Early Intervention: The Missing Link

It would be nice if medical professionals were retrained. A positive outlook can make a lot of difference in anyone's life.

It will be a real battle to change the way things are done presently.

Even on a deaf website, you see parents of deaf children coming in using scare tactics and trying to convince that it is necessary for development to implant babies at a very young age.
 
I agree with the video. If parents had exposure to deaf models from the beginning, their attitude and approach would be different. I grew up thinking deaf people who don't speak and sign only were to be pitied and that it was in my best interest not be like one of them. turns out I was very wrong but that is what happens when parents don't get full counselng and that's why I like how they approach it in Sweden, because in that country, both the medical and the deaf community meet with the parents for counselling. That should be the standard in NOrth America too.
 
I wish that oppurtunity was available everywhere^^ I truly did feel outnumbered. I had all of these so-called "specialists" telling me that after "training" and lots of work my son would be able to talk and understand speech. Not once did they tell me he will suffer from massive ammounts of stress or even sickness related to trying to read peoples lips or forcing his ears to hear something that he can't. They all told me that with intense training he would become used to it and learn how to speak. I feel terrible for the past for me taking him to speech therapy twice a week for 6 months until finally putting him in a school where he is being taught to listen.

This video is very eye opening. Every other line is things I have felt. Outnumbered, uneducated, and alone although it was really MY DECISION in the end I feel it was theirs...
 
He is in the hearing impaired class in the afternoon in the morning he is in special needs class (for some other things not due to his hearing loss) where he has an interpreter. His hearing class is basically he and one other Deaf child with two speech teachers and an interpreter. They are one on one training him to be oral. That is how I perceive the class. It may be different, but I feel they are trying to force oral.
 
blondon704 said:
He is in the hearing impaired class in the afternoon in the morning he is in special needs class (for some other things not due to his hearing loss) where he has an interpreter. His hearing class is basically he and one other Deaf child with two speech teachers and an interpreter. They are one on one training him to be oral. That is how I perceive the class. It may be different, but I feel they are trying to force oral.
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You do realize that you have the right to place him in a class that is accessible to him, right?

In other words, you have the power to say he needs to be in a class that utilizes a mode of visual communication.

The school district doesn't unilaterally make the deciscions. They need your consent. If you're not happy with him in an Oral class, formally let the district know (in writing) that you want to see what other placement options are available. You can also call an IEP at any time.
 
At the beginning of the school year (he started in March when he turned 3) I explained that I wanted whatever would be easiest for him. He had started signing very well with his speech therapist that the last couple of weeks before the transition that is all she was doing she wasn't trying to force words and she agreed with me that would be the best action. Once we got to the school board however I had this batty old wench who had never met my son tell me that by his age with his hearing loss had he been in the proper "program" he could already have had a vocabulary of 10 words or more. I just laughed. But after speaking to their therapist she felt that Calyx (my son) was capable of speech but sign would be more easy to teach with. So they decided that the class he is in was the only one in the district that would be acceptible to what I wanted. Now here we are in the second school year and they keep sending me home more progress notes of how he is working on "i" sounds and "e" and what not, I am still getting the updates on his signs I mean he is up to doing 3 word sentences (SEE) and it is wonderful. I have a parent teacher conference with them the 13th so i plan on asking as to how much emphasis they are putting on spoken language as opposed to sign. I just wish he were a little older to tell me what he is comfortable with. I realize he is so small but I don't want to make the wrong choices when he is so little and doesn't have an opinion of his own he is just kind of relying on my choices. That's kind of big to me.

Sorry I didn't mean to hijack. The video was truly wonderful :)
 
Early Intervention: The Missing Links

This is a great video my husbands Deaf aunt shared with her friends on fb.

I really loved it and learned so much from it, so I decided I would share it as well. :)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ZqKMgXciU&feature=share"]Early Intervention: The Missing Link - YouTube[/ame]

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I'm confused- is it an Oral Class or a Total Communication class that uses SEE? Or are you using SEE at home?
 
Sorry^^ I am doing SEE at home I want to eventually do ASL but I am very slow at it right now. (be easy on me, can I still pull the new card?)--Keep in mind I don't word things correctly and I appologize. They are doing total. It seems like here recently they are doing more for verbal. Obviously they are his teachers and they are around him in a school setting to know what he is capable of.

eta it's total communication as far as the school board is concerned. I really feel like it would be different in a different school district. Deaf or hearing WV schools are just not the highest rated.
 
