu.com/,Metro Deaf School Metro Deaf School - Welcome
There's still a lot of kids enrolled in Signing Deaf regional programs for example.......
 
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