Yes, that's true. No experiences are alike. However, it all has to do with early exposure and support. The key is earlier the better.
Let me tell you a true story. Back when I was about 4 or 5 years old there was another boy who lived a few houses down who had the same hearing loss as I did. My Mom and that kid’s Mom even compared their audiograms of us. We were nearly identical with near exact speech threshold diagram on the frequency part where speech would be most conducive. The problem was the other mother hardly helped her son develop any speaking or listening skills with his hearing aid. All he did was scream, point fingers and such. As for me, my mother encouraged and helped me develop my speaking and listening skill with the aid of my hearing aid and engaged me in such a way that I took advantage of my brain’s early plasticity on auditory development. As we grew older I pulled way out ahead of him where I ended up on par with my hearing peers in terms of language, reading, writing and the ability to communicate effectively. Him? He stayed well behind in grade level, never talked or improved his listening skills. His window of opportunity was simply gone. It’s a sad story.
Now, in my earlier post where I described for those who wear a hearing aid in the ability to talk, listen, use phone, listen to radio, etc, what would the hearing loss be like in order for that to be achieved successfully? Mild? Moderate? Moderately severe? Severe? Or Profound hearing loss?
My son is profoudly deaf. With the use of HA and AVT, as well as my extreme involvement, he also developed speech skills and listenign skills, and can function ina hearing world when he chooses to do so. He also was exposed to the Deaf community from the age of 2, and he and I both learned ASL from native signers as a result. He was provided with role models of successful Deaf adults who lived their lives as Deaf individuals. He wa aminstreamed for the first 4 years of his academic career with a terp, and when he began to experience socialization problems based on hearing educators inability to deal with a deaf student, and harmful attitudes toward his deafness, from both educators, administrators, and other students, I relocvated in order to send him to a school for the deaf as a day student. He received not only oral and sign input from hearing teachers, but also ASL input from Deaf teachers, but also continued oral and sign input from home. As a consequence, he is able to use his oral skills to function in the hearing world when it is necessary. However, he also has made the choice to ID as Deaf, and prefers ASL in his communications. He is currently a college student at a large major university, uses a terp in class along with a notetaker, and is carrying a 3.5 overall GPA as a psychology major. Because he was exposed to both sign and speech from an early age, he has been able to develop bilingaul skill. Becasue he was exposed to the Deaf community from an early age, he was able to develop a realistic picture of what deafness is from those who live with it on a daily basis, and not simply what other hearing people think deafness is. Consequently, he was able to pass through the developmental stages necessary to develop his own identity, and is extremely comfortable with his deafness. He is not consumed with trying to disguise or hide his deafness, or to try and correct his deafness, or to take any action to make himself more hearing. He is able to use his energies to focus on becoming successful with his deafness. He is able to focus on his education and work toward the career that he has chosen as a deaf person. He is not concerned that his lack of hearing will interfere with that, because he was given the experiences of seeing real life examples that one does not have to alter who one is in order to be successful and happy. I would like, more than anything else, for all deaf children to be given the early childhood experience that allows them to develop not only language, but positive self image and well adjusted attitude that is as necessary to successful living as is communication. In the deaf students I worl with, those who have been raised in such an environment are doing well. Those however, who have been raised in an ora environment, are not. They are lagging behind educationally due to liguistic issues, they are isecure functioning in a hearing environment such as a college, and their focus is on not drawing attention to their deafness rather than succesfully living with it.
Shel and her brother are both profoundly deaf. They werre raised in the same environment. Shel was able to develop oral skills; her brother was not. Shel was educated orally, her brother attended a school for the deaf. Shel admits that she still carries the scars from her experience. Her brother adjusted much more readily to his deafness. Both are well educated, shel has a master's degree and is an educator of the deaf. Her brother is working on his master's degree to become an educator for the deaf. Both are successful. However, shel's brother became well adjusted to his deafness; shel was denied the opportunity to do so, and has only come to grips with the implications as an adult. Her brother did not have to exert the amount of energy that did shel to arrive at the same place.
I agree that early support and linguistic input is an extremely important variable. But I will also add that the nature of that experience is just as important. And I find experience that exposes a child to examples of learning to live with deafness is more imprtant than exposure to experiences in teaching a child how to function in spite of their deafness. These are two completely different experiences. A deaf child must learn to communicate, yes. A deaf child must be educated, yes. But more than anything, before that deaf child will be able to function as an adult in the hearing world, he or she must first learn to be a deaf child.
