I have heard this so much for deaf people that they had bad memories of their childhood and I have seen deaf children isolated. And I can tell you my children are not like that. I have this amazing bond with my children. and I have a great bond with my mother but she had a hard life raising us as a single mother and I gotta say that she did a gREAT job with us. I was referring to my childhood memories of SCHOOL..my childhood memories out of school are great. Just in school, it seems the bad memories outrank the good ones. Sorry for not being clear about what I meant by bad childhool memories.
Both of my children were in preschool and kindergarten in an oral special day class so I thiink it was bit different for them. They were in a small class with other d/hh kids. In the primary grades they were fully mainstream at the school where I taught. I was able to hand select their teacher. Their teachers were my friends so they kept an extra eye on them. Everybody on campus knew they were my children. I was able to see them through out the day. I really do think they did not so through as hard of time as you have. These last couple of days I have been talking to them because of these comments to see what they think. They said they did not go through what you went through. It must have been really tuff on your mom to raise two kids alone. We were very lucky. My husband and I have been married 18 years. He works afternoon and I work mornings. Someone is always home for my children.
And they talk to me about everything. Especially with my daughter I have told her over and over again if she wants to go back to her old high school but she says they do expect too much for her and she does not want to go back. You talk about how I should encourage her. to right decision. I feel she is.
Her old high school expects too much for her? How? If she is not comfortable there, then no need to force her to go there but as long as she feels confident in herself and not ashamed of who she is.
I am sorry what I meant was that her old high school had too low expectations for her, She is standing right now next to me and she said she feels very comfortable at her current high school which only has one other deaf students. She says she is not ashamed of being oral and that she is proud of who she is a deaf oral teenager
I am sure that if she wanted to go back to her old high school with her deaf friends and I didn't let her you would probable say that I am not respecting her deafness. So probable in your eyes I can make no right decision.[/QUOTE]
I am sorry that u feel that way but I dont remember criticizing u for your decisions nor saying that u dont make right decisions. Pls show me where did I say that? Thanks
I am sorry it wasn't you it was somebody else who made a comment really sorry about that
I will tell u why I am against the oral-ONLY view or approach cuz I have seen too many children being deprived of language due to not being able to pick up on spoken language. That's why I am a strong believer in the Bi-Bi approach cuz in the educational setting, we are providing both languages to guarantee that NO child is left out or that the child is not being deprived of a full access to language. At the same time, the children are getting exposed to spoken language to meet their auditory/oral skills if they have the abilities. We have the best of both so why dont all schools adopt that? What's the harm in that?
To your comment right here, you are right I have seen some parents not changing to signing so soon enought BUT if a parent wants to try for their child to oral and if the child is 3 or under then in order for a chance to have a chance to be oral no sign needs to be introduce. I am telling you this from an oral teacher stand point. I have not seen a child yet that has a profoundl hearing loss and is able to be both oral and sign at a young age. My children are able to sign socially but I did not allow sign language until they had a good solid foundation in oral languge but now that they are teenagers I think it is great that my daughter ends up being an interpreter for parents that do not know enough sign language to communicate with their children.
U say about lack of parental involvement..well, at least in the BiBi approach, the child is getting access to language as opposed to none if they are placed in the oral only approach and they were unable to pick up on spoken language. I would rather not put any deaf/hoh at risk for not picking up on spoken language and then having to transfer them into "special" ed classes in which they are finally exposed to sign language at a later age after the formative years for language development has passed. Yes, the oral-only approach can work for some children but in my view, the educational approach SHOULD work for all children. That's why I dont believe in the oral-only approach cuz it doesnt work for ALL children and I see too many children struggling with literacy skills because they were unable to pick up on spoken language during the critical years of language development and when it was discovered that they were falling behind, sign language gets introduced to them but years of language development has been lost. With the BIBI approach, by using both languages, nobody is being deprived of language access or development and still can develop their oral skills.
The oral method can work for some children but parents need to be aware and acknowledge that it might not work for their child, which I was. Like I said before if you introduce sign language and oral language to a profoundly deaf child they will not pick up on the oral language because sign language will be much easier. Have you seen any profoundly deaf kids that were introduce to sign language and oral language at the same time at ayoung age and where able to develop good oral language skills, I have not and I would love to meet some. Parents just need to be careful when deciding on oral language and be completely committed to it but also be aware that there child might not be able to be oral
Going back to parental involvement
My brother and I were born profoundly deaf..both with the same dB loss..I was able to pick up on spoken language and went to public school..excelled in academics, which I have no idea how cuz I missed out on so much...my brother was placed in the same oral only program but he was unable to pick up on spoken language like I was despite having the same level of hearing loss...but the teachers who were so set on their views kept telling my mom to have patience.."he will catch up..." and more BS...but when my brother went to kindergarten, he was so lost and had so many tantrums due to the huge communication barrier so my mom sent him to the deaf school in which he flourished. Since he missed out a lot in language development during the first 5 years of his life, he struggled with reading and writing and to this day, he has to work hard at writing well. For me, it was the social-emotional development that the oral only approach failed me in. My mom was very much involved in our education but she is not a miracle worker.
That is sad that they kept telling your mom to keep him in an oral class. Just because you both heard at the same db does mean it sounds the same to both of you. An audiogram is just a picture it does not tell us how kids hear the sound jus that they hear.
I am not condemning u or whatever but I just dont believe in this approach for reasons stated above and another reason too...I have yet seen or heard of any oral-only education for the deaf having deaf people as teachers or aides. It is all hearing people. Where are the deaf adult role model for these kids?
I have seen deaf adults in oral classes of course these deaf adults are oral. My son had a profoundly deaf adult as a teacher, she was oral. I also work with a deaf psychologist that work with oral deaf kids. My best friend has a severe hearing loss and is an oral parent/infant teacher. My daughter just loves her. I have had an aide who has a severe to profoundly hearing loss. I also know of 3 deaf oral teachers that went through the program that I went through to become an oral deaf teacher
This is about the views and philosophies of the oral-only approach not about u as a mother. I just dont agree with those views or philosophies at all. I just would never tell a parent what they can or they can do for their children on where to place them. All I can just offer my views and my reasons for not agreeing to this view and up to the parents to keep them in mind or totally reject them.
