Parents of children who are implanted --

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deafdyke said:
.........Oh, and the myth about abuse at the res schools, is just that. A myth. It happened a LOT back in the old days, yes. However it happened virtually EVERYWHERE. There were no failsafes to ensure that abuse didn't happen. Now things are MUCH improved. And yes, it may still happen....but abuse happens at mainstream schools too!
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Not necessarily. There was a recent thread about it and I did some research and found that abuse still does happen. It happened in the past and continues to happen. It's not a myth and any parent considering sending their kid off to one of these schools needs to be aware of it.
 
I would like to add that relocating the family, selling the house, quitting jobs and pulling the kids from school is not as easy as some of you make it sound. It is a risky proposition without any guarantees and could in fact end up being a disaster.

The school my son is at has a decent program and he is advancing and learning more and more. I have talked to other deaf people that came from that program and nobody had anything bad to say about it.
 
Yes, we would definitely consider a deaf school for our bilaterally implanted little one (that's where she goes now!) - but I wouldn't/couldn't board her.

Relocating would be very tough on us, and might negatively impact a whole lot more than a better school might offset. But we're VERY lucky and live within 2 hours of a truly amazing bi-bi school for the deaf (TLC in MA), within daily commuting distance. Our local school can't provide the services Li-Li needs for preK, and they have assumed the $60K annual cost of tuition and transport required to send the little one there 5 days a week. She is part of an acoustic access class of 3-4YO's ones with CIs, with an extremely low teacher to student ratio, embedded SLPs in class as well as pull out SLP services 3X weekly, audiology services on campus, FM systems in use, and a staff familiar with and knowledgeable about CIs and hearing/learning with CIs and all the ins and outs of keeping them on little toddler heads and switching programs for various activities. Plus, she's experiencing the educational benefits of learning ASL as well as spoken English, and observing role models across the hearing-deaf spectrum -- seeing wonderful examples of successful and caring deaf administrators, teachers, aides, older students, peers, and performances.

If our local school could provide the same level of individual attention and expertise, of course I'd rather have her go a few blocks from home rather than travel by van -- which she loves -- for nearly 4 hours a day, but seems to me we're getting the kind of targeted, specialized, one on one educational experience you'd otherwise find only at a Miss Porters School or Phillips Exeter-type academy. How can you beat that with the limited resources of a local public school and one teacher stretching to accommodate 30 kids (rather than 3 or 4) with an enormous range of different learning needs? Tennis balls on chair legs can only do so much to provide the perfect learning environment. If the time comes that we choose to mainstream, I'll definitely look to our current school as a template for what Li-Li will need as accommodation in services and resources.
 
What if the child is unhappy being mainstreamed or in an oral program but doesnt know what the problem is and parents cant recognize it? As a result, the child continues to suffer but continues to fool everyone that he/she is not suffering? The long term consequences can be very damaging.
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AMEN shel! I was one of those kids. I hated being mainstreamed, but was not aware of other options. I still wish that someone had suggested I attend a formal program for dhh kids.
I wish the "neighborhood school" placement wasn't so idealized. Sometimes it seems like ALL they want is the money the sped kids bring, but they don't want to spend ANY money on accomondations etc.
The school my son is at has a decent program and he is advancing and learning more and more. I have talked to other deaf people that came from that program and nobody had anything bad to say about it.
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Oh so your son's program is an established formal dhh program, with a number of dhh students?
I totally 100% suppport that type of placement.
There was a recent thread about it and I did some research and found that abuse still does happen. It happened in the past and continues to happen. It's not a myth
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Link to the thread? You really can't generalize. Yes, back in the old days it was very common. And yes, it still happens, but it's not as common as it once was.
And it happens at SOME deaf schools NOT all. Heck, abuse happens at mainstream schools (especially bullying) but nobody is saying that mainstream schools are horrible.
 
deafdyke said:
AMEN shel! I was one of those kids. I hated being mainstreamed, but was not aware of other options. I still wish that someone had suggested I attend a formal program for dhh kids.
I wish the "neighborhood school" placement wasn't so idealized. Sometimes it seems like ALL they want is the money the sped kids bring, but they don't want to spend ANY money on accomondations etc.
Oh so your son's program is an established formal dhh program, with a number of dhh students?
I totally 100% suppport that type of placement.
Link to the thread? You really can't generalize. Yes, back in the old days it was very common. And yes, it still happens, but it's not as common as it once was.
And it happens at SOME deaf schools NOT all. Heck, abuse happens at mainstream schools (especially bullying) but nobody is saying that mainstream schools are horrible.
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One of my friend's cousin was beaten almost to death by other students outside of school last week. Yep, he is hearing and goes to a public school in a upscale neighborhood. Go figure.
 
a lot of deaf kids ARE behind! Take for example, I went to a mainstream and then a regular public school with NO help of any kind. I decided I wanted to try a deaf school (deaf family here) and fought to get in (yup, fought!) and found out they were BEHIND!!! Ack. I ended up getting an indiviualized educational plan just so I am challenged. I did not regret my decision to go to a deaf school. If I had an implanted child, I would do everything possible to make sure that he/she never goes to a deaf school simply because with an implant, the possibilities are endless. However, I would use signs for situations when the implants are off.
 
