Oral Deaf Education Schools of today

[rick48]

Just curious. Why is it ok to tell a hearing parent that they should let the deaf child grow up and make the choice of whether or not they want a CI, After all, many here say that is the choice of the child right? If that is the case, why is a hearing parent of a deaf/HOH child being pressured into teaching the child sign?
That doesnt sound quite right to me? A choice of a child is encouraged in one case, but when the child says they dont want to learn sign, you pressure the parent to do other than what the child wants?

Good point, just as giving a child will have a tremendous impact on her life, so too will not giving her one. Same with raising orally or with sign only. But why limit it to just that so too will your choice to include religion have a tremendous impact on her life, where she goes to school etc.
Rick

 

[shel90]

I know my daughter is happy because we talk to each other. I know my daughter is happy because my wife and I are involved in her life. I know this may actually amaze some of you but sometimes a hearing parent and a deaf child can actually have a good parent/child relationship.
Rick

Oh, I am not amazed. I see that a lot with deaf children and hearing parents. My relationship with my mom is great cuz I dont blame her at all for putting me in an oral only program. She was young and didnt know any different.

However, children can be good at hiding some issues from their parents so just wanted u to be aware. Heck, sometimes the child herself/himself even hide their own true feelings from themselves and lie to themselves. If your daughter is perfectly happy and have no negative issues then great! Just wanted u to be aware and watch for any signs that's all.

 

[shel90]

However, sometimes a happy well adjusted oral deaf child is just that. In fact, given the above parameters you cite, that is the rule and not the exception. Why is that every post about successful oral deaf children must be followed by the obligatory posts predicting doom and gloom from events that have not been evident in thier lives?

Why not just celebrate the fact that children who took a different path then the one you chose for your child are doing well?
Rick

In your case, your daughter may be the exception. It is a high percentage of oral deaf children grow up feeling different and isolated and I just want to educate the parents that even they can speak, read lips well, and socialize with hearing peers just fine, they may still feel all those turmoilous feelings inside about being "different". Those feelings if kept bottled in and not addressed can lead to depression, anger, or resentment. Dont want that to happen to deaf children when they become adults.

 

[SJCSue]

In your case, your daughter may be the exception. It is a high percentage of oral deaf children grow up feeling different and isolated and I just want to educate the parents that even they can speak, read lips well, and socialize with hearing peers just fine, they may still feel all those turmoilous feelings inside about being "different". Those feelings if kept bottled in and not addressed can lead to depression, anger, or resentment. Dont want that to happen to deaf children when they become adults.

I grew up feeling different and isolated too. I speak very well and I have many hearing friends (from both school and work) but I still feel different and isolated. Even though, I have a MILD hearing loss. I have bottled these feelings in for many years, I have tried to talk with my hearing mother about these feelings. However, she will never understand my feelings and I feel I need a deaf/hoh person who understands my feelings.

 

[SJCSue]

Oh, I am not amazed. I see that a lot with deaf children and hearing parents. My relationship with my mom is great cuz I dont blame her at all for putting me in an oral only program. She was young and didnt know any different.

However, children can be good at hiding some issues from their parents so just wanted u to be aware. Heck, sometimes the child herself/himself even hide their own true feelings from themselves and lie to themselves. If your daughter is perfectly happy and have no negative issues then great! Just wanted u to be aware and watch for any signs that's all.

I do not blame my parents for not learning sign language when I was younger because I am the youngest of three children. Even though, I wished they exposed me to the Deaf World when I was a little girl.

My oldest nephew was having some concept in math but my sister did not know that until he brought home the test. He was in HUGE trouble with my sister. This is referring to that children may hide some issues from their parents. BTW, he is in third grade.

 

[Lillys dad]

Uggh. I hated math classes.
The point I was trying to make about waiting to teach sign was just that different families do different things. Yes I was playing devils advocate, but also some families think I am crazy for implanting Lilly. SOme say I m crazy for teaching her sign. Some this, some that. The fact remains that we all do what is considered the best option at the time for our children. The decision to implant or not, or to teach sign or not. Those are the obvious decisions in raising a child. These are the ones that will have an obvious effect on the lives of our children. The more important decisions are the day to day decisions. These are the ones that shape the character of our children. The honest, character buildign little things in life will effect them in much bigger ways than how we chose to communicate with them, or for them.
If you raise a chilr properly (with a sense of values instilled in them) They will succseed regardless of how they communicate. As I have been saying all along, give them every option (in communcation and more) as they get older, they will begin to decide for themselves what is best for them, using the knowledge and responsibility you have instilled in them. From that point on, all you can do is hope they make the right decisions, and give them a hud when they need encouragment.
Merry Christmas!

