bilateral CI kid

[shel90]

I don't think so... I don't think he would have "mimicked" my taking shoes off... his attention span was obviously not short either... because we interacted for almost half an hour... and for a 3 year old... that isn't a short attention span.

Also, may of us on this forum have EXPERIENCED almost exactly what that child is... being raised in an oral only environment, with parents that want to "fix" us, with parents who think "my child is different" (which he was obviously expressing by his 10 db talk)... but what they don't realize, is these children need to know people like them, have accessible language... also... I wasn't "manually" communicating with him... i was signing to him. Personally, I take offence when people talk about manual communication, it brings us back to the 50's when ASL was a last resort and seen as manual communication. IT ISN'T... it is a visual communication process... if you say ASL is a "manual" communication... then so is spoken language, telepathy would be a "non-manual" form of communication...

Please, those of us who have been there, where that little boy is now, are telling it like it is... you really don't know what its like to be Deaf, or even orally deaf, being forced to try and communicate in a way that you can't hear, being told over and over again that people don't understand you, that you are wrong, that you are a broken hearing person, I've been where that little boy is... having something forced on me (HA's in my case, CI in his) that I had no choice upon, that was not natural for me... please don't tell me that what I experienced, what I observed, was nothing more than "mimicry"

Amen.

 

[dogmom]

well, I'm glad that little boy was able to have that experience with you, ash.
Deaf role models in an audist society are very important

 

[deafdyke]

I don't think so... I don't think he would have "mimicked" my taking shoes off... his attention span was obviously not short either... because we interacted for almost half an hour... and for a 3 year old... that isn't a short attention span.

Also, may of us on this forum have EXPERIENCED almost exactly what that child is... being raised in an oral only environment, with parents that want to "fix" us, with parents who think "my child is different" (which he was obviously expressing by his 10 db talk)... but what they don't realize, is these children need to know people like them, have accessible language... also... I wasn't "manually" communicating with him... i was signing to him. Personally, I take offence when people talk about manual communication, it brings us back to the 50's when ASL was a last resort and seen as manual communication. IT ISN'T... it is a visual communication process... if you say ASL is a "manual" communication... then so is spoken language, telepathy would be a "non-manual" form of communication...

Please, those of us who have been there, where that little boy is now, are telling it like it is... you really don't know what its like to be Deaf, or even orally deaf, being forced to try and communicate in a way that you can't hear, being told over and over again that people don't understand you, that you are wrong, that you are a broken hearing person, I've been where that little boy is... having something forced on me (HA's in my case, CI in his) that I had no choice upon, that was not natural for me... please don't tell me that what I experienced, what I observed, was nothing more than "mimicry"

Yes, I'm heading to the bath in a few mintues but wanted to respond to this.
Those of you who claim that this generaton of CI kids are going to be "different" are ignoring the fact that HOH....bear in mind HOH kids deal with exactly the same stuff that oral deaf kids do and have for decades. Those of us who are HOH have experianced the major downsides of the hearing world. Yes, we can hear and talk very well....but oral speech does not and cannot give us unfettered access to the hearing world.

 

[Sunshine]

How sad...poor little boy...shame on his dad

 

[Bon]

And if you would have taken off your shoes, he would have followed suit, and the dad would have had one heck of a time keeping his footwear on.

Touche. I think everybody knows that little kids try to imitate other people around them that they like.

It's great that the original poster and the little boy can both communicate via sign language, but what about the other 99% of the population who don't sign? Don't you think life would be a little easier for him if he can communicate with normal hearing folks in their language?

 

[Banjo]

Touche. I think everybody knows that little kids try to imitate other people around them that they like.

It's great that the original poster and the little boy can both communicate via sign language, but what about the other 99% of the population who don't sign? Don't you think life would be a little easier for him if he can communicate with normal hearing folks in their language?

You put too much emphasis on the word, "normal".

 

[deafdyke]

Touche. I think everybody knows that little kids try to imitate other people around them that they like.

