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Wow is all that I can say after reading today's messages in this thread.  I have more respect for some of you and a whole lot less for others.  I think that Neecy hit the nail on the head when she described what is going on here.  As a relatively new parent of a deaf child who is learning and trying to decipher which road is best for her son, who is implanted and still communicates strongly with sign, I must say that if I met some of these attitudes on the street, I would feel so discouraged with the path that our life has taken.  That the choice that I heartwrenchingly made for MY child would bring this much turmoil and controversy, I would do all that I can to shield him from this!  I was warned that our decision would incur anger toward us and our child, which I was prepared for, but this is what I hope I never encounter out there, where hopefully more manners are used, is this subversive anger and hatred toward parents who do feel that the hearing world is positive and want to provide their child with the opportunity to be a part of it.  I think that there are points to both sides, but as a voice for the hearing parents who are trying (I think that my few previous posts reflect this) to figure out this road with both sign and speech, it is very discouraging to see those, mostly Jillio, who consistently and very negatively I might add, undercut and undervalue all the positive things that we see in our kids that have anything related to being "oral".  We get it, sign has extreme value to some kids that use CI, but can you not budge just one little inch that CI brings something positive and wonderful to these kids as well.  I know that my little guy is only 19 months, but I do know that he asks to put in on (in sign) and he dances and gets very excited and claps when we put his favorite songs and DVD's in (Signing Time). 


Like I said, I respect some of you so much more during this debate because you are able to look outside of your small window of the world and admit that there are positives to both sides of the story. I think that that is the whole point.


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