discovery channel: deafblind triplets

Sorry to respond so late.

Well,
I am HoH.. So deaf sometimes, and hearing with my aids! Maybe I should create "ask me anything" thread, and introduce myself. I am fluent in ASL, I use it more than voice.

And I have a bumper stick that says " Keep trying, I can't hear you honking" which seemed appropriate. my avatar is a picture of me, taken inside my car. :lol:
 
NotSoDeaf said:
Sorry to respond so late.

Well,
I am HoH.. So deaf sometimes, and hearing with my aids! Maybe I should create "ask me anything" thread, and introduce myself. I am fluent in ASL, I use it more than voice.

And I have a bumper stick that says " Keep trying, I can't hear you honking" which seemed appropriate. my avatar is a picture of me, taken inside my car. :lol:
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:laugh2: that makes sense. thank you for the explanation. smile.

by the way, i hope you'll create an "ask me anything" thread because i'd like to know more about you not to mention the fact that they are always so interesting to read.
 
Maybe one day I will create that thread. I am a pretty shy person!
You can always PM me with any questions if you have them!
 
Hey Hear again, My husband spotted the TV guide title said "Deaf and Blind Triplets" on discovery at 11 pm last Wed. I made a record copy into dvd. I am really interesting about deafblind triplets. It's very special! I am happy for them to hear with CI like you. :) Let discuss here. Don't worry about other topic off here. I am so exciting to talk about deafblind triplets. That what I watched and learn. I agree with you. Sophie should learn sign language. I understand that Liz have no experience with deaf or blind community before. I saw Liz is trying to use sign to communicate with Emma. But Emma didn't understand her. Lindsey is working with Emma.
 
Pinky,

I saw the rerun of this program on Wednesday. I watched it again and didn't think it was as poorly done as I first thought. I do hope that Liz will encourage Sophie to sign. As Liz said, she has very poor vision and if she continues to lose what she has, she will need to rely on tactile sign. I think it's a shame that Lindsey is unable to meet with Emma and Zoe more often. In order for deafblind children to develop language and exposure to their environment, they need a communication facilitator as often as possible.
 
Let me say that, as a fully hearing and seeing person I am very touched by this thread. (I read ALL of it)

I saw the movie with Helen Keller and was very touched there too! I am sure most of you have seen or heard of it… I bought it especially to get to know HA and her world better. I know there are more deafblind people here but I got to know HA better through PM, so I wanted to learn more about deafblindness.

Then I did some research on the web and fell upon a video on youtube with a short documentary (not the one you guys are talking about) but still about the three girls. I was shocked… I also don’t know if this the right way to say this, so please excuse me for being blunt. This mother doesn’t have ONE deafblind child to take care of but actually THREE and the father left!

All I can say is that this mother needs HELP!!!!!!!! For her and foremost the girls’ sake!!!!

This is so sad :( I don't know what else to say, because I am too mad right now that the family doesn't get the support they actually need!

JamieLynn
 
Jamie,

How sweet of you to order a Helen Keller movie to understand what I go through. <hugs>

I couldn't agree with you more about Liz. She has ALOT on her plate raising deafblind triplets. Raising a sighted-hearing child can be quite a challenge, but when you think about 3 deafblind children (especially 2 that do not have usable vision), that's something completely different. I give kudos to Liz for everything she is doing for Sophie, Emma and Zoe. :D
 
Hear Again said:
Pinky,

I saw the rerun of this program on Wednesday. I watched it again and didn't think it was as poorly done as I first thought. I do hope that Liz will encourage Sophie to sign. As Liz said, she has very poor vision and if she continues to lose what she has, she will need to rely on tactile sign. I think it's a shame that Lindsey is unable to meet with Emma and Zoe more often. In order for deafblind children to develop language and exposure to their environment, they need a communication facilitator as often as possible.
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That's true. It doesn't matter about poor vision can't learn sign languages. It's not fair to Zoe and Emma do sign. I agree with you about Lindsey. It make me mad! It's not fair! Is George work with Zoe?? Umm I am little confuse about triplets' last name were Dunn and now it's Hookers. Is that triplets' stepdad??? I can't believe that Liz got divorced and became a single mother of 4 kids. It's very difficult for her to raise them. I noticed Emma have a hot temper because she felt dark and lonely world. That's so sad!
 
~♥~Pinky~♥~ said:
That's true. It doesn't matter about poor vision can't learn sign languages. It's not fair to Zoe and Emma do sign. I agree with you about Lindsey. It make me mad! It's not fair! Is George work with Zoe?? Umm I am little confuse about triplets' last name were Dunn and now it's Hookers. Is that triplets' stepdad??? I can't believe that Liz got divorced and became a single mother of 4 kids. It's very difficult for her to raise them. I noticed Emma have a hot temper because she felt dark and lonely world. That's so sad!
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According to the program, Emma and Zoe had alot of difficulty adjusting to their enviroment. When you think about it, that's understandable since they didn't have a means of communication at a very young age. They didn't receive their CIs until age 3 and didn't start working with Lindsey on tactile sign until then. It's very common for deafblind children (as well as blind or Deaf children) to have temper tantrums due to their inability to see/hear their enviroment and communicate. My mother told me that I used to have temper tantrums as a child as well which was due to the fact I couldn't see. It wasn't until I learned how to navigate in my environment with a white cane and read Braille that things changed. In my case, I learned how to use a cane and read Braille at age 4/5.
 
