Perspectives on "diagnosis"?

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LauraJaneSLP

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Hi everyone,

I'm brand new to this board, I came upon it while doing some research for a paper. I'm finishing my masters in Bilingual (English-Spanish) Speech Pathology and have been working as an English-Spanish interpreter for a Center for the d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the Midwest for about a year now. I also accepted a job (after graduation) to be the bilingual (English-Spanish) speech pathologist at the Center in May.

I work in early intervention and primarily with Latino families but with a variety of types of hearing loss, cultural perspectives and communication modalities (some use total communication, some ASL-only, some have CIs, some use Auditory-Verbal therapy, etc.).

I was just wondering if anyone might share their experiences either as a d/Deaf or HOH individual, CODA, parent, etc. regarding finding out the diagnosis of hearing loss. My Latino families have Latino cultural views that often influence their views on their children's hearing (or hearing loss)... I am just wondering if anyone would have anything to share?

Sorry this is so long! Thanks for your help in advance. I've lurked on the boards for awhile now, they are an invaluable resource for professionals like me. Thank you!!

Laura
 
LauraJaneSLP said:
Hi everyone,

I'm brand new to this board, I came upon it while doing some research for a paper. I'm finishing my masters in Bilingual (English-Spanish) Speech Pathology and have been working as an English-Spanish interpreter for a Center for the d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the Midwest for about a year now. I also accepted a job (after graduation) to be the bilingual (English-Spanish) speech pathologist at the Center in May.

I work in early intervention and primarily with Latino families but with a variety of types of hearing loss, cultural perspectives and communication modalities (some use total communication, some ASL-only, some have CIs, some use Auditory-Verbal therapy, etc.).

I was just wondering if anyone might share their experiences either as a d/Deaf or HOH individual, CODA, parent, etc. regarding finding out the diagnosis of hearing loss. My Latino families have Latino cultural views that often influence their views on their children's hearing (or hearing loss)... I am just wondering if anyone would have anything to share?

Sorry this is so long! Thanks for your help in advance. I've lurked on the boards for awhile now, they are an invaluable resource for professionals like me. Thank you!!

Laura
Click to expand...

I can't offer you anything regarding the Latino perspective, but I do want to applaud you for taking a multicultural perspective in dealing with your clients. It is wonderful to find someone so holistic in their approach.
 
Hi Jillio! Thanks for your support... I'm on my way to becoming trilingual (ASL! FINALLLLLY! I've wanted to learn forever!!), too. In my experience, if I'm blessed enough to work for an organization that supports every communication modality, I better do my very best to be linguistically and culturally prepared for any possible combination of ASL, English and Spanish.

And I'd be happy to hear ALL perspectives, not just Latino ones. :)
 
In my experience growing up with a large Latino population in AZ and being married to one, their perspectives are usually of shame when a child is born with deafness. Too often, I have seen them resort to prayer in the hopes for a "cure".

As a teacher for the deaf, I have yet met a Latino family learn sign language for their deaf children. Usually, they want them to learn spoken Spanish and when that doesnt happen, they see the child or themselves as a failure. I think it is a shame considering that often, the chidlren end up being able to read and write in English and Spanish along with sign language making them trilingual which is a amazing trait to have!
 
i can't speak from the perspective of being latino, but i can share my experiences regarding my diagnosis of progressive hearing loss.

i was diagnosed with a mild hearing loss at age 3 (although my former hearing aid audis think it may have been congenital based on the fact that newborns weren't given hearing screenings in the late 60s/early 70s).

by age 15, i received my first pair of hearing aids for a moderately-severe hearing loss.

i was able to function quite well with hearing aids until my hearing loss progressed to the severe-profound range by age 24. it was at this time that i started learning alternative communication techniques for the deafblind including tactile sign (pse, see and asl), print on palm/pop, telebraille/braille tty, braille/raised print alphabet card and fingerbraille.

at the age of 34 i decided to get a cochlear implant for my own personal safety as a totally deafblind person. 2 years later, i received my second implant.

dealing with constant changes related to my hearing has definitely been a challenge at times, but overall, i think the experience has made me a stronger person because of it. if i had the power to do it all over again, i wouldn't change a thing.
 
wow that is really lots of information to you. i am surprised to you welcome more information to mention to deaf people. I'd know what is happend to problem you I think so getting problem really i am surprsied. i wish be perecpetive for you.
 
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