 

[greema]

Deborah, I left St.Louis 5 weeks after graduting high school. I went straight into the Army. When I left, I had my mind set that I was never coming back to St.Louis. Well, you see where I ended up. I came home for my family. I have a close family. At the time I was in the army, my sisters and I were scattered all over the the country (including Alaska). We all moved back home at about the same time. Anyway, after moving back here, the only advantages to st.louis was my family. After finsing out Lilly was deaf, and learning of the huge support we get here, I now have a reason (besides family) to be here. While here, did you have much involvement with st.louis county special school district? We actually have one of the best public deaf ed programs in the country. If I were you, I would seriously consider moving back here. SSD does thier deaf ed in brentwood high school. Depending on the seriousness of her LD, you could probably do some type of half day program thing. You know, deaf HOH ed for part of the day, and general ed classes with the hearing kids.
As far as my own support system, I am doing pretty good. My family moved into Webster Groves school district last year. Th eonly reason we did this was because of their reputation and quality of schools. At the same time we moved here, another CID family moved here. And a few months ago, another. All of us have become friends. We all help each other out and meet socially for us and the kids to play together. In fact, Lillys best friend is the deaf child of one of the families. The both have CI. We live less than a mile apart, and the chances are that they will go to the same school in the same grade. The other family has a deaf son that is about 6 months younger than Lilly. He also has a CI. Due to the fact that the school dist has 3 CI kids that may all be in the same grade, they will probably put them all together. Besides the support from the other families here. I have made friends from this web site that live local. One of them and I recently went to a first meeting of a Parents "Support group" for CI. This is goign to become a monthly meeting. While I absolutely hate the term "support group" I love the results. We talk to people that have the same situations, experiences, and learn from each other.

QFT!!
Fragmenter and his sister grew up in the SSD setting and there was a wide range of hearing loss in their classmates and also a wide range of preferred communication modes. They go into hearing ed classes but if they find themselves falling behind they could stay in the resource classroom and get help from the spec ed teacher. Brentwood is very flexible in that way and I am happy to say my adult children are doing great. There was a set of twin sisters who were very hoh and they preferred oral communications and now that I think of it, these kids got along well and they were able to choose their preferences of communication with each other and with their hearing peers.
While I'm here, I want to say Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Happy Hankukah (I apologize if I spelled this wrong) and Happy Holidays!

 

[deafdyke]

they preferred oral communications and now that I think of it, these kids got along well and they were able to choose their preferences of communication with each other and with their hearing peers.

Exactly Greema........There's nothing wrong with a kid who has been introduced to both, and consciously choses oral. I just think that with all the debate on "best methodology" we've lost sight of the fact that methodology should be child centered. We shouldn't get ideals about "pure" language or ideals about " Oh boo hoo hoo! My child may have to use a "speshal" needs method!" ....Why can't oralists get rid of the stigma that they push, that Sign and Cued speech etc are some sort of "crutch?" THAT is really what irriates Deaf people about oral-onliests....not that they have hearing and speech skills.....I know a lot of HOH folks who ID strongly as dhh.
Rick........it's great that some kids are sucessful and happy with the oral method.....but, I have to say that it's proboly sort of like the sitution with going to college after going to an inner city high school for high school. There are some kids who go to Harvard or anotehr Selective College....but most kids are lucky to get in a four year state college.
Or like, the percentage of deaf blind students from Perkins or another program where most kids are rather severely affected, who go on to get a Ph.D. (not ragging on deaf-blind students.....just saying that a lot of them tend to be severely affected by their disablity)
Yes, there are sucessful oral-onlists........but how much of their sucess is due to sociological factors, or of having the "perfect set of resources? "
Besides, how many of those sucessful oralists are really totally integrated into hearing society? How many of them still have to take speech and language therapy?
Yes, many of us can share somewhat in the hearing world.......but most of us will never BE totally "hearing"......I just wonder why there are a lot of people who reject alternative ways of doing something....I mean it could really help their acheivement.

 

[jillio]

However, sometimes a happy well adjusted oral deaf child is just that. In fact, given the above parameters you cite, that is the rule and not the exception. Why is that every post about successful oral deaf children must be followed by the obligatory posts predicting doom and gloom from events that have not been evident in thier lives?

Why not just celebrate the fact that children who took a different path then the one you chose for your child are doing well?
Rick

If someone has taken a different path than the one my son and I walked, and they are happy and satisfied with their life, then I applaud them. And yes,, there are happy and well adjusted oral children out there. More often, however, they are either very young and have not yet encountered the rougher spots of socialization that begins to occur at about 5th grade, or the parents WANT SO MUCH FOR THEM TO BE HAPPY THAT THEY IGNORE THE OBVIOUS!

 

[Lillys dad]

Jillio, "More often, however, they are either very young and have not yet encountered the rougher spots of socialization that begins to occur at about 5th grade, or the parents WANT SO MUCH FOR THEM TO BE HAPPY THAT THEY IGNORE THE OBVIOUS!"
Please provide data or proof to back up that statement. While one aspect of your statement is correct, they most likely will encounter accpetance, self esteem, issues, so do ALL kids whether hearing, deaf, sign or oral.
Please provide proof where oral kids have more of these issues than non oral kids.

 

[shel90]

Jillio, "More often, however, they are either very young and have not yet encountered the rougher spots of socialization that begins to occur at about 5th grade, or the parents WANT SO MUCH FOR THEM TO BE HAPPY THAT THEY IGNORE THE OBVIOUS!"
Please provide data or proof to back up that statement. While one aspect of your statement is correct, they most likely will encounter accpetance, self esteem, issues, so do ALL kids whether hearing, deaf, sign or oral.
Please provide proof where oral kids have more of these issues than non oral kids.

My brother and I are probably one of the best example for the kind of proof u want. He grew up with ASL and having the deaf community in his life from kindergarden when he was transferred to the deaf school while I grew up fully oral without any deaf friends. My brother is a very confident man and never knew what it is like to feel isolation until he got a job as a therapist for a nursing home. He was the only deaf person and he finally got to know what it is like to be left out all the time, be frustrated and have people disgregard his suggestions or feedback. When he made the decision to quit, he emailed me telling me that he doesnt know how I survived feeling like this all my life. I told him that I didnt know what it was like to feel a connection with people until I went to Gallaudet University. Now, my brother works in a signing environment as well as I do cuz we both feel like we have respect and a sense of belonging.

BTW, my brother got a pretty good education from the deaf school he attended cuz he is now studying for his Master's so he got the best of both worlds while I only got a good education.

I dont know if that is good enough of proof for u.

 

[Lillys dad]

I understand the point that is trying to be made. But, you are two of tens, or hundreds of thousands of deaf people in the US. The statement that Jillio made seems to be more opinion based than factual.
As I said, I understand the point of the message. I do not completely agree with it, due to the CI generation being integrated into the hearing world at a young enough age that they will generally not remember the times before they could "hear". Because they will be able to "Hear", that makes it much easier to coexist with the hearing world. As we all know, I am a proponent of exposing the kids to sign, so that is not the issue.
My issue is, and continues to be that whether or not people here want to admit it or not, the face of deaf culture is changing. We are constantly reminded of the way things were. Those were some very hard times. But you must admit and realize that the deaf kids coming into the world today, have a much different view of the world than they would have 20 years ago. Society is changing the way their opinion of people with "disabilities". They/You are becoming more and more accepted/welcomed. While I know that ignorance is alive and well, there are incredible changes in the perception from the "hearing" or "normal" people. I just get frustrated as hell when all I hear about is how bad the "normal" people treat everyone else.
I say again, the face of deaf culture is changing quickly. You can change with it, or get left behind. Once again, like I said months ago here. A culture that is not willing to evolve, will die. Period.
You know what they say about history, those that do not know it, will be doomed to repeat it.

 

[rick48]

If someone has taken a different path than the one my son and I walked, and they are happy and satisfied with their life, then I applaud them. And yes,, there are happy and well adjusted oral children out there. More often, however, they are either very young and have not yet encountered the rougher spots of socialization that begins to occur at about 5th grade, or the parents WANT SO MUCH FOR THEM TO BE HAPPY THAT THEY IGNORE THE OBVIOUS!

