The "Mainstreaming" Experience: "Isolated cases"?

I don't know where the whole "deaf kids are no longer isolated in mainstreamed education in this day and age" came from, but that's got to be the biggest bullshit I ever heard.

There are still accounts of deaf kids are still going to schools with virtually no appropriate services. No interpreters. No note-takers. No tutors. How do I know this? As a teacher, I'm the one who ends up with them when they "failed" school because of the lack of appropriate services. Kids, ages 12, 13,14, 15, 16, 17+ are coming to me with absolutely no language and very minimal communication skills. Schools say, "well, he had a hearing aid." Or parents say "I wanted her to have spoken English exposure." And countless of other stupid excuses. It is STILL happening. Right now. Today.
 
deafbajagal said:
This thread is kind of jumping all over the place.

Language barriers can lead social issues just as much as auditory-based barriers. That's a given. Many social skills are naturally acquired by children - but because I cannot hear, I missed out on learning appropriate social cues until I was directly instructed. For example, a hearing person clears his throat (ahem) which can mean various things, depending on the situation: "excuse me", "shh, there's someone near, " "it's your turn," etc. I don't hear it so it doesn't registered with me.

Another example - when my child plays volleyball, I watch her and cheer her on. Many deaf parents stick together and talk during the game - missing a lot of their children's actions. Many deaf people do this at ball games...I personally find it rude. I'm there to support my child and to give her emotional encouragment, etc. Yet, I'm the one who's an oddball and probably called a snob. That's an example of a social miscue within my own culture.

Eye contact is a big issue...I get irritated when I'm talking and a person breaks eye contact. That's SO rude to me...but that's a cultural issue.

When a person looks at his watch while you are talking, that's a social cue he's telling you he's pressed for time (or bored). When a woman grabs her purse, she's giving the cue that she's ready to go. Etc.
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Ah...those social cues. I guess I thought it would be picked up? Purse grabbing, watch checking? Especially with media. I ask because I don't understand, so I'm trying to...even if I signed, I still wouldn't. I can get an *idea* based on my own experiences or using common sense, but thinking about these things is important...Especially as a teacher. It's almost a certainty that I will have a deaf or hoh student someday.

I was a social moron growing up. :dunno:
 
deafskeptic said:
Yep. Because the deaf person is so dependant on vision, if a deaf person refuses to look at you, it's a sure sign he/she is ignoring you. I find that very annoying.
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What if a hearing person doesn't want to look at a deaf person out of, oh, I donno, shyness?
 
TheOracle said:
What if a hearing person doesn't want to look at a deaf person out of, oh, I donno, shyness?
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never had a problem. and it's the best thing that will happen to shy hearing person.

he/she walks away as a confident person :)
 
deafskeptic said:
Yep. Because the deaf person is so dependant on vision, if a deaf person refuses to look at you, it's a sure sign he/she is ignoring you. I find that very annoying.
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Exactly. If he looks away, it's the same as if a hearing person puts his hands over his ears while someone is talking to him. Lol
 
deafdyke said:
On the other hand, That's the key.....the right programs/placement. You're talking like we were in school before there were formal mainstream programs. Solotairing is still really common unfortunatly, and parents still think that all their kids need is minimal accomondations, and they'll get all the advantages of being mainstreamed, all along the line. (meaning they'll be minimal accomondaiton mainstreamed from kindergarten to 12) Parents still have to deal with biased information and teachers and schools who have NO EFFING CLUE how to educate kids with low incidence disabilties.
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deafbajagal said:
I don't know where the whole "deaf kids are no longer isolated in mainstreamed education in this day and age" came from, but that's got to be the biggest bullshit I ever heard.

There are still accounts of deaf kids are still going to schools with virtually no appropriate services. No interpreters. No note-takers. No tutors. How do I know this? As a teacher, I'm the one who ends up with them when they "failed" school because of the lack of appropriate services. Kids, ages 12, 13,14, 15, 16, 17+ are coming to me with absolutely no language and very minimal communication skills. Schools say, "well, he had a hearing aid." Or parents say "I wanted her to have spoken English exposure." And countless of other stupid excuses. It is STILL happening. