A Cure

[Hohtopics]

but most important, there no one right way that applies to all children, asl is not by default a "natural" language for all deaf children, neither is spoken language a "natural" language for all deaf children with cis. I think it's important to explore each child's abilities, preferences and find what works best.

+1

 

[deafgal001]

You have to make sure why they prefer spoken Some may be overwhelmed as it is, and people with little fluency of ASL overwhelm them even more. Some kids get sick and tired of choppy communication so they rather stick with one of it.

 

[Hohtopics]

i do not disagree that there are advantages to being truly bilingual and if it can be accomplished then there is no reason not to. However, like anything else, each kid is different, some like my own child never had interest in sign and was and still is an auditory learner and how she processes information the best (as opposed to my hearing daughter who is the opposite and is a visual learner). Others are like a former member cloggy's daughter who grew up with both sign and spoken languages (she is multilingual) but over time had a decided preference towards spoken language only.

+1

 

[rick48]

Is it true they struggle with certain consonant sounds? It sounds like a switcharoo on struggle because I struggle with "ss" and other softer sounds.


You know what, I know you think talking on the phone and carrying on conversation in another room is all new (and probably more beneficial for your daughter as she can't use hearing aids) , but some deaf, depending on their type of loss, actually can do all that with hearing aids

And that's it, "depending on the loss". I am not saying there is no one who can't do it but that for my daughter, who is not unique, not sure it would ever have occurred and even if so, not without a difficult struggle. Why, as a parent if we have chosen to provide her with spoken language as her primary language, would we not choose the most effective way allowing a profoundly deaf child access to that language?
Rick

 

[deafgal001]

My sister and I were one of them who could use the phone and talk to other people another room. Well we can hear them.. BUT it doesn't mean we understand everything unless we really concentrate.

 

[Hohtopics]

I'm coming from a hearing family- my mother, father and brother all hearing(I'm the only one deaf); my husband and all 7 of my children are hearing. I am well experienced in being in a hearing family and environment.

Last year I was introduced to the Deaf community and sign language for the first time. Still after all these years of being oral, I am now teaching my children sign language while I am learning myself as it provides me with a relief from the stress of being oral and relieves me from the 'pretense' of being 'hearing' and allows me to just be who I am. It is not a 'play on emotions' - it is the truth of being deaf.

Have you thought about getting a CI? Are you a candidate? And this coming from another "oral / mainstreamed deaf person that grew up during the pre-CI days", I personally think you're taking the harder, more tedious route. JMHO.

 

[rick48]

i see it making an enormous difference every day. My daughter fluidly and very naturally uses both asl and spoken english. Her preference is to use sign with some people (more often in school, where she is surrounded by deaf people, though surprisingly, they notice that she is shifting a bit towards spoken language in casual conversations) and spoken language with others (more often outside school, where she is surrounded by a lot of non-signers) sometimes code switching within a conversation for clarification.

But most important, there no one right way that applies to all children, asl is not by default a "natural" language for all deaf children, neither is spoken language a "natural" language for all deaf children with cis. I think it's important to explore each child's abilities, preferences and find what works best.

++1

 

[deafgal001]

Have you thought about getting a CI? Are you a candidate? And this coming from another "oral / mainstreamed deaf person that grew up during the pre-CI days", I personally think you're taking the harder, more tedious route. JMHO.

She has 7 kids, she need 24/7 accessible language. Do you have kids?

 

[rick48]

My sister and I were one of them who could use the phone and talk to other people another room. Well we can hear them.. BUT it doesn't mean we understand everything unless we really concentrate.

Those are just examples I gave but the reality is that she goes through life on a daily basis pretty easily and with no significant limitations being able to communicate orally with her ci, that is the point I am trying to make. So yes, for her it has made a big difference.
Rick

 

[rick48]

She has 7 kids, she need 24/7 accessible language. Do you have kids?

I think HHI was addressing the ci in terms of the daily difficulties she is encountering from using oral communication.
Rick

 

[deafgal001]

She'll have some limitation. you have to ask her what she thinks her limitations are if she is willing to tell you. It could be background noises.

 

[deafgal001]

The other day, I thought someone said bee with my CI... turned out she said pee. I kept asking her to repeat herself over 5 or six times because she wasn't using the word in a sentence.
Finally she used it in a sentence and I understood. This was in a quiet small room too.


With my hearing aids, I would have know the difference. Therefore this doesn't mean I didn't have the auditory pathway for bee and pee.. because I heard it all my life.

 

[GrendelQ]

Is it true they struggle with certain consonant sounds? It sounds like a switcharoo on struggle because I struggle with "ss" and other softer sounds.


You know what, I know you think talking on the phone and carrying on conversation in another room is all new (and probably more beneficial for your daughter as she can't use hearing aids) , but some deaf, depending on their type of loss, actually can do all that with hearing aids

I've seen so many children with CIs, and the are all so very different. I've spoken to some who speak and seem to comprehend perfectly. We're not at "perfect" . Li-Li does have trouble with her Ls when saying her own name, so we're tending towards using her real name rather than her nickname with all those Ls in it these days. And she can't say Abominable (as in snowman) -- it trips her up every time , but I love hearing her take on it. Other words are tough, too. But she's 4, this may be an age thing, or a habit from babyhood, because she can make the L sound in other words, just pronounces her own name as something closer to Ri-Ri or Ngi-Ngi than Li-Li. And I have to repeat many times to get her to pick things up, she seems unable to comprehend the concept of "clean up" but gets "go ahead, demolish the house" just fine.