Having both a hearing and a deaf child and both girls, I would agree with you that there is a socialization turning point at around that grade level. However, I disagree with your opinion being presented as a "fact" that it is limited to just oral deaf kids. How does knowing sign allow a deaf child to bypass the "rougher spots of socialization"? It seems that you are taking a universal experience that applies to all kids and just limiting it to oral deaf kids.

As Lilly'sdad requested, I too would be interested in your research.

Rick

 

[shel90]

Having both a hearing and a deaf child and both girls, I would agree with you that there is a socialization turning point at around that grade level. However, I disagree with your opinion being presented as a "fact" that it is limited to just oral deaf kids. How does knowing sign allow a deaf child to bypass the "rougher spots of socialization"? It seems that you are taking a universal experience that applies to all kids and just limiting it to oral deaf kids.

As Lilly'sdad requested, I too would be interested in your research.

Rick

Granted this stage of a child's life whether the child is hearing or deaf is rough. It just becomes harder when the child is different from his/her peers so that is why I prefer that deaf children be mainstreamed with other deaf children their ages or go to a deaf school. It is not fun being the only deaf child out of the whole school and have kids on that child's case daily just because the child cant hear. That is what happened to me and in some cases, physical attackes occurred. Heck, I had to change one class cuz a group of girls were harrassing me to the point where I would get anxiety-like shakes just before that class. The school didnt do shit about those girls and just moved me to another class. NEVER in a MILLION years I would repeat that stage of my life. It was a living hell daily..from 6th grade to 9th grade were my worst years. If I had to repeat them, I would ask for deaf classmates or go to a deaf school.

 

[deafdyke]

I do not completely agree with it, due to the CI generation being integrated into the hearing world at a young enough age that they will generally not remember the times before they could "hear". Because they will be able to "Hear", that makes it much easier to coexist with the hearing world.

Liliysdad, sorry but there have been TONS and TONS of functionally hoh kids even WITHOUT CI. CI kids don't have a monopoly on the hoh experiance.
I can hear somewhat.......but that doesn't mean that it's a lot easier to function in the hearing world. I still experiance the world differently then a hearing person.
Rick and Lilysdad,
I used to read academic books (like the kind that you would use for a college research paper) for fun. I remember reading in one of them,(published in the '90's if I recall) that there was some research which indicated that totally oral only kids had significent social difficulties. I might have to do some research to back that up. Give me a few weeks. I may have to go visit the school that has that book soon, to clear up something anyway.

Oh and I agree......it's not exclusively a dhh experiance. But, it is a fact that kids who are different......(and even kids who are "quote unquote" typical average American) can have horrible adololences. Ever read Our Guys? Don't you remember all the talk in academic circles about bullies and things like that?
It does seem like kids who are "different" tend to really receive more then their fair share of bullying.
I know kids who had special needs who were REALLY ostracized ....Not just simple shunning.......but the attention that they received was just so.....almost sociopathic. Like, I remember in jr high I got a obscence letter
Rick, being ASL/Sign fluent would allow the person having social difficulties to find a group of their own. Yes, the hearing world is awesome......but you know, it's VERY hard for dhh kids to understand each other using verbal speech. LOL.....I was watching some old home movies taken when I was a little kid.....I have NO IDEAR how my parents and everyone knew what I was saying.
It also greases the skids socially. Sign is something really fun and really cool.
Instead of being made fun of b/c their voice sounds very distinctive, they are suddenly the cool kid, b/c THEY KNOW something cool! Like most of the time, hoh kids just get Hearing Health 101. How boring can you get? It's like the difference between a dry Hearing Health pamphelt written by an audi, vs. someone writing about a cool interesting vibrant culture.
Also, just b/c we can communicate very well in a particular language, it doesn't mean that we are 100% accomplished in it. Like my friend who went abroad for a semester, could speak French really well.....but at the end of the day she just wanted to go back to speaking English. Maybe a lot of Oral only kids are experiancing the same thing.....they are putting effort that could be better spent on other things......Like if a kid does just OK with oral skills, if they got introduced to Sign they could find the energy to really acheive. Does that make any sense?

 

[shel90]

Liliysdad, sorry but there have been TONS and TONS of functionally hoh kids even WITHOUT CI. CI kids don't have a monopoly on the hoh experiance.
I can hear somewhat.......but that doesn't mean that it's a lot easier to function in the hearing world. I still experiance the world differently then a hearing person.
Rick and Lilysdad,
I used to read academic books (like the kind that you would use for a college research paper) for fun. I remember reading in one of them,(published in the '90's if I recall) that there was some research which indicated that totally oral only kids had significent social difficulties. I might have to do some research to back that up. Give me a few weeks. I may have to go visit the school that has that book soon, to clear up something anyway.

