Deaf School or Oral School?

Oral school SUCKED SUCKED for me big time. Almost destroyed my soul. Thank god ASL saved my soul!
 
Bottesini said:
Considering she has moderate hearing loss and they don't know what will happen for sure in the future, she is probably going to end up in the mainstream, and today it's a lot better there than for those of us who were mainstreamed years ago.
Actually moderate hearing loss usually won't be considered for deaf school placement, as hearing loss needs to be significant enough to cause learning difficulties.

Anyway, whatever happens, good luck to you.
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Botte, not nessarily....I know of plenty of hoh kids who attend Deaf Schools. I actually think that one of the best things about CIs is that they've made Deaf Schools very hoh friendly. I would definitly look into a continunum of placement....There are some dhh mainstream programs, which can be awesome....and I have to say that the problems in the mainstream are still pretty much there. Yes, it's a bit easier then for kids who were mainstreamed in the 40's and 50s and 60's...but mainstreaming still is very very flawed.
 
the school for the deaf in Fremont said I have to get a district transfer for her to go to thier school. They also have programs for her as a baby. I am setting up a tour next week.
 
jillio said:
BTW...one of the biggest problems with Deaf Ed today is that it is classified and thought of as "special education". Special education is used to address cognitive disability. Education for the deaf is not intended to address cognitive disability. Your child is not developmentally disabled. She is deaf. There is a big difference. Always, always, keep that foremost in your mind.
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Ah, just to correct that. There IS a HUGE diffy between Deaf Ed and Blind Ed and special ed. That's a fact. Even my friends who were sped majors in college only got the very very basics in deaf ed (basicly the debate between oral deaf and Signing and mainstreaming vs deaf schools) Which is why mainstreaming a dhh or other low incidence disabilty kid can still be very difficult.
BUT, only about 20% of special ed is focused on mental handicap. Most sped kids have learning disabilties/ADD/behavorial disorders. That is another reason why parents need to be cautious about mainstreaming their kids.....The Geers/Moogs/Flexors of the world thought that mainstreaming= automatic high acheivement for dhh kids. But the thing is.....most public special ed can only offer minimal accomondations. If kids don't respond to the minimal accomondations approach, very often they get lumped in with the type of kid who is in sped simply b/c it's a dumping ground. It happened to ME, and I was the type of kid who took two foriegn languages in high school.
Also, social stuff can be awful. You do not want your kid to grow up thinking that they're the only kid in the universe to have to wear hearing aids. You don't want your kid to be teased about their deaf accent, you don't want them to be oscracized from hearing peers. Remember, those of us who are hoh can parcipuate in the hearing world......but we can never ever be fully hearing. I know on another messageboard, a mom of a hoh kid said that she talked with oral deaf adults. They said that although they could talk very well, they still didn't feel like they fit into the hearing world entirely......and they didn't have a lot of access to the deaf world either, b/c they didn't sign.
 
Just want to give my 2 cents!! I went to a school for deaf children from 3-11 years olds. I attended from 2yrs with my mother, for a Parent and Child programme. I absolutely adored the school, very small class sizes and they understood what we needed etc, the most in a class was eight. FM systems were provided and everything. We had a chance to mainstream at the school 2 mins up the road, which was good because I had the chance to mainstream alone before mainstreaming at a high school(that all my deaf friends attended as it had a Hearing Impaired Unit) I was mainstreamed in all cllasses but relied on a CSW which is an interpreter as it was much easier than following the class teacher and other students.
 
deafdyke said:
Ah, just to correct that. There IS a HUGE diffy between Deaf Ed and Blind Ed and special ed. That's a fact. Even my friends who were sped majors in college only got the very very basics in deaf ed (basicly the debate between oral deaf and Signing and mainstreaming vs deaf schools) Which is why mainstreaming a dhh or other low incidence disabilty kid can still be very difficult.
BUT, only about 20% of special ed is focused on mental handicap. Most sped kids have learning disabilties/ADD/behavorial disorders. That is another reason why parents need to be cautious about mainstreaming their kids.....The Geers/Moogs/Flexors of the world thought that mainstreaming= automatic high acheivement for dhh kids. But the thing is.....most public special ed can only offer minimal accomondations. If kids don't respond to the minimal accomondations approach, very often they get lumped in with the type of kid who is in sped simply b/c it's a dumping ground. It happened to ME, and I was the type of kid who took two foriegn languages in high school.
Also, social stuff can be awful. You do not want your kid to grow up thinking that they're the only kid in the universe to have to wear hearing aids. You don't want your kid to be teased about their deaf accent, you don't want them to be oscracized from hearing peers. Remember, those of us who are hoh can parcipuate in the hearing world......but we can never ever be fully hearing. I know on another messageboard, a mom of a hoh kid said that she talked with oral deaf adults. They said that although they could talk very well, they still didn't feel like they fit into the hearing world entirely......and they didn't have a lot of access to the deaf world either, b/c they didn't sign.
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Okay, I'm confused. That is what I said.:confused:
 
