Is it ever ok for kids NOT to use ASL?

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faire_jour said:
If a person said that all profoundly deaf children should be given a CI, or be required to use hearing aids, or must have speech or listening therapy, or lipreading training, people would be outraged. Why is it ok the other way? Why is anything REQUIRED for all deaf or hoh kids? Shouldn't they be individuals?
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I don't agree that all children should be give a CI or required to use hearing aids, but I do think they should all learn ASL and have speech, listening, and lipreading therapy. It is giving your child all that you can to prepare them for this world.
 
faire_jour said:
If a person said that all profoundly deaf children should be given a CI, or be required to use hearing aids, or must have speech or listening therapy, or lipreading training, people would be outraged. Why is it ok the other way? Why is anything REQUIRED for all deaf or hoh kids? Shouldn't they be individuals?
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It isn't required. I can speak as one of the oral children of previous generations.

My father wanted me to fit in the majority of society. Although it did not work out perfectly, I don't hold it against him. And he had no prohibition against sign, it just was not used in my home. Anything I picked up from other kids or grandparents, no problem.
 
faire_jour said:
If a person said that all profoundly deaf children should be given a CI, or be required to use hearing aids, or must have speech or listening therapy, or lipreading training, people would be outraged. Why is it ok the other way? Why is anything REQUIRED for all deaf or hoh kids? Shouldn't they be individuals?
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This is where the logic thinking and emotional thinking gets a wee bit fuzzy here.

Babies and their voice boxes are not developed yet. Babies do know how to grasp their hands. They do know how to move their hands, reach, grab and hold with the palm of their hands.

Leave a little hearing toddler alone with a deaf couple and you can be sure to find the toddler mimicking the couple's signs by moving his/her hands by gesturing left to right. It is a natural instinct.

Now take that and apply it to the voice box, it takes time to talk for the hearing child. This is why ASL works for both deaf and hearing children.

As a parent, you would want to have every opportunities available to your child to make sure she learns all to her best and not hinder her learning capacity.

Now take the CI, not all parents will be willing to accept it. It is an individual parental decision.

It is left up to each parent to decide to implant their child[ren] and of course it would be fantastic if their implanted children kept up with ASL as well.

You would definitely want your child to have a full toolbox when it comes to education.
 
Faire_jour, about the only population that I agree doesn't really need ASL is the post-lingal population. Young postlingals (before age five) may identify strongly with Deaf Culture and ASL. Older posties tend to be more like typical Hearing Loss Association of America members. (ie they identify more as "hearing impaired")
Kids with mild losses and excellent CI users can benifit strongly from ASL instruction. Many kids with mild losses don't wear hearing aids....ASL would be a good back up for them. CI kids are still pretty much functionally hoh, and they are DEAF without their CI. If they don't have ASL skills, then they are dependant on a CI. They need to be as independant as possible, with a FULL toolbox of tools, so that they can function both with and without CI.
Besides, a lot of times their understanding of what's said is basicly from people subconsciously modifying their voices so that the dhh person can understand them better. Not everyone has a "professional speaker" voice that is easy to understand without speechreading you know.
 
sarasf said:
I don't agree that all children should be give a CI or required to use hearing aids, but I do think they should all learn ASL and have speech, listening, and lipreading therapy. It is giving your child all that you can to prepare them for this world.
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But many people accept it when Deaf parents chose not to teach their children oral skills, or give them any amplification. So, why is the opposite (hearing parents wanting their children to use spoken language) so bad?
 
faire_jour said:
But many people accept it when Deaf parents chose not to teach their children oral skills, or give them any amplification. So, why is the opposite (hearing parents wanting their children to use spoken language) so bad?
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The vast majority of deaf people have hearing parents, so they will be in the majority. Ask anywhere but here and everyone will be in sympathy to you and your goals.
 