If I had a deaf child, I am sending him/her to a deaf school.
 
deafdyke said:
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Link to the thread? You really can't generalize. Yes, back in the old days it was very common. And yes, it still happens, but it's not as common as it once was......................
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Here is the link to the thread
http://www.alldeaf.com/general-chat/70400-abuse-schools-deaf-canada-compared-usa.html

Before you said it was a myth and did not happen and now you are saying yes it still happens but it's not as common. Read through my posts in the thread I just gave you the link for and you will see that the reports of abuse are current and I even provided a list of schools by name with reported abuse. When a parent is considering shipping their deaf child off to a residential school, they MUST consider the potential for abuse. Both by staff and by other students as reported and sourced in the thread above.
 
shel90 said:
If I had a deaf child, I am sending him/her to a deaf school.
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Same here. If I had a deaf child. I also hope to get involved as well as other parents does then kids would have better education system that is another story.
 
Here is the info and sources that I posted in the thread about abuse at deaf schools.

Abuse widespread at schools for the deaf nationwide

Source: Special report: Abuse and Silence: Examining America's schools for the deaf
Rumors of rapes and molestations on the campus of the 115-year-old Washington State School for the Deaf circulated for years among parents of students. A Seattle Post-Intelligencer investigation identified dozens of child-rape victims over a half-century and raised serious concerns about the residential school's continuing failure to protect children.

Response to the P-I's report was immediate and fueled an expanded investigation. The P-I found that at least half of the nation's 50 taxpayer-funded schools for the deaf have been embroiled in controversies about sexual and physical abuse over the last two decades.
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Sexually Abused Deaf Students - It Happens Internationally

Source: Sexual Abuse of Deaf Students - Abuse at Schools for the Deaf and Other Programs

Some Schools

Sexual abuse has taken place at schools/programs for the deaf for many years. To date, these schools are known to have had sexual abuse incidents:

Amherst School for the Deaf/Halifax School for the Deaf, in Canada
Arkansas School for the Deaf
Governor Baxter School for the Deaf in Maine
Jericho Hill School for the Deaf in Canada
Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf/Central North Carolina School for the Deaf (closed)
Margaret Sterck School for the Deaf, Delaware
South Africa - Limpopo school for the deaf
Washington School for the Deaf - This school has been the subject of an entire newspaper series by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Oregon School for the Deaf
St. Rita School for the Deaf in Ohio (alleged)
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Deaf School abuse 2theadvocate.com | News | Deaf School abuse — Baton Rouge, LA
 
This is compelling. Imagine if this happened to your child.

Source: Sexual Abuse of Deaf Students - Abuse at Schools for the Deaf and Other Programs
When it comes to sexual abuse, deaf students are especially vulnerable to being abused by either older deaf children or school staff. These children may not be able to talk, their parents may not be able to communicate with them in sign language, and they may not have the language to be able to communicate about incidents, or even to be able to understand what has happened. Many students have been abused at schools for the deaf around the globe, resulting in several lawsuits.
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Lighthouse77 said:
I also wanted to add that why a parent is willing to move for child who have cancer (because of no cancer center in the area) , but not for a child who is deaf?
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With all due respect I would not compare the two.
 
rockdrummer said:
With all due respect I would not compare the two.
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I concur with RD.

If I recall, there were some touting arguments (in other threads) that a young child shouldn't be forced to get a CI because the child was deaf not dying.

Ergo, one can't have their cake and eat it too!
 
Haven't read the whole thread yet, but before we go pointing fingers at Deaf schools for being 'behind' we need to consider the performance of the mainstream schools. How many typical students are behind? I'm willing to bet the numbers are not too far apart, the Deaf programs being lower because many of those students are/were educationally neglected, i.e. "left behind", in a mainstream setting.
 
WeeBeastie said:
Haven't read the whole thread yet, but before we go pointing fingers at Deaf schools for being 'behind' we need to consider the performance of the mainstream schools. How many typical students are behind? I willing to bet the numbers are not too far apart, the Deaf programs being lower because many of those students are/were educationally neglected, i.e. "left behind".
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The language about being behind was in regards to protecting children from abuse. While I am no expert I would guess that there will be a negative impact on the ability to learn of a child that is abused regardless of which school they are at.
 
rockdrummer said:
The language about being behind was in regards to protecting children from abuse. While I am no expert I would guess that there will be a negative impact on the ability to learn of a child that is abused regardless of which school they are at.
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I was referring to the discussion at the beginning of the thread talking about Deaf schools falling "3-4 grades behind" regular schools.

sorry for the confusion.
 
WeeBeastie said:
I was referring to the discussion at the beginning of the thread talking about Deaf schools falling "3-4 grades behind" regular schools.

sorry for the confusion.
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Ah.. gotcha... my bad. I guess I assumed we were still talking about abuse. You do bring up a good point that re-enforces my belief that not all schools deaf or mainstream are doing a good job. There are good and bad in both the deaf and mainstream schools. To me its a sad state when education has to be a crap shoot. One would hope that all schools would be doing an outstanding job for our children both hearing and deaf.
 
WeeBeastie said:
Haven't read the whole thread yet, but before we go pointing fingers at Deaf schools for being 'behind' we need to consider the performance of the mainstream schools. How many typical students are behind? I'm willing to bet the numbers are not too far apart, the Deaf programs being lower because many of those students are/were educationally neglected, i.e. "left behind", in a mainstream setting.
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We have to remember Oral only school are no different.
I think it's sad for people to believe that deaf school teach very low standard setting when just about every school done that to deaf students. I can write the most worst way possible, and they would still give me a C for effort. They will keep teaching the regular way as they always done for the hearing students and if a deaf student missed out, then their is usually as, "well she is deaf, there's nothing more we can do for her other than put her on front row, write notes on boards, and such... we have to accept that she will miss out because she is deaf. Can't expect more from her"
 
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