It's great that the original poster and the little boy can both communicate via sign language, but what about the other 99% of the population who don't sign? Don't you think life would be a little easier for him if he can communicate with normal hearing folks in their language?

You miss that having good speech skills doesn't mean that you shouldn't get to become fluent in ASL.

 

[dogmom]

:roll: "normal"??

 

[Bottesini]

Seems like the father was willing to let the boy check out the deaf way of being if Ash was interacting for 30 minutes.

I have seen adult CI users look at me in horror and avert their gaze. I assume late deafened people with no deaf experience.

 

[Cheetah]

It doesn't matter how old you are... sometimes you suddenly find your place in this world. A place where you can be yourself. when that happens you want to just grab and hold on to it. This little boy just got a taste of that. I hope he gets more chances like this. It's sad that a parent cannot see what incredible potential is in their children if they just let them grow and develop as themselves.

Perhaps they are blinded by our deafness?

 

[iowaboy]

Given an adolescent child and a communicated and concious decision then you might be able to chalk this up for a kid raging against the machine. Seriously though, give the kid's parents some praise for at least giving him some sign, giving him a tool like a CI, and allowing him to interact with you, despite you encouraging him to disobey his father. Next time you see him, try taking off your shoes and see what happens.

The place of a 3 year old child is to be beside their parents obeying them. I don't think the parent is the blind one here.

 

[jillio]

Touche. I think everybody knows that little kids try to imitate other people around them that they like.

It's great that the original poster and the little boy can both communicate via sign language, but what about the other 99% of the population who don't sign? Don't you think life would be a little easier for him if he can communicate with normal hearing folks in their language?

Where are you getting that 99% from? If you are going to throw out numbers, you seriously need to have the stats to support them. I can tell you without a doubt that your 99% is way off.

No, life would be easier for the hearing folks, very few of which are "normal".

 

[jillio]

Given an adolescent child and a communicated and concious decision then you might be able to chalk this up for a kid raging against the machine. Seriously though, give the kid's parents some praise for at least giving him some sign, giving him a tool like a CI, and allowing him to interact with you, despite you encouraging him to disobey his father. Next time you see him, try taking off your shoes and see what happens.

The place of a 3 year old child is to be beside their parents obeying them. I don't think the parent is the blind one here.

Even when it is not in the best interest of the child? That is a very authoritarian stance to take. Doesn't do much to foster parent/child relationships. Perhaps parents should spend a little more time observing their children's reactions and actions before deciding on what laws they are going to lay down.

 

[ash345]

Given an adolescent child and a communicated and concious decision then you might be able to chalk this up for a kid raging against the machine. Seriously though, give the kid's parents some praise for at least giving him some sign, giving him a tool like a CI, and allowing him to interact with you, despite you encouraging him to disobey his father. Next time you see him, try taking off your shoes and see what happens.

The place of a 3 year old child is to be beside their parents obeying them. I don't think the parent is the blind one here.

how was I encouraging him to disobey his father? Yes, it is good that they gave him some sign, but the fact that the little boy, who was born deaf, couldn't communicate with his parents in sign... that his dad didn't UNDERSTAND what I was asking him in sign... that is a problem. Also that they were FORCING him to wear his CI's when he didn't want to... that is also a problem. my niece, who is the same age as him, who is also deaf, won't take her HA's off just because I do... she takes them off when she doesn't want to wear them... she won't take her shoes off when i do just because I take mine off...

also... a child should be able to interact with people who are like them... which yes I am very happy that his dad didn't tear him away from me, and let him try to interact with a Deaf adult... but a childs place is not to OBEY the parent... it is to be guided by the parent, allowing the child to discover things on their own, and learn from their successes and failures, to grow as a person... not to blindly obey their parents... If that is how you feel... I feel sorry for any children you have or will have...

 

[ash345]

Touche. I think everybody knows that little kids try to imitate other people around them that they like.

