deafdyke said:
Is your older son in a Dhh program? Does he speak too?
Dhh... Im thinking. Im just getting into the names of all these programs and the legalities of it. Prior to this I was misguided by the school representative for the special ed program. I started seeking out help because I found my son did not thrive at school, and what he learned each day was basicly during the time AT HOME that we spent studying. He dosent speak, but he verbalizes when he wants something. We are focusing on his signing and foundational language right now, worrying about the lip reading and speaking thing later, as he gets into his own comfort zone.
The school he goes to is a private charter school(only during the day) for deaf individuals. Almost the whole staff is completely deaf(there are staff team that answer phones and are interpretors for hearing parents who do not know sign or are new to the sigining community). Its an all ASL/SI school, everyone knows sign language, and is required to speak sign language when on campus, or an interpretor is there to interpret for them.
Its a newer school, about four or five years old, and has changed dramatically since the new principal(he is deaf, also) came into place and made it the facility it is today.
Its remarkable. Its the school I dreamed about for James since we started him in school...
Has anyone else noticed younger hearing parents being a lot more accepting of ASL/Sign for their dhh kids? I think maybe it's b/c they grew up with ASL/Sign as a cool thing and are more likely to accept it. Also probaly they were exposed to dhh peers so they actually KNOW what a dhh kid's life is like!!!
I never grew up around it.
I just thought(I was a very young mom, 16 at his birth) your deaf, you sign... The thought of him trying to hear or speak never occured to me. Im very passionate about parents forcing thier children to be something that the parent wants them to be, and not the child... so if I had known my options I would have chosen this for my children, anyways. I absolutely could not imagine isolating and forcing my son to be something that he has no idea about at such a young age.
I still get endless crap about not putting CIs and aides in my childrens' heads... It sucks... it really angers me too, because to me its a false hope theory that makes hearing parents even more frusterated and angry at the child's loss... now not only is the child having to deal with an upset parent because the child is deaf(This whole concept baffles me, but thats a whole other thread), they are being forced to wear these foreign devices and to do something that wasnt naturally built in thier bodies in order to satisfy some doctor, teacher and thier parent... thats too much stress for such a small child... its nauseating, I could never imagine doing that to my children.
Its an automatic set up to feel feel dissapointment or failure if it dosent turn out as planned... and I have seen it one too many times before in my son's preschool and kindergarten classrooms. Ive seen blatent denial and parents screaming in thier kids faces, the implant or aide obviously dosent work for the kid, the kids face is streaked with red and tears because mom or dad refuse to learn sign. Ive even heard "He can hear, the hearing test showed it. He responded just fine, he just wants to be difficult." :jaw:
on a positive note. Thank you for the warm welcome!
Im so happy to be here. HI SARAH!! Ill probably be sticking around a long time. I love to talk.. its hard not to.
And whats up with these smilies
?! My son, James likes to look at smilies when Im typing, but I had to cover these ones up.
<-- He likes that one, and now pulls his pants down and shakes his butt at me.
THANKS PEOPLE!
katt.