Methinks maybe your problem is that no one does you.:cool2:

To the OP...we had another mom recently that ended up having to sort through all of the nonsense to get to what the Deaf community had to say, but she eventually managed to do it, and is making some great decisions as a result. I do hope you have the same staying power as she does.
 
I have been mainstreamed 3-11 years old in 3 different mainstream schools and they all bad as each other. Mainstream always try to get away with little work as possible with deaf child because they don't know how to handle deaf child even if mainstream got HI unit and also so many kids in class so they do not have time. I have been bullied badly at mainstream. My first language is BSL but I had no support, no interpreter or CSW, nothing.

When I was 12 I went to oral deaf school and mainstreamed for art and PE. That mainstream was bad again. I loved being with my deaf friends at oral deaf school but I HATED classes cos it oral and I do not understand teachers, I learnt nothing. I board there part time and sometimes play football match other Deaf school uses BSL as 1st language and I really wanted to go there but never allowed to. My parents and I did go visit when parents deciding which school I should go to, I LOVED it but my parents HATED it. They didn't like that kids signs and no one speaking even though most kids there can speak perfectly. Just prefer sign with friends.
 
nancyj said:
My daughter is only 9 mo I know but I want to plan for her future and what would be better for her. She was diagnosed at birth with mild/moderate hearing loss. Now she has moderate loss, They say 46% chance by age 24 she will be completley deaf. She has had her HA's for about 5 months now and does well with them, when she doesn't pull them out and put them in her mouth.

Anyways I am kinda of on the fence about sending her to a deaf school or not? She is in an early intervention program where they say if she becomes oral she will mainstream. Where we live there are not many deaf children so she isn't around anybody like her except for the 2 kids in her program but 1 will be leaving us soon as his hearing is improving. I want her to be around both hearing and non hearing.

I think she should go to deaf school as her dad thinks oral schooling. I think she should be around kids like her so as not to be teased in oral schooling and that she will learn to be around hearing as we are all hearing. I just don't want her to stuggle more then she has too, as her dad says she needs to learn to live in a hearing world. I think it is hard for him to take that he has a child that is "not perfect" Yes he is learning sign but he is in denial always saying "I think she hears more then they say" or "they are wrong she hears." I ask him all the time what he is ging to do if she chooses not to wear hearing aids or doesn't talk and he just says she will.

I know I am kind of all over the place but please any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Nancy
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Good to think ahead. Best thing to do is to find out how much she can hear.. With moderate hearing loss and HA's she will develop speech and get around as any other kid in the neighbourhood. Totally deaf when she's an adult sounds as if the rate of losing her hearing is very slow. slow enough to be able to hear and speak..
But communication with your child Is the main thing. And sign and speech go very well together.. It's an excellent combination..
You guys are very lucky to have found out that she needs help to hear now.. And she's lucky to have her parents realise that..
 