Just had a chance to watch the video. It was great- I love the terminology that was incorporated. Audiologists, doctors, and teachers should watch this to gain better perspective. Great points all through out the video.
 
Saw this vid elsewhere yesterday...very nice. This is the way things should be.
 
BLondon- have you observed his class?

There are great teachers, but they don't always advocate for the Childs best interest. Often times they are stuck between what they see and think, and what they feel comfortable saying without compromising their job.

You are mom. You know your sons abilities just as well, and if not better than the teachers.

I'd observe the class, and get clear on what's going on there. Does he only have a speech goal? Are the teachers fluent in SEE or ASL?

How many kids in the class? Only one other child with hearing aids?
 
Yes only one other child. One teacher is fluent ASL. The others have been working with sign language ASL,SEE for their entire careers 10+. Which is odd because the interpreter they have go with him to his special needs class is not fluent in ASL, she took ASL 101 and 102 in college and is a certified aide so she is allowed to interpret for my son. That's not disdain in my typing only a hint of annoyance :)

I have gotten to observe but only 10 or 20 minutes here and there before getting to pick him up or drop him off. They are trying to get it scheduled for me to observe after the holidays so I can actually sit down and watch for an hour twice a week so I can be on the same page as them when I am working with him at home. They are actually having issues because the principal there now has never had anyone ask to observe, which to me sounds like a load of crap you can't tell me in this county I am the only mother to ever ask to watch her childs class, anyways she says she has to get it approved through the school board. I say I am his mother and if I want to see how he is being taught I should be allowed but I understand there are channels you have to go through.
Sorry about the rambling it happens a lot

eta about the compromising. We were at an IEP at the end of last year and one of the teachers was perplexed during the meeting. She kept coughing and flipping through her notes and she would start to say a sentence and then stop. They were trying to rule as to whether or not he should have been put in summer school. The crazy school board lady was there again and she was arguing that "he hasn't met his iep he isn't being taught correctly he isn't accelerating blah blah blah" she kept cutting this poor teacher off and then finally I looked at her slammed my hands on the desk and said "ok I have heard enough, you sit here trying to tell me what is best for my son whom you've never met and cut off the people trying to speak who do know my son. Just shut your mouth and let's listen to what she has to say because I am just done listening to you." I have never seen a teacher grin so hard in my life. But I totally felt she was trying to keep quiet because she had her bosses there and I think she was just pressured to her "opinion" which I knew wasn't hers but oh well. My outburst got the out come I wanted haha.
 
i really liked this video.
in fact i liked it so much i started a new thread about it (didn't realize one was already started. whoops! lol)

it was very enlightening and well put together. :D

if I worked with doctors that this video was talking about, I would show them it.

when i get home from work, i'm going to share it with my friends and family.
:)
 
blondon704 said:
At the beginning of the school year (he started in March when he turned 3) I explained that I wanted whatever would be easiest for him. He had started signing very well with his speech therapist that the last couple of weeks before the transition that is all she was doing she wasn't trying to force words and she agreed with me that would be the best action. Once we got to the school board however I had this batty old wench who had never met my son tell me that by his age with his hearing loss had he been in the proper "program" he could already have had a vocabulary of 10 words or more. I just laughed. But after speaking to their therapist she felt that Calyx (my son) was capable of speech but sign would be more easy to teach with. So they decided that the class he is in was the only one in the district that would be acceptible to what I wanted. Now here we are in the second school year and they keep sending me home more progress notes of how he is working on "i" sounds and "e" and what not, I am still getting the updates on his signs I mean he is up to doing 3 word sentences (SEE) and it is wonderful. I have a parent teacher conference with them the 13th so i plan on asking as to how much emphasis they are putting on spoken language as opposed to sign. I just wish he were a little older to tell me what he is comfortable with. I realize he is so small but I don't want to make the wrong choices when he is so little and doesn't have an opinion of his own he is just kind of relying on my choices. That's kind of big to me.

Sorry I didn't mean to hijack. The video was truly wonderful :)
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Capable of speech?!?!?! Oh lordy.....roll my fucking eyes. Just b/c he is capable of speaking, it doesn't mean that ASL wouldn't be valuable to him. .....hmmmm maybe a good idea might be to move to a better school district or something.
 
I really like both the content of this video and the way it is presented :).
 
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