Decision

Opinions are like assholes. Everybody's got one and everyone thinks everyone else's stinks.
 
Actually Oceanbreeze is a disabilty rights advocate, so she has the right to speak out.
Just as if this was a blind/low vision forum, and we were debating whether or not a student should Braille vs. large print or books on tape, she would have the right to advocate for Braille literacy plus large print. She believes in a full toolbox.
Faire joure, she may not be an expert on oral only childhood implantation, but so what?
If a hoh DODA can aquire both speech and sign simitanously, then CI kids should be able to do the same. How hard is that to understand? Your current theory and reading is based on the oral only opinon that ASL/Sign is a crutch!
 
deafdyke said:
Actually Oceanbreeze is a disabilty rights advocate, so she has the right to speak out.
Just as if this was a blind/low vision forum, and we were debating whether or not a student should Braille vs. large print or books on tape, she would have the right to advocate for Braille literacy plus large print. She believes in a full toolbox.
Faire joure, she may not be an expert on oral only childhood implantation, but so what?
If a hoh DODA can aquire both speech and sign simitanously, then CI kids should be able to do the same. How hard is that to understand? Your current theory and reading is based on the oral only opinon that ASL/Sign is a crutch!
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Thank you, DD. However, I really prefer we stopped replying to the oralists. They just want to argue with someone but arguing w/them is pointless. Look at what Banjo said above. He's right. Things have calmed down in this thread. Lets just step around the *ahem* BS and move on... Shall we? :)
 
I'm the parent of a child with a physical disability and I know that it takes a lot of work to balance the need for therapy and the need for a child to simply be a child and a family to just be a family. It is SO worth the effort, though, to try to balance it. I know I was not always successful in that balancing act, but always worked at it.

We've never permitted therapy at school, much to the dismay of the "experts"... My argument is that he is at school to learn just like every other kid, and he gets enough stretching, weight-bearing, etc., outside of school.

Therapy should, IMHO, be directed, as much as possible, by the child's interests and should be done as naturally as possible. It should never be the end all and be all of a child's life...no kid should look back and remember the hours spent in therapy more than they remember the fun of being a child.
 
chipmunkis said:
I'm the parent of a child with a physical disability and I know that it takes a lot of work to balance the need for therapy and the need for a child to simply be a child and a family to just be a family. It is SO worth the effort, though, to try to balance it. I know I was not always successful in that balancing act, but always worked at it.

We've never permitted therapy at school, much to the dismay of the "experts"... My argument is that he is at school to learn just like every other kid, and he gets enough stretching, weight-bearing, etc., outside of school.

Therapy should, IMHO, be directed, as much as possible, by the child's interests and should be done as naturally as possible. It should never be the end all and be all of a child's life...no kid should look back and remember the hours spent in therapy more than they remember the fun of being a child.
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:gpost: I really wish other parents would take this approach. Kids like me would have benefited. I have to say my parents managed to split the difference. After a certain point, I no longer had all that therapy. It pretty much stopped after the age of 9. However, my early childhood experience was all about therapy; wearing the braces and such. It was fun for awhile, but when it ceases to be fun or the child is suffering in other areas, then I believe it's time to take a second look at what is best for the kid.
 
Do you actually believe you are well educated about the issues involved in childhood implantation and the development of language in deaf children to have an educated opinion about it?
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I am NOT responding to faire joure, since I think she has pretty much bought all the pro oral propaganda lock stock and barrel, and does not understand that while many deaf kids can aquire better spoken language with a CI, they are still pretty much delayed overall in their mastery of spoken language.
But look at the language she uses...she says "development of language"......hmmmmm...not spoken language. Faire joure what you do not understand whatsoever is that oral only views Sign as a "crutch" Meaning someone could have sign abilty on a Harvard level, but have preschool/kindergarten spoken language level, but according to the folks at CID, they'd be "low functioning" b/c they don't have sophisticated spoken language
 
'm the parent of a child with a physical disability and I know that it takes a lot of work to balance the need for therapy and the need for a child to simply be a child and a family to just be a family. It is SO worth the effort, though, to try to balance it. I know I was not always successful in that balancing act, but always worked at it.

We've never permitted therapy at school, much to the dismay of the "experts"... My argument is that he is at school to learn just like every other kid, and he gets enough stretching, weight-bearing, etc., outside of school.

Therapy should, IMHO, be directed, as much as possible, by the child's interests and should be done as naturally as possible. It should never be the end all and be all of a child's life...no kid should look back and remember the hours spent in therapy more than they remember the fun of being a child.
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chipmunkis, excellent post! Also, it should be FUN!!! I had PT as a kid, and it was BORING..It was basicly like working out....really boring for a kid if you ask me.
 
deafdyke said:
I am NOT responding to faire joure, since I think she has pretty much bought all the pro oral propaganda lock stock and barrel, and does not understand that while many deaf kids can aquire better spoken language with a CI, they are still pretty much delayed overall in their mastery of spoken language.
But look at the language she uses...she says "development of language"......hmmmmm...not spoken language. Faire joure what you do not understand whatsoever is that oral only views Sign as a "crutch" Meaning someone could have sign abilty on a Harvard level, but have preschool/kindergarten spoken language level, but according to the folks at CID, they'd be "low functioning" b/c they don't have sophisticated spoken language
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Uh, DD. Yeah, you are. You are engaging her and inviting her to come here and trash the thread. I DON'T want that. They have one agenda where it comes to ME. They want to pick a fight with me; period. They don't believe I should have an opinion and they want to drive me out of here. Please, DD. Stop engaging FJ in this thread. If you want to have dialog with her, you can elsewhere.
 
It's hard though b/c you just want to respond and correct her thinking from biased research and stuff.
 
Wirelessly posted

chipmunkis said:
I'm the parent of a child with a physical disability and I know that it takes a lot of work to balance the need for therapy and the need for a child to simply be a child and a family to just be a family. It is SO worth the effort, though, to try to balance it. I know I was not always successful in that balancing act, but always worked at it.



We've never permitted therapy at school, much to the dismay of the "experts"... My argument is that he is at school to learn just like every other kid, and he gets enough stretching, weight-bearing, etc., outside of school.



Therapy should, IMHO, be directed, as much as possible, by the child's interests and should be done as naturally as possible. It should never be the end all and be all of a child's life...no kid should look back and remember the hours spent in therapy more than they remember the fun of being a child.
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I too,think this is an excellent post. :applause:
 
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How do we balance it all out though? I think everyone in this thread is in agreement that therapy IS needed. I wish there was some way we could influence the therapy associations that kids and people need to have a full range of options. I think the intense therapy mindset came from "Gotta get them functioning as normally as possible"
We need to get rid of that mindset and get more " It's good to have such and such as a secondary/additional skill, but alternative ways of doing stuff are just as valuable.
The normal way of doing stuff seems to be really boring and really hard. I do think that if kids with disablities didn't have to work so hard at doing things the "normal" way or who had teachers who knew how to teach disabled kids, then acheivement levels could REALLY rise!
 
chipmunkis said:
I'm the parent of a child with a physical disability and I know that it takes a lot of work to balance the need for therapy and the need for a child to simply be a child and a family to just be a family. It is SO worth the effort, though, to try to balance it. I know I was not always successful in that balancing act, but always worked at it.

We've never permitted therapy at school, much to the dismay of the "experts"... My argument is that he is at school to learn just like every other kid, and he gets enough stretching, weight-bearing, etc., outside of school.

