Something new in auditory oral?

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deafdyke

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I was looking up something......check this out!!!!! Fanwood (NY School for the Deaf) has an elementary school auditory-oral program.......BUT instead of auditory oral being a be all and end all,(the way it's been for most oral/hh kids) they offer daily exposure to ASL!!! THAT is really cool! I would love to see more of something like this. I really do think that MANY parents aren't nessarily anti ASL, but they're just concerned that their kids wouldn't get enough speech/spoken language training....and that can be true. But I think if Deaf Ed became more hoh friendly, A LOT more hearing parents would opt for Deaf School/program placement. New York School for the Deaf - Auditory Oral Program
It's not as perfect as I'd like to see. What I would love to see would be a bi bi early childhood program where the day would be split. In the mornings they'd have spoken English, with things like speech therapy, and Clarke style education. In the afternoons they would switch to ASL and improving their signacy. I wonder if this might be a trend for the future somehow? I think in order to preserve Deaf Schools/deaf ed, we need to make sure there is a very good balance between both ASL and spoken language. I mean yes, there are THOSE types of parents who ONLY want their kid to have oral education and NO ASL at ALL, but I do think that they are in the minority. Granted they seem more outspoken and numerous in a certain organization.....BUT, I really think many parents of dhh kids are more like my parents were....they're unaware that Deaf Ed isn't just for voice off kids and is getting hoh friendly. Heck a lot of them may not even be aware deaf ed exists...I think most parents are like remember Deborah? She was told " oh just mainstream your daughter as a solotaire and she'll do fine. Then when she discovered Deaf Ed and how much her daughter thrived.......
Who knows? Maybe if this trend continues, we could have a viable true bilingal Deaf Ed system.....and maybe even have Deaf Ed programs GROW! I think too programs and schools like this demonstrate why Clarke/CID/St. Joseph's/Tucker Maxon/ DePaul are dwindling in traditional students (meaning first grade and up) In the old days the ONLY way a deaf kid could learn to talk was by going private....Now, things have improved so that Deaf kids can learn BOTH speech and Sign, and become literate in both! Maybe more parents will be " We don't have to become therapists! My kid can learn both speech and sign." But then again, we'll have those parents who are all " I'm not against ASL (like virtually all AG Bad parents) but having my kid learn ASL would be like giving a mildly nearsighted kid Braille training or a seeing eye dog.
 
My concern is the respect for ASL and will they hire deaf people to work there?
 
Oh definitly shel! I do think that this form of auditory oral education is a lot better then auditory verbal style " speech is the ONLY tool you'll need" philosophy. After all, a lot of oral only kids hit the glass ceiling, and may need ASL as an additional tool. I mean nowadays, a lot of orally trained kids aren't nessarily severely or profoundly speech defeincent. But they still have spoken language issues...it's just that they're more hoh style, rather then old school deaf style. (and before faire joure posts........I am aware of the research indicating that most deaf 5 year olds are on par with their speech. However, is that the percentage of deaf kids who attend the private oral programs, or orally educated kids in general?)
 
Actually postsfromhell, this is a Deaf School that offers an auditory-oral track. But it also offers ASL too. I think that's an awesome idea....B/c while kids can do much better auditory orally, they still may need ASL, especially when things get harder. In the old days, didn't they have different "tracks"? Like there were auditory oral tracks, and tracks for kids who used ASL? But the ASLers were " Oh it's just for oral failures"
 
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