Bottesini said:
The vast majority of deaf people have hearing parents, so they will be in the majority. Ask anywhere but here and everyone will be in sympathy to you and your goals.
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Not my goals, just trying to understand the perspective here.
 
faire_jour said:
But many people accept it when Deaf parents chose not to teach their children oral skills, or give them any amplification. So, why is the opposite (hearing parents wanting their children to use spoken language) so bad?
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Trust me...many of my deaf friends have gotten negative comments and bad attitudes from hearing people about the language used with their deaf children. My hearing friends have a deaf daughter and they use ASL at home and they get criticized for it by their hearing relatives too...


So if hearing parents want deaf parents to get criticized too, their wish has been granted cuz it does happen.
 
There is not a requirement for kids to learn ASL. It is by choice.

However, I feel that by withholding the expertise of ASL use for the kids will severely impede their language and comprehension development.

If the kid is already familiarized and is able to understand his/her surroundings without using ASL, Then - I say, It's a good thing the kid will be able to get afar in life.

But, That's just me. I'm just saying how I see it.
 
shel90 said:
Trust me...many of my deaf friends have gotten negative comments and bad attitudes from hearing people about how the language used with their deaf children. My hearing friends have a deaf daughter and they use ASL at home and they get criticized for it too...


So if hearing parents want deaf parents to get criticized too, their wish has been granted cuz it does happen.
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But that would never happen in here. ADers think that parents have the right to leave their child unamplified and with no speech/listening/lipreading training, right?
 
faire_jour said:
For the one MILLIONTH time, my daughter uses ASL. She is in a bi-bi school. Geez.
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Okay, then your daughter will never feel bad about what you did to her.

She will extol your goodness.
 
faire_jour said:
But that would never happen in here. ADers think that parents have the right to leave their child unamplified and with no speech/listening/lipreading training, right?
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I cant speak for every ADEr but I can speak for myself...when it comes to CIs, I feel it is every family's personal decision.

If u would go to CI circle, I am sure there would be plenty who would criticize deaf parents' way of raising their deaf kids. I get that out there in the real world when I am signing with my hearing kids. I cant imagine if they were deaf but I am going to give my kids whether deaf or hearing both languages regardless of what others think of it.
 
faire_jour said:
But that would never happen in here. ADers think that parents have the right to leave their child unamplified and with no speech/listening/lipreading training, right?
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I don't think that is exactly the case.

We may think the parents have the right to leave their child unamplified with no speech/listening/lipreading traning, so and on but however, if you look at it this way - They also do have the right to want their child to be amplified and to get speech/lipreading/listening training as well. It goes both ways.

Like I said, It is by choice, not by requirement.
 
faire_jour said:
But many people accept it when Deaf parents chose not to teach their children oral skills, or give them any amplification. So, why is the opposite (hearing parents wanting their children to use spoken language) so bad?
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I don't know why. It shouldn't be that way. I feel just as strongly about Deaf children learning oral skills. I think using a hearing aid is more of a personal choice.
 
Jolie77 said:
I don't think that is exactly the case.

We may think the parents have the right to leave their child unamplified with no speech/listening/lipreading traning, so and on but however, if you look at it this way - They also do have the right to want their child to be amplified and to get speech/lipreading/listening training as well. It goes both ways.

Like I said, It is by choice, not by requirement.
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Right, parents have the right to make the decisions. That is my whole point. That statement is directed at those who do believe that one thing or another should be "required".
 
faire_jour said:
Right, parents have the right to make the decisions. That is my whole point. That statement is directed at those who do believe that one thing or another should be "required".
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I always believing giving both should be a requirement but your thread asked if it is ok for kids not to use ASL. :dunno:
 
shel90 said:
I always believing giving both should be a requirement but your thread asked if it is ok for kids not to use ASL. :dunno:
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So, Deaf parents should be required to teach (or have someone teach) their children oral skills?
 
Language IS important, no matter the medium. I believe that ASL works for the majority. However, I find it a bit naive to think that teaching EVERY SINGLE deaf/HoH child ASL as L1 is just as good or better than English. There is a difference between having ASL as an option and having it as your L1 language.
 
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