Deaf School

[saxxykitty78]

Originally posted by Fly Free
*looking to drive Purrs nuts making a long post* jkjk haha but i DO agree with what bbnt posted altho is LONG

BBNT- I don't care but STILL it doesn't sound right anyways later.

 

[bbnt]

Originally posted by funnybebe78


BBNT- I don't care but STILL it doesn't sound right anyways later.

explain how it doesn't sound right?

 

[PepsiTazLover]

I am against oralism. I am PRO ASL! and PRO DEAF schools. I just dropped off my application for my daughter to enroll at WSD.
am waiting to hear back from WSD.

 

[saxxykitty78]

Originally posted by bbnt
explain how it doesn't sound right?

if u wanted to know PM me

 

[MDCodeRedFreak]

Originally posted by ChelEler
Ah.. for me, I wouldn't know what to do, since I was oral when I was growing up. Now I'm total communicated (ASL, PSE, SEE, oral).

same here !!!! then i joined my deaf school in 8th grade and grad from there in '02

 

[deafdyke]

IF you're in deaf school now and they want to change your school to ORAL...

Well....if the deaf school was a public school, as of right now they probaly couldn't afford to shift methodology to a pure oral program b/c of all the budget cuts that states are experiancing right now. I mean it is WICKED EXPENSIVE to orally educate someone!
Think about it.....special teachers who've graduated from wicked competive schools, ALD (like auditory trainers and stuff like that), speech teachers, audis, special teaching materials and so on! I know that oral schools tend to be thought of as giving a better education then the manual schools, but in all liklihood it is just the private school effect. (private schools can pick and choose students who can suceed under their methods, whereas public schools have to take anyone and everyone that comes down the pike, no matter if they are deaf special needs or whatever)
I would be pissed as I think limiting a child to hearing and speaking only is child abuse! I would ALSO be pissed as if there was any other academic program that offered the chance to be fluent in two languages, it would not be axed...however b/c ASL is thought of as not a "real" language, people are eager to distance themselves from it. That's a big reason why so many parents force their kids to be oral...b/c ASL is speshal needs and not "normal" or nautrual! (note...I am being sacastic here)

 

[Amby]

Originally posted by HilFiger785
I'm curious... IF you're in deaf school now and they want to change your school to ORAL... what would you do???

If It happened in my school... well I'd ask for questions and why they wanted to change it......... But honestly I wouldn't be the right person to ask since I'm mainstreamed, have been for 6 years now. I was in a deaf program prior to mainstreaming... but still... I could answer questions relating to mainstreaming and some other things.. but this question... I don't know.

I'm not against oral, but I'd suggest to keep the language... oral doesn't work for everyone. I've tried to speak, and I can speak clearly enough for some, but it doesn't really work for everyone. And in the deaf world, what do you use the most, oral or signing? I'd say signing.

 

[GoldenLeaf74]

I have no problem in School for the Deaf in St. John's, Newfoundland.

 

[Amby]

really? interesting.

 

[shel90]

Due to the growing number of CI children, some deaf schools are now incorporating Spoken English into the curriculm. It is starting to become a reality. *sighs*

 

[mecooncat]

When I was young, I was in Horace Mann school for the deaf and then I was about oh, 7 or 8 yrs old, my parents decided to put me in a regular public schools with all those hearing people. It was frightening for awhile. The reason why my parents put me there is so I can speak with others. I very rarely know how to ASL. 18 yrs of speech therapist.

 

[blonde1]

Well I'm hearing but if I was deaf I would look for another school to go to even if I would have to move to a different state.

 

[BearBeauty]

I am all for total communication.. meaning using both oral and ASL.. So I think deaf schools should combine ASL and Oral. I'll explain why.

When I lived in maine and spent time with my friends.. I noticed I was one of maybe 5 deaf people in a group of 40 that could talk.. and I was used as a vocal interpreter a lot.. which I felt was wrong and disrespectful toward me because they would tell me to say something to hearing people.. without asking me if it was ok with me to be used as an interpreter... So personally, I feel it might be better to try to teach deaf students total communication instead of picking one or the other.

I mean.. if you look at it from my point of view.. being forced to be someone's "voice" when you know your voice isn't perfect and a majority of hearing people probubly won't understand half of what you say, can wreck your self esteem...