Hear Again said:
According to the program, Emma and Zoe had alot of difficulty adjusting to their enviroment. When you think about it, that's understandable since they didn't have a means of communication at a very young age. They didn't receive their CIs until age 3 and didn't start working with Lindsey on tactile sign until then. It's very common for deafblind children (as well as blind or Deaf children) to have temper tantrums due to their inability to see/hear their enviroment and communicate. My mother told me that I used to have temper tantrums as a child as well which was due to the fact I couldn't see. It wasn't until I learned how to navigate in my environment with a white cane and read Braille that things changed. In my case, I learned how to use a cane and read Braille at age 4/5.
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Yeah. It remind me of Helen Keller's story when she was young girl. I watched a movie. I saw her behave like a temper tantrum and bang her head hit on the floors same as Zoe and Emma. It's common.

I watched that Emma was sitting on baby's car seat in house. Her head shake all the times because no communicate. I am wonder why she always sit on baby car seat?? Zoe and Emma"s acts are different way. Zoe like to be with her sister Sophie. Emma always put her forehead down on the floor. I was feeling bad for her.
 
I would like to add one more thing: no matter what the mother loves them, their step-dad loves them... and I hope all six of them will make it!

I love the song Behind those eyes that they used for the documentary. I unfortunately couldn't find the documentary online :( Maybe (Hopefully) they will air it some time in France...

PS. to HA: you're welcome... <giggle>

Jamie
 
Yeah! George accepted who are deafblind triplets. It's special! But that's sad for their dad left them! That's good thing for George support them. I am hope for them to get success in future.
 
~♥~Pinky~♥~ said:
Zoe and Emma"s acts are different way. Zoe like to be with her sister Sophie. Emma always put her forehead down on the floor. I was feeling bad for her.
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Just like Deaf children, deafblind children have different personalities. Liz said in the documentary that Zoe was more outgoing than Emma and Sophie.

However, she also said that Emma's behavior improved considerably after working with Lindsey.
 
One thing that I've noticed that's been bugging me: the triplets are all the same age but Sophie is alot taller and more mature looking than her 2 sisters. What gives?:scratch: I know Sophie has better vision but I don't see how that would be a factor in her size. Zoe and Emma failure to thrive, perhaps?
 
society's_child said:
One thing that I've noticed that's been bugging me: the triplets are all the same age but Sophie is alot taller and more mature looking than her 2 sisters. What gives?:scratch: I know Sophie has better vision but I don't see how that would be a factor in her size. Zoe and Emma failure to thrive, perhaps?
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I believe Sophie weighed more at birth than Zoe and Emma.

As for Sophie's maturity, that most likely has to do with her residual vision. Since Zoe and Emma cannot see, they can't mimic the behavior of others around them.

One thing I strongly disagree with is Liz allowing Emma and Zoe to continue their blindisms. Blindisms are behaviors that blind children exhibit such as eye poking and rocking. I used to do the same things as a child, but my mother immediately corrected me.
 
Hear Again said:
I believe Sophie weighed more at birth than Zoe and Emma.

As for Sophie's maturity, that most likely has to do with her residual vision. Since Zoe and Emma cannot see, they can't mimic the behavior of others around them.

One thing I strongly disagree with is Liz allowing Emma and Zoe to continue their blindisms. Blindisms are behaviors that blind children exhibit such as eye poking and rocking. A friend and I were watching this documentary together during the time it was re-run and she told me how Emma and Zoe both exhibited these behaviors. I used to do the same things as a child, but my mother immediately corrected me.
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So you don't think it is ok that they "act blind"? Why? (Not judging, just curious) What about "acting deaf", like the noises that Deaf kids make, and stuff like that?
 
faire_jour said:
So you don't think it is ok that they "act blind"? Why? (Not judging, just curious) What about "acting deaf", like the noises that Deaf kids make, and stuff like that?
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No, I don't think it's okay that the triplets "act blind." Blind children are capable of learning appropriate behaviors. When they exhibit blindisms, all it does is reinforce the negative stereotype that we are unable to act just like any other sighted child. There's no excuse for Zoe or Emma to eye poke or rock. Their blindisms can be stopped and their attention drawn to other things. When a sighted person sees a blind child acting in this way, it encourages the notion that blind children are children to be pitied when this isn't true.

As far as "acting deaf" is concerned, I believe that Deaf children can learn how to behave without making utterances (for lack of a better word -- sorry) even if they can't hear. The only exception to this would be is if a Deaf child is signing and speaking at the same time, but their speech is unclear. I'm referring to random utterances that have nothing to do with trying to speak.

I hope I haven't offended anyone by what I've written, but if I had a Deaf, blind or deafblind child, I wouldn't permit any of these behaviors.
 
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