Spent the week at Moog

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iowaboy

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We went to a workshop at Moog last week. Not sure what I think.
 
Oh to develop spoken language? That's good at least..I know that the public school programs can be lacking sometimes with oral instruction. I think you're doing the right thing....supplementing with summer stuff. Your daughter is still young....Even hoh kids can still have spoken language delays you know.
 
Iowaboy, it's too bad you're not on the East Coast. Clarke can be more open to Sign users. Just remember, you were there to help your daughter improve her spoken language. You can do that in conjuction with sign. There are even some Deaf families that have sent their kids to CID, Clarke and that one in Oregon, so they can improve their spoken language skills. Unfortuantly, you do have to go private (meaning brand name oral school) for decent speech therapy in a lot of cases......There is a school for the deaf, Mary Hare School, in the UK that offers the chance for sign users to improve their spoken language abilties.....Really too bad there's not something like that here.
 
DD, I went to Mary Hare Grammar School 1989-1994 and worked as teaching assistant last year for a year. A lot had changed since my old days, It was all oral oral oral, we get told off for signing, now days it's much more relaxed. The eductation is still of same as hearing peers (on some cases we did a lot better than the hearing peers!!!), we have TODs who specialises in all sorts of subjects (inc french, spanish, german, Music), even i wasn't happy there but I am glad I went there. They now have very small group of people who is doing life skills rather than full on eductation due to other SEN such as severe mobility/behaviour.
 
A lot had changed since my old days, It was all oral oral oral, we get told off for signing, now days it's much more relaxed.
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It doesn't surprise me. I think some oralists are getting more moderate. Like they have no beef with ASL/Sign per se.....and they reconize that oral ONLY may be just as extreme as Deaf extremists insisting that ALL dhh kids need just ASL.
I really think oralists need to promote themselves as "another good tool" ...you can do that without demonizing ASL.
 
Oh and Iowaboy, you have to remember that the director of Moog is pretty much the Head Grizelda Fothergill. Like the kind that is very hyperfocused on speech, speech and more speech. Listen to what they tell you regarding spoken language, and apply that....but ignore any negativity.
 
It has taken a month or so to sort through all the information. We weren't prepared for the workshop to be a week long advertisement for their school, and it kind of messed with our heads. We're moving forward with the good stuff we've gleaned from our trip.
 
A couple days ago they closed the last deaf school in my town, and it was a Moog. The public schools will take over. On the news spread over it, they showed a video of a teacher talking to this toddler in a highchair, and the poor kid looked so lost. :(
 
iowaboy said:
It has taken a month or so to sort through all the information. We weren't prepared for the workshop to be a week long advertisement for their school, and it kind of messed with our heads. We're moving forward with the good stuff we've gleaned from our trip.
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Unfortunatly, that doesn't surprise me. Moog was actually the ones who first pioneered the oral preschool movement. (meaning that all dhh kids need is oral preschool) and of course they would encourage parents to send their kids to Moog. That is how they make money. And yes, I know that it's alledgdy a nonprofit. That doesn't mean that they're not still making money somehow.
 
Beowulf said:
A couple days ago they closed the last deaf school in my town, and it was a Moog. The public schools will take over. On the news spread over it, they showed a video of a teacher talking to this toddler in a highchair, and the poor kid looked so lost. :(
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Which Moog was it? That's actually kind of good news. Moog Schools are not real schools. They're basicly just early intervention centers.
 
Keep in mind that they're all independent. The only "real" Moog school is in St. Louis, the other schools have purchased their curriculum. This was emphasized during the workshop.
 
Beowulf said:
Moog School for the Deaf Closes Thursday | KOMU.com | Columbia, MO |
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Oh so one of those preschools/early intervention centers pretending to be a real school? Still... I wonder if this might be the beginning of the end for private oral schools. And you know what? I also wonder ... I remember reading that one of those Grizelda Fothergills saying that it seemed like the public oral programs were growing.....yet the private oral school enrollment is dwindling. I wonder if the kids who would have gone to Clarke,CID, St. Joseph's are being served in mainstream programs, so it just looks like the private programs are dwindling.
Also, I mean the kids no longer have severe or profound spoken language issues like they did in the old days, since the private schools tend to be more proactive about telling parents their kid needs ASL sooner rather then later.
 
iowaboy said:
Keep in mind that they're all independent. The only "real" Moog school is in St. Louis, the other schools have purchased their curriculum. This was emphasized during the workshop.
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Yes, but unfortunatly they have the same attitude/ mentality. And virtually all of the other schools are basicly preschools/early education centers. They really aren't SCHOOLS, the way Clarke/CID/Moog/DePaul/Tucker-Maxon/St. Joseph's were/are.
I also wonder. I read on St. Joseph's site that a HUGE part of the cost of tution was speech therapy, and that could be covered by insurance. I wonder if dwindling insurance benifits (ie insurance plans aren't as good any more) are a big part of the reason for dwindling oral school enrollments.
 
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