(unconsciously)
I can, from my own experience, tell that even if the parent wants the child to speak the child eventually will do as the child wishes to.
If the child finds it easier to sign, or want to sign it will tend to sign.
This can be said for majority of those here who grew up "oral", ended up signing - isn't it?
Right now, after implantation (and clear indication that Lotte is benefiting MORE from her CI while in hearing world only), it's important to remember that right now she needs optimal enviroment for developing good hearing and speech. otherwise, what's the point of CI? there will be time for SL later on.
Fuzzy
Fuzzy, I did say that if Lotte indicates at a later time that Cloggy would be the type of parent to learn signs again and use them.
I did not say that she should not be in the hearing world or speak at all.
The CI is meant for hearing things, most people are *adding* the speech to it. That is fine and I fully understand why. I do not fight against aquiring speech.
I speak and sign both. To me, both are benefit to have, IF it is attainable.
I applaud Cloggy as a parent. I feel he is a very caring, involved parent. My post to Cloggy had very little to do with the CI itself. In fact my whole post to Cloggy was telling him that he was doing everything possible for Lotte.
But Fuzzy, not every parent is like Cloggy. Not every parent has the child's best interests at heart. Cloggy and his wife, work overtime making sure Lotte benefits both without and with her CI. Not every parent does that. It's sad but very true.
Cloggy, learned to sign for Lotte before she got her CI. That tells me he is very willing to do whatever needs to be done for his daughter.
BTW thank you for the spelling correction.
Unfortunately, there are parents that will and do implant, simply because they cannot admit their child is deaf. To them that is an imperfect child. A parent like them cannot have a child who is less than whole.
There are parents that implant to make the child *hearing* to fit in their world. What's wrong with that parent stepping into the child's world?
Cloggy, did step into Lotte's world. He and his wife as I understand it, both learned signs, checked out a deaf school, did their research, looked for deaf communities.
That is an ideal parent of a deaf child. Unfortunately, not every child is as lucky as Lotte. Not every child both past and present had parents that cared that much.
I did not intend to imply that Cloggy was *forcing* Lotte into an oral-only enviroment. Why would he, when he took the time to learn signs in the first place? I only meant to imply, that its possible, that Lotte could be picking up unintentional *vibes* that Cloggy would rather she talked than sign. Most kids can sense that. So it would be natural for Lotte to stop signing and prefer the oral only approach, because those are the vibes.
BUT, at the same time, ( I guess I should have clarified this), I believe that Cloggy may be right and that Lotte does prefer to speak than to sign.
I know that even though I can speak, there are times, when I long to have a group of deafies around me, so I dont have to speak. So it all depends on the individual.
