Find yourself a good a parent mentor. When my wife and I recently went through the IEP process for our deaf son, we contacted our local Deaf school who put us in contact with their former principal. Her input in the meetings was invaluable because she knew exactly how to word things -- this wasn't exactly her first IEP meeting -- and the school district officials recognized her as an authority which is important because, as I'm sure you're aware, parental input is so easily dismissed in the IEP process, but with her speaking on our behalf, our voices were heard.
That's the best advice I can give you.
Mom2DeafChild, check out the American Society for Deaf Children: American Society for Deaf Children
as well as its affliated listserv: Archives of PARENTDEAF-HH@LISTSERV.KENT.EDU
They'll be able to help you!
Mom2DeafChild,
You could argue that your daughter needs the educational support of a formal dhh program.
You said yourself that you REALLY like the Dhh program, as opposed to the mainstream with minimal support. Is your daughter doing a lot better in that program? Use that aspect for keeping her current placement.
Say that she'll learn more from instructors who actually KNOW how to teach dhh kids. Say that you're afraid if she's " regular class with minimal accomondations" mainstreamed she'll fall through the cracks.
Fair_jour.......I think if jackie solaranzio can get C-Print for her honor roll kids then Mom2DeafChild's request is perfectly legit.
I merely said that you can not argue both sides of the coin. Either you can argue that she needs hearing peers for language models OR she needs deaf peers, can't do both.
On the other hand, maybe she can. It sounds like her daughter is at one of those "regional" programs.....In which case, she would get exposure to BOTH hearing and Deaf models.I merely said that you can not argue both sides of the coin. Either you can argue that she needs hearing peers for language models OR she needs deaf peers, can't do both.
She's got excellent speech when she speaks (she's very shy, so a lot of times people don't think she CAN speak, lol, until she finally opens her mouth).
She's not in a deaf program per se; she's in a mainstream program that just happens to be in a school with excellent support services for the deaf. The home school has NO support for deaf children and they are used to shuffling all the deaf kids into one school/one type of class. In order for her to go into the home school they would need to build a whole new program around her, and while they COULD do that for the technical aspects of it (slot A: TOD, slot B: interpreter, slot C: etc), they could not accommodate her the same way, to the same level.
We have experience in this school already, from when she first started K, and it wasn't good. Nothing has changed there since she has been in the other program, so I can't imagine our experience would be any better this time around.
The lack of deaf peers is just ONE of the issues I have. There are many more, but I think I CAN argue both sides of the coin on this issue. Why does she either have to be completely with hearing peers or completely with deaf peers? She is a deaf child that can hear. Therefore she needs both hearing AND deaf peers. I plan on asking them that, and we'll see if they can tell me why she isn't entitled to both...
Oh you mean one of those schools that serve as a regional base for dhh kids? In that case, isn't she getting exposure to both deaf and hearing kids?she's in a mainstream program that just happens to be in a school with excellent support services for the deaf
Oh you mean one of those schools that serve as a regional base for dhh kids? In that case, isn't she getting exposure to both deaf and hearing kids?
Yes! In the current placement she gets access to both. I am arguing for her to stay in this placement. This school district gets kids from lots of other school districts that don't have proper services, not just ours, because they've put the effort into making a really good program.
The problem is that our home school district wants to move her back to the home school, and she would be the ONLY deaf child there, so no more exposure to other deaf children, only hearing children. And since the home school doesn't get many deaf students through it's doors (the deaf kids all get shuffled off to other programs so aren't in the mainstream), the staff and student body has no experience with deaf children in their midst.
I DO think a deaf child can succeed in the mainstream, but the services have GOT to be there. I do NOT think you can take a deaf child and just drop them into ANY mainstream program and expect it to work. Too many times, the mainstream educators have limited/no experience with deaf children, so they treat them the same way as any hearing child in the class. But no matter how well a deaf child can communicate/hear, they are STILL a deaf child. You cannot treat them as a hearing child and expect them to succeed as well as the rest of the kids.
This is what the home school district did for my daughter for Kindergarten (and it failed), and what they would be doing for next year...
Mom2DeafChild, Excellent, excellent post!! SO DEAD ON! People say/think that kids do better academicly in a regular class regualr school setting. Yet the fact of the matter is, that most mainstream eductors (including special ed) don't generally get a lot of training on how to teach kids with more classic (ie hearing,sight, mobilty etc) Most of their training is on teaching kids with LD or ADD style educational issues. They get the minimum on how to teach kids like us. So if we don't suceed with minimal accomondations, we get lumped in with the " Ummmm who's President Obama?" types who seem to be (sadly) legion in sped. You know..........one way you could try to keep her in the program, is argue that the teachers at her orgional school don't have the training to teach dhh kids, and just fortyfive mintues a week with the itinerant TOD isn't really going to cut it.DO think a deaf child can succeed in the mainstream, but the services have GOT to be there. I do NOT think you can take a deaf child and just drop them into ANY mainstream program and expect it to work. Too many times, the mainstream educators have limited/no experience with deaf children, so they treat them the same way as any hearing child in the class. But no matter how well a deaf child can communicate/hear, they are STILL a deaf child. You cannot treat them as a hearing child and expect them to succeed as well as the rest of the kids.