We really shouldn't judge somebody without knowing them. I am not judging you. In fact, I have made it very clear that I am not passing judgement on your parenting skills or your value as a person.
Since I am an oral teacher of the deaf I have taken several college level classes in ASL. While I probable couldn't communicate with a deaf adult signers, my signing skills are OK.
This is a bit of a pradoxical comment. Oral teachers normally do not utilize sign linaguage in any form. And my question would remain. Do you use your sign skills to communicate with your deaf children in their home environment? That is not a judgement, but simply a questiion
No I do not use sign language with my students. Some of my students know some signs and I recognize and respond in oral language because my class is strictly oral and this what the parents want, what my school districts pays me to do, and it is what I believe for young children that are trying to be oral. I have no problem using sign language at home with my children because they already have a strong foundation in oral language that I think at this point sign language is a great tool for them now but I never sign with my own children when they were young and I very happy with that decision
I do try to sign with my daughter but she tells me not too. She tells I can hear you and understand you so please talk to me.
Is it possible because she is in an oral environment, and has not been exposed at all to deaf culture, that she has developed a sort of self destructive oralist attitude toward herself? After all, if she has been given the message that oral is superior to sign, then she would rebel against sign for fear that it would place her in that inferior category. Please reread some of shel's posts on the consequences of an oral environment and the message that it provides.
She is not completely in an oral envirnoment her closeest friends just sign the boy she went to the prom with and has a huge crush just signs. She is not given the message that oral is superior. The message she is given is that 99% of the world is hearing that if possible oral language will give her an advantage.
I do sign with her deaf friends. I am much better at telling them what I want to tell them then they telling me.
Communication is a two way street. To communicate, one must be able not only to direct, but to receive.
Maybe I didn't express I do understand what my daughter's friends tell but I have problems understanding everything by the end of the summer I will understand much more because every summer her friends hang out a lot at my home so I am able to practice my signing skills better. Since it is the beginning of the summer my signing skills are rusty.
My daughter was on a deaf cheerleading squad and her coach was deaf and ended being one of my professors at school.
I am not denying my daughter to use sign language. I do everything in my power for her to stay in contact with her deaf friends at her old school. I also stay her to deaf awareness that happens once a month about 45 minutes away from my home.
She just recently went to a prom with young man that only signs. In order for to let her do that the boy had to come my house to ask for permission because that is the way I was raised. When this young man came to my house I ask my friend an ASL interpeter to come to make sure that I understood what he was saying and he understood my rules.
I do feel that I expose my children to the Deaf culture.
And it is wonderful that you are beginning to do this. I encourage you not only to allow your children to participate, but that you actively participate, as well. That conveys not only an attitude of acceptance to your children, but also opens up considerations of what it is to be deaf that you would never have conceived of without direct exposure and participation in the culture. And I speak from direct experience.
You talk about limiting my children. This is exactly what I am trying not to do. If I place my daughter in a d/hh special day class then she would be working at 5 th grade level work.
I am not beginning to do this, I have done this since she began to learn sign language.
Can you identify for me the statistics you are using for assuming that all children in d/hh classes do not work above a 5th grade level? I understand that you are trying not to limit your daughter. I never accused you of anything of the kind. As parents, we all attempt what we believe is in the best interest of your children. But, as parents, we are human and we sometimes make mistakes--me included. Those mistakes are made not from lack of good intention, but from lack of information regarding the eventual consequences our decisions have.
Again the information is from southern California from what Shel says her school is different and I am glad for that. My statistics from directly from the school districts that I have worked in and the school districts that my children have been in. I have talked to the teachers and admins. I wish it was different but it is not different here.
I do not care how good a teacher is is she has 10 kids and 9 are working at 5 th grade but my daughter is working at a 10th grade then that teacher will focus on the majority of her students and my daughter will regress. This is just the way the system is. And want more for my children
And I wanted more for my son, as well. The way I accomplished that was to place him somewhere where his opporetunities were expanded, and his strenghts were capitlized on. That, for me, was a deaf school. That doesn't mean that I tell all parents that this is what they should decide, but it does mean that I offer this solution as a possible option. [/