Oh and I agree......it's not exclusively a dhh experiance. But, it is a fact that kids who are different......(and even kids who are "quote unquote" typical average American) can have horrible adololences. Ever read Our Guys? Don't you remember all the talk in academic circles about bullies and things like that?
It does seem like kids who are "different" tend to really receive more then their fair share of bullying.
I know kids who had special needs who were REALLY ostracized ....Not just simple shunning.......but the attention that they received was just so.....almost sociopathic. Like, I remember in jr high I got a obscence letter
Rick, being ASL/Sign fluent would allow the person having social difficulties to find a group of their own. Yes, the hearing world is awesome......but you know, it's VERY hard for dhh kids to understand each other using verbal speech. LOL.....I was watching some old home movies taken when I was a little kid.....I have NO IDEAR how my parents and everyone knew what I was saying.
It also greases the skids socially. Sign is something really fun and really cool.
Instead of being made fun of b/c their voice sounds very distinctive, they are suddenly the cool kid, b/c THEY KNOW something cool! Like most of the time, hoh kids just get Hearing Health 101. How boring can you get? It's like the difference between a dry Hearing Health pamphelt written by an audi, vs. someone writing about a cool interesting vibrant culture.
Also, just b/c we can communicate very well in a particular language, it doesn't mean that we are 100% accomplished in it. Like my friend who went abroad for a semester, could speak French really well.....but at the end of the day she just wanted to go back to speaking English. Maybe a lot of Oral only kids are experiancing the same thing.....they are putting effort that could be better spent on other things......Like if a kid does just OK with oral skills, if they got introduced to Sign they could find the energy to really acheive. Does that make any sense?

I agree...I remember my eyes or being very tired at the end of the day after lip reading all day and since learning ASL, I am not as tired or my eyes dont hurt as much. I can communicate well in English but I am happier and more comfortable using ASL and being in an all signing environment. I would do anything to have that group of deaf classmates growing up so I wouldnt have felt so isolated. Yes, I had hearing friends and boyfriends but I grew up with something missing in me and as I already mentioned, it became to the point where I became an unhappy person. Thank god I went to Gallaudet University and found my deaf identity.

 

[R2D2]

My brother and I are probably one of the best example for the kind of proof u want. He grew up with ASL and having the deaf community in his life from kindergarden when he was transferred to the deaf school while I grew up fully oral without any deaf friends. My brother is a very confident man and never knew what it is like to feel isolation until he got a job as a therapist for a nursing home. He was the only deaf person and he finally got to know what it is like to be left out all the time, be frustrated and have people disgregard his suggestions or feedback. When he made the decision to quit, he emailed me telling me that he doesnt know how I survived feeling like this all my life. I told him that I didnt know what it was like to feel a connection with people until I went to Gallaudet University. Now, my brother works in a signing environment as well as I do cuz we both feel like we have respect and a sense of belonging.

BTW, my brother got a pretty good education from the deaf school he attended cuz he is now studying for his Master's so he got the best of both worlds while I only got a good education.

I dont know if that is good enough of proof for u.

Interesting experiences. My nephew grew up in a signing environment as well. It seems to me from what you have said about your brother and what I have observed with my nephew is that they need to function in signing only environments long after they have left school. My nephew seems to be very scared of the hearing world to the point that he won't try anything new that involves contact with the hearing world, which frustrates his mum and I wonder if that is very healthy.
It's not feasible for every signer in the country to only work in signing environments. I guess what I am saying is that some people can work in the deaf industry but not everyone can since it's not big enough. I once worked for a deaf charity and I observed that even there, signers are sadly ignored by the hearing people that work there.

 

[shel90]

Interesting experiences. My nephew grew up in a signing environment as well. It seems to me from what you have said about your brother and what I have observed with my nephew is that they need to function in signing only environments long after they have left school. My nephew seems to be very scared of the hearing world to the point that he won't try anything new that involves contact with the hearing world, which frustrates his mum and I wonder if that is very healthy.
It's not feasible for every signer in the country to only work in signing environments. I guess what I am saying is that some people can work in the deaf industry but not everyone can since it's not big enough. I once worked for a deaf charity and I observed that even there, signers are sadly ignored by the hearing people that work there.