But she's profoundly deaf, and prior to CIs, even with hearings aids in both ears, Li didn't have access at all to anything even near the range of spoken voice. She could hear airplanes when we were at the airport, doors slamming, dogs barking loudly at her side, tea kettle whistling, but not words in person, definitely not on the phone.

She has conversations on the phone every day now - she calls me at work, her grandmother at home. Sometimes requires a few repeats here and there, though, esp. on my iphone. She plays piano, speaks, hears conversations without effort. Picked up a bad word her dad said in another room o) and used it very appropriately a few minutes later to describe a spilled paint can, pronouncing all the consonants exactly right, even got the -ing at the end. I had to warn her teacher that we might be about to contaminate all of the children in the class, so beware my now-potty-mouthed, though articulate child.

It doesn't work for everyone, and it's not something everyone would want, but I do think it's worked amazingly for her. It's not a cure, she's a deaf kid. She doesn't hear in the same way that I do. But it makes spoken language fully accessible -- for her.

 

[faire_jour]

I'm coming from a hearing family- my mother, father and brother all hearing(I'm the only one deaf); my husband and all 7 of my children are hearing. I am well experienced in being in a hearing family and environment.

Last year I was introduced to the Deaf community and sign language for the first time. Still after all these years of being oral, I am now teaching my children sign language while I am learning myself as it provides me with a relief from the stress of being oral and relieves me from the 'pretense' of being 'hearing' and allows me to just be who I am. It is not a 'play on emotions' - it is the truth of being deaf.

It is the truth of YOU being deaf. It is not the truth for all deaf people. There are plenty of deaf people, even some here, who do not feel that way.

 

[rick48]

I've seen so many children with CIs, and the are all so very different. I've spoken to some who speak and seem to comprehend perfectly. We're not at "perfect" . Li-Li does have trouble with her Ls when saying her own name, so we're tending towards using her real name rather than her nickname with all those Ls in it these days. And she can't say Abominable (as in snowman) -- it trips her up every time , but I love hearing her take on it. Other words are tough, too. But she's 4, this may be an age thing, or a habit from babyhood, because she can make the L sound in other words, just pronounces her own name as something closer to Ri-Ri or Ngi-Ngi than Li-Li. And I have to repeat many times to get her to pick things up, she seems unable to comprehend the concept of "clean up" but gets "go ahead, demolish the house" just fine.

But she's profoundly deaf, and prior to CIs, even with hearings aids in both ears, Li didn't have access at all to anything even near the range of spoken voice. She could hear airplanes when we were at the airport, doors slamming, dogs barking loudly at her side, tea kettle whistling, but not words in person, definitely not on the phone.

She has conversations on the phone every day now - she calls me at work, her grandmother at home. Sometimes requires a few repeats here and there, though, esp. on my iphone. She plays piano, speaks, hears conversations without effort. Picked up a bad word her dad said in another room o) and used it very appropriately a few minutes later to describe a spilled paint can, pronouncing all the consonants exactly right, even got the -ing at the end. I had to warn her teacher that we might be about to contaminate all of the children in the class, so beware my now-potty-mouthed, though articulate child.

It doesn't work for everyone, and it's not something everyone would want, but I do think it's worked amazingly for her. It's not a cure, she's a deaf kid. She doesn't hear in the same way that I do. But it makes spoken language fully accessible -- for her.

Good post and you will also learn quickly when she is ignoring you as opposed to not hearing you. I have found that with both my girls any sentence that includes the words "money" or "shopping" gets their immediate attention!
Rick

 

[faire_jour]

Do you truly think CI make a big difference?

Yes, for my daughter it did. She went from 100% unable to access spoken language (she could lipread a few dozen words and say them but they were unintelligible) to gaining 4 years of language in 18 months and being able to understand and discriminate ALL sounds in the English language. She went from scoring 0% in her booth tests to 96%. That is HUGE.

 

[GrendelQ]

Good post and you will also learn quickly when she is ignoring you as opposed to not hearing you. I have found that with both my girls any sentence that includes the words "money" or "shopping" gets their immediate attention!
Rick

oh nooooo

I had to burst out laughing one time when she was much younger, totally breaking my stern mama tirade about not writing with markers on the living room wall: she was looking at me gravely, reached up and dropped off her coil before turned back to finish her drawing in what must have been much lovelier silence. I wouldn't have minded so much, but the child was no Keith Haring or Diego Rivera at the time -- her scale was way off, and it was terribly primitive work.

 

[deafgal001]

I heard my dad cuss another room too. Heard my parents fighting. I got my mouth washed for saying the f word. I have called my parents, and even boyfriends....

I didn't know -ing was a problem for deaf people, btw. (it's usually the -ed)

 

[deafgal001]

Yes, for my daughter it did. She went from 100% unable to access spoken language (she could lipread a few dozen words and say them but they were unintelligible) to gaining 4 years of language in 18 months and being able to understand and discriminate ALL sounds in the English language. She went from scoring 0% in her booth tests to 96%. That is HUGE.

I was talking about Oral deaf with hearing aids and CI. When us oral deaf tell parents our experience, they think CI will be different but the truth is, there will always be some stuggle.

 

[GrendelQ]

I heard my dad cuss another room too. Heard my parents fighting. I got my mouth washed for saying the f word. I have called my parents, and even boyfriends....

I didn't know -ing was a problem for deaf people, btw.

(although sad about the mouth washing, esp. if you picked it up from a parent, like Li-Li did from us)

Because Li's primary language is ASL, she tends to use ASL grammar when speaking English. And nothing to do with being deaf, correct use of participial adjectives is pretty much advanced for a 4YO, isn't it?

[edit: didn't mean to indicate that #^@*-ing was a problem for deaf people -- again, that's something that people have to assess on an individual basis :O ]