 

[shel90]

I sent this to someone I thought would have a good educated answer. She replied to me thru email so I am going to cut and paste



Her responce


First of all, many deaf people don't improve their comprehension of English anywhere at all. This may be due to many factors. One is the critical period of language learning, which is believed to be from ages 0-5. This is when children learn language and internalize its rules and syntax. Once this critical period passes, it is difficult to ever become fluent in a language (of course, there are exceptions). It is very important that the child be exposed to a full, complete language - not a code, not isolated words or fragments of sentences.

Unfortunately, that is what happens all too often when a deaf child is born into a family unable to communicate with the child. If the deaf child is unable to understand spoken English with auditory aids, he or she will not have full exposure to English. If the child's parents try a mix of speachreading - impossible for a young child - and "home" signs and gestures, or even basic stabs at ASL, the child isn't getting exposure to a full language (ASL) either. That is why d/hoh children with good hearing and children born to deaf parents usually have higher reading levels - they have had this language exposure from birth.

Now, once the critical period is past, it's pretty much too late for true fluency to develop. I'm talking about first language development, not second language. Research shows that second languages can be learned and internalized at later ages if the person has a full first language - in deaf children's cases, it can be either English or ASL. But if this first language isn't developed, he/she can stay at the school until age 22 and still not read/write English fluently. In many ways, it's beyond the school's control - the parents have the biggest impact on the child's language development.

In some residential schools, however, the problem may also be with the school. It's hard for schools to find good teachers who are fluent in ASL if they're hearing. If the teachers don't sign well either, even students below the age of 5 never get a reliable adult language model, either at school or at home. Some res. schools really do not have good teachers. Many other res. schools are good, but they are dumping grounds; very often, students don't go to residential schools until they are at least 10 or 11 and have already "failed" in public schools, "failed" their parents' vain attempts to make them "normal." By the time they get to a school for the deaf, it is too late.

I'll be honest and say some teachers are terrible. Some may sign well but not teach well. Some may be great teachers but not communicate well. There are too few who can do well. But in any case the res. school is still better than the public school for many kids because there are other language models, such as peers, classroom aides, and very often the staff will be deaf (counselors, dorm staff, etc.).

Another problem is that students don't get continuous exposure to English (that is changing, with closed-captioned TV, AIM, pagers, Internet use, etc - but use of slang on AIM doesn't really help). English class at a res school isn't enough to develop fluency in English.

Now, one thing you must remember: Many hearing people have terrible English. I have a hearing secretary with a bachelor's degree, and she simply does not write grammatically correct sentences. She doesn't understand the e-mail I send her, even when I simplify it. Her manners are wonderful, she communicates very well verbally, and she does her work promptly, but written English just isn't something she understands.

Another thing to remember: With new medical "lifesaving" techniques, many babies are being saved that would have died before. They're deaf, with many additional disabilities. Today, many deaf babies are born with crack addiction, FAS, or a wealth of other problems. Those lead to learning disabilities that any child would struggle with, and present new issues for residential schools to face: How to allocate resources to a small number of "plain deaf" kids and a rapidly growing population of deaf kids with multiple disabilities, mental health issues, etc.

All in all, there really are just too many factors to answer the question simply.

I agree with your friend 100% especially the part about deaf schools being used as "dumping" grounds. At my school, just about half of the students are from oral or mainstreamed peograms in whcih they fell so far behind it is not even funny. Now, people blame us? Maybe, we r responsible for some things but to take 100% responsibilty, I don't accept. Parents, oral-specialist or the so- called experts in the medical field who promote for deaf children to be "hearing" , politicans, administrators, and yes, teachers too are all responsible when the deaf children fail to develop literacy skills unless the children themselves have congitive disabilities. It is usually the teachers that get the full blame cuz we r the ones who r directly responsible for teaching the kids.

 

[shel90]

Oh I forgot...my school is adopting the oral approach for some lessons for children who have CIs or who are HOH. We just started this program so it is still new. Of course, ASL is the primary language to use when teaching new concepts, during socializations, and so on.

If my school became fully oral, I think we will be in a lot of trouble since we have so many students who came to our schols after "failing" in the oral-only programs in the public schools. That would just make everything so much worse if all deaf schools became oral only.