Hi Nancy,
I first think not reply because my hearing not close your daughters but then I think my experience might help even if hearing different (I stone deaf).
I go preschool deaf kids, not remember this but mom tell me I liked it. Learn much ASL there in two years (3-5) so by 5 my signing much better my parents. This I remember...be frustrated can't communicate parents well anymore. They learn SEE, this what we sign home. Involve much finger spell, as they look confuse "not know this sign..." over and over.
I begin school mainstream school with terp. I like attention other kids think so cool have terp. One other deaf kid my class, we very popular first year school. Everyone like learn signs. Novelty wear off soon, and only 'real' constant friend other deaf kid. In school, we very close...we not lonely but we realise all other kids have more friends, more social life, more fun. We wish this for us.
My family move new province grade 6. I go mainstream again. No Deafies! Just me. So lonely!!! Only ASL from terp. Other kids make fun. Not think terp cool. I grow embarrass, try pretend hearie (hard when stone deaf...) which make other kids think I weird and they make fun more.
I beg parents let me go home province, go deaf school grade 7. They allow finally, I very happy! I move deaf school, live residence, think this will be perfect!!! School amazing...love deaf school. Sudden find many friends, understand teachers, use ASL always...I think greatest thing. If not so far from family, probably would say graduate. Terrible homesickness, only stay one year. Grade 8 move back with family. Mainstream school until graduate. Always miss deaf school. Wish always go deaf school.
 
Wirelessly posted (droid)

Just to be clear, teachers who are certified to work with deaf kids have a completely different certification. The certification program is not part of the special education program. In my state, there is only one college that offers the deaf certification (at a teaching college). Ordinary special education teachers do not have this credential. Once again, deaf people do not have intellectual disabilities. Only a small minority suffer from syndromes which include deafness and intellectual disability. Let's stick to the facts.
 
sallylou said:
Wirelessly posted (droid)

Just to be clear, teachers who are certified to work with deaf kids have a completely different certification. The certification program is not part of the special education program. In my state, there is only one college that offers the deaf certification (at a teaching college). Ordinary special education teachers do not have this credential. Once again, deaf people do not have intellectual disabilities. Only a small minority suffer from syndromes which include deafness and intellectual disability. Let's stick to the facts.
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:gpost:
 
sallylou said:
Wirelessly posted (droid)

Just to be clear, teachers who are certified to work with deaf kids have a completely different certification. The certification program is not part of the special education program. In my state, there is only one college that offers the deaf certification (at a teaching college). Ordinary special education teachers do not have this credential. Once again, deaf people do not have intellectual disabilities. Only a small minority suffer from syndromes which include deafness and intellectual disability. Let's stick to the facts.
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Yeah, in my college, while the major is *technically* in the spced department, it's an entirely different major. Some of the classes (especially the first year or so) are also ones spced majors take (like intro to spced), but there are a lot of classes specifically for my major, like Deaf history and such. And I get to spend my entire second year of college at ISD.:cool2:
 
Wirelessly posted (droid)

Thanks for that info. You're going to be well prepared. :)
 
purplewowies said:
Yeah, in my college, while the major is *technically* in the spced department, it's an entirely different major. Some of the classes (especially the first year or so) are also ones spced majors take (like intro to spced), but there are a lot of classes specifically for my major, like Deaf history and such. And I get to spend my entire second year of college at ISD.:cool2:
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Yes, as it should be. Unfortunately, the vast majority of special ed teachers in the mainstream have had one chapter called something like "Students with Communication Disorders" in which deafness encompasses a whole paragraph.:roll: And yet, these are the teachers that are responsible, in the mainstream, for monitoring effectiveness of accommodations and having the greatest amount of IEP input.
 
jillio said:
Yes, as it should be. Unfortunately, the vast majority of special ed teachers in the mainstream have had one chapter called something like "Students with Communication Disorders" in which deafness encompasses a whole paragraph.:roll: And yet, these are the teachers that are responsible, in the mainstream, for monitoring effectiveness of accommodations and having the greatest amount of IEP input.
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That's just f*cked up.
 
The teachers have so many kids with different needs in the classroom that none of them get met. I don't blame the teachers. The administration puts them in an impossible situation. Most teachers are doing the very best that they can.

Generally, large regular classrooms are best for "average" students. If the child is very bright or needs additional instruction, she/he tends to get lost in the crowd. It's all about the money and it's getting worse with the latest budget cuts.

Did you know that school teachers send their kids to private schools at twice the of non-teachers? At least that's what I read. I was one of those parents.
 
Often times if a DHH child is mainstreamed they will have the support of an Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf to ensure that the student is receiving proper accommodations, and that their needs are being met. Another example is that they will work 1:1 with the student to pre-load concepts, or to work on areas where the student has goals. The itinerant teacher carries the same weight as the other IEP team members, including the parents.
 
That's something but it's not enough. Kids shouldn't be sitting in classroom not learning. Any percentage of the time.
 
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