Therapy should, IMHO, be directed, as much as possible, by the child's interests and should be done as naturally as possible. It should never be the end all and be all of a child's life...no kid should look back and remember the hours spent in therapy more than they remember the fun of being a child.
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:gpost::gpost::gpost::gpost::gpost:
 
I had a speech therapy for 10 years since I was 4 years old. I hated it because it really wasted my time especially at such so young age. I told the teachers that I wanted to go out and play with kids. They told me that I need to discuss it with my parents. When I got home and I told them the same thing. They both said I must speak well. I cried. Well, I never got the chance to play with kids, which is sad....
Today, I speak well. Almost everyone understands me... I thanked my parents for that. *sigh*
 
deafdyke said:
How do we balance it all out though? I think everyone in this thread is in agreement that therapy IS needed. I wish there was some way we could influence the therapy associations that kids and people need to have a full range of options. I think the intense therapy mindset came from "Gotta get them functioning as normally as possible"
We need to get rid of that mindset and get more " It's good to have such and such as a secondary/additional skill, but alternative ways of doing stuff are just as valuable.
The normal way of doing stuff seems to be really boring and really hard. I do think that if kids with disablities didn't have to work so hard at doing things the "normal" way or who had teachers who knew how to teach disabled kids, then acheivement levels could REALLY rise!
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You're right. We're in agreement that therapies are necessary; especially when the kids are very young. But, I think part of the problem is that PARENTS take what the professionals say as GOSPEL and they are afraid to intervene on the kids behalf; even though the kid is, at this point, an older child who can now give input into how they feel about something. In MY case, my parents listened to me. They bucked the doctors who told them the PT, et el. was STILL necessary (never mind, I was now walking aided and there wasn't much more they could teach me in session ...). What MY parents did was simply go against the advice given. Here's the rub: there is always a consequence for it. My muscles tightened. I lost flexiblity. I lost muscle tone, ect and so on...So, yes, my body probably suffered. However, I gained social skills that I really didn't have before. I began making friends. I WAS happier OVER ALL. So, the sacrifice WAS worth it.

The point is there's sacrifices to every decision a parent of a disabled child makes. The PARENT has to decide if that sacrifice is worth it. I really DO believe, DD, that the parents of the past are a good bit of the problem. We need more parents who have the guts to do what is RIGHT for their kid. If that means continuing therapy and the kid seems to enjoy it, great, but IF that means that you pull back on therapy and just let the kid be a kid, then, parents SHOULD DO IT.
 
Oceanbreeze said:
You're right. We're in agreement that therapies are necessary; especially when the kids are very young. But, I think part of the problem is that PARENTS take what the professionals say as GOSPEL and they are afraid to intervene on the kids behalf; even though the kid is, at this point, an older child who can now give input into how they feel about something. In MY case, my parents listened to me. They bucked the doctors who told them the PT, et el. was STILL necessary (never mind, I was now walking aided and there wasn't much more they could teach me in session ...). What MY parents did was simply go against the advice given. Here's the rub: there is always a consequence for it. My muscles tightened. I lost flexiblity. I lost muscle tone, ect and so on...So, yes, my body probably suffered. However, I gained social skills that I really didn't have before. I began making friends. I WAS happier OVER ALL. So, the sacrifice WAS worth it.

The point is there's sacrifices to every decision a parent of a disabled child makes. The PARENT has to decide if that sacrifice is worth it. I really DO believe, DD, that the parents of the past are a good bit of the problem. We need more parents who have the guts to do what is RIGHT for their kid. If that means continuing therapy and the kid seems to enjoy it, great, but IF that means that you pull back on therapy and just let the kid be a kid, then, parents SHOULD DO IT.[/QUOTE]

I agree with you. Parents should step in and advocate for their children. However, in defense of parents in the past and even today, they were/are conditioned to take the doctors/specialists word as gospel because too much emphasis is put on a piece of paper received after sitting in a classroom for years on end. There are some 'professionals' who are unable to apply their knowledge onto the practical field in real life situations. Parents in general have their child's best interest at heart and if they can take the 'baby out of the bath water' so to say, children today would have much better QOL.
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There are some 'professionals' who are unable to apply their knowledge onto the practical field in real life situations.
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Or who see the "superstars" and think that's acheiveable for ALL kids.
I see that a lot with oral deafness... The people are all "oh you don't see the superstars"
And yet they miss the fact that a lot of the superstars burn out or still have scattered abilties.
 
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