It's great that the original poster and the little boy can both communicate via sign language, but what about the other 99% of the population who don't sign? Don't you think life would be a little easier for him if he can communicate with normal hearing folks in their language?

I have no problem communicating with the rest of the world that doesn't sign... yes it is much easier to communicate in sign, no doubt about that... but I have no problems communicating with the rest of the world. There is a pen and paper, body language. And no, I don't think it will be easier on him if he can communicate with the hearing population in their language, it will be harder for him... because he will still have to read lips, he will still have to piece things together... will it be easier for THEM yes... for the HEARING WORLD yes it will be easier on them... but not on this little boy.

and as to your NORMAL comment... I AM NORMAL... yes i am deaf, but that doesn't change the normalcy of my life, it changes the way i interact with the world around me... but not the fact that I am still human, the fact that I am still normal. Being "normal" has NOTHING do with your hearing status... (and who defines normal anyways? normal is relative, there are NO globally recognized forms of normal)

 

[Banjo]

and as to your NORMAL comment... I AM NORMAL... yes i am deaf, but that doesn't change the normalcy of my life, it changes the way i interact with the world around me... but not the fact that I am still human, the fact that I am still normal. Being "normal" has NOTHING do with your hearing status... (and who defines normal anyways? normal is relative, there are NO globally recognized forms of normal)

Keep in mind that you are responding to someone who views the deaf as intelligently inferior to the hearing.

 

[ash345]

Keep in mind that you are responding to someone who views the deaf as intelligently inferior to the hearing.

this is true... apparently just because I am Deaf means that I can't have my degrees, and that I can't have an intelligent conversation with someone... I forgot about that. thank you for reminding me of the foolish thoughts that some of our audist members have.

 

[Bottesini]

Given an adolescent child and a communicated and concious decision then you might be able to chalk this up for a kid raging against the machine. Seriously though, give the kid's parents some praise for at least giving him some sign, giving him a tool like a CI, and allowing him to interact with you, despite you encouraging him to disobey his father. Next time you see him, try taking off your shoes and see what happens.

The place of a 3 year old child is to be beside their parents obeying them. I don't think the parent is the blind one here.

Even when it is not in the best interest of the child? That is a very authoritarian stance to take. Doesn't do much to foster parent/child relationships. Perhaps parents should spend a little more time observing their children's reactions and actions before deciding on what laws they are going to lay down.

I hate it when I agree with the CI parents...

I don't like to be unpopular, but I would be upset a great deal if I was with my granddaughters, either the hearing, the hoh, or both and some stranger was making an approach like that.

I would not think of it as some hearing or deaf philosophy, but think it isn't safe to let kids think strangers approaching the is safe or right at all.

That's one thing all children should be taught.

 

[shel90]

Touche. I think everybody knows that little kids try to imitate other people around them that they like.

It's great that the original poster and the little boy can both communicate via sign language, but what about the other 99% of the population who don't sign? Don't you think life would be a little easier for him if he can communicate with normal hearing folks in their language?

Oh my gosh...normal hearing folks.

Maybe you dont consider yourself as normal but I consider myself normal and dont need a CI to be "normal".

:roll:

 

[ash345]

I hate it when I agree with the CI parents...

I don't like to be unpopular, but I would be upset a great deal if I was with my granddaughters, either the hearing, the hoh, or both and some stranger was making an approach like that.

I would not think of it as some hearing or deaf philosophy, but think it isn't safe to let kids think strangers approaching the is safe or right at all.

That's one thing all children should be taught.

yes I understand that, the approach may not have been the best, but I didn't touch the child, and I tried to talk with his dad too. His dad obviously didn't see me as a threat, because he was willing to let the little guy interact with me. And at one point, thankfully, his dad was actually encouraging him to sign to me, that was a good thing... but my original concern was that this little boy, 3 years old or so, was a bilateral CI kid, and his parents (or at least his) didn't sign, and was trying to pull the "my kid will be different" card... and when he was trying to be deaf... he wasn't allowed to be.

(and I don't think that post will make you unpopular Bott)