I am able to communicate with hearing people but yet in all of my job experiences working with hearing people, I was ignored and felt disrespected by their attitudes to me. There was one time I was in a meeting for the insurance company I worked for and I made a few suggestions to solve a certain problem...the speaker just nodded his head and moved on to other people's suggestions. He jotted down their suggestions but not mine? At the time I didnt know ASL, I was still ignored anyway. No difference if I was a signer or not but at least I would have a deaf community to connect with after working hours.

I know many deaf people who use ASL that work in non-signing environments but they are usually isolated to working at a desk jobs away from hearing people.

This is what happened at the nursery home where my brother used to work. A patient went into a heart attack and my brother was the only one there and he started administering CPR and when the other staff came in and started yelling at my brother. Of course he is deaf and cant understand so he just kept doing what he had to do and ignored them. He tried to tell them he is doing CPR and to let him to do the job and then one other staff pushed him away to do the exact same thing my brother was doing. That really pushed him to the edge...the next week, he put in his 2 week notice. He felt very very degraded and looked down as not capable despite having a CPR certification and years and years of life guarding experiences.

I think it is the public who need to stop this behavior and treat deaf people as capable of doing whatever we can instead of the deaf person working so hard to have comprehendable speech and lipreading skills in order to communicate with them only to be ignored.

 

[jag]

I grew up feeling different and isolated too. I speak very well and I have many hearing friends (from both school and work) but I still feel different and isolated. Even though, I have a MILD hearing loss. I have bottled these feelings in for many years, I have tried to talk with my hearing mother about these feelings. However, she will never understand my feelings and I feel I need a deaf/hoh person who understands my feelings.

I grew up with a moderate loss and did great. Lets see I was a starter on the girls basketball team, sucked a volleyball and didn't bother after the first couple of practices, tried track one year, got supended the following spring for 9 weeks cause I came home drunk as a skunk. (my dad was a teacher and coach) in there I started smoking so gave up track....continued the rest including cheerleading and band. Had a blast and didn't need to talk to deaf /hoh persons to figure get a handle on my life. I imagine there are alot of people like me out there to.....unlike those of you who don't blame your mom's or dad's for their hearing loss, I did, I'll admit it. As I grew out of my teens and lost the teenage angst (or however it's spelled) I've let that anger go. Life's grows to short to continue to be angry about the luck of the draw. I was the first in my family to actually wear HA's, hated it and only used them in school...but I certainly wasn't the only one to need them.

It has only been the last 10 + yrs as my loss has moved into the severe range that things had become more difficult and exasperating but I personally never felt the need to HAVE to have another deaf/hoh person to talk to to understand my feelings, I've recieved the CI and am now back to normal for me.

Happy New Year to all.

 

[jag]

We are ready to move soon--determined to find the best place for her high school years. Problem is, we have no idea where that would be--no oral schools have high school programs, and we're not sure if she would do well in a traditional school for the deaf. As much as I want to think things would go well in a regular high school, her learning disability has caused her enough of a challenge to make me feel less confident about that. I just don't know what to do. The oral advocates say mainstream, the TC advocates say Deaf programs or school--but I have to make the choice based on what is the best match for my daughter--opinions and feelings have to be put aside, and the decision has to be made based on facts and figures. What type of learning environment would help her reach her fullest potential, what type of environment would be best for her socially, should she go off to boarding school (I just can't fathom that!) or should we move near whatever school best meets her needs--these are all questions that are gnawing at me day and night. I LOVE being a parent, but it sure is a tough job making these kind of decisions! I hope and pray that we make the right ones for her so that she can make the best decisions for herself once she reaches adulthood.>>>>>>>

Deborah many 'traditional' deaf schools are anything but now. MSAD (MN) sends some of their students to the local school for mainstreaming, they have speech theraphy and some of the teaching staff do use speech and sign. Alot depends on your daughter. My youngest attends MSAD as a hoh child with Down Syndrome. She's been there for about 5 yrs now and her progress is amazing for her. She didn't speak well before starting there which is why we chose to continue her education there. She's 17 now and very much a part of that community but she's still very much a part of our family and can answer yes or no to spoken questions so her conprehension of spoken language has actually been enhanced by immersion into the ASL enviroment. What I'm trying to say is there are deaf schools that do provide options for education in mainstream enviroments and instruction in ASL, good luck in finding the right one for your daughter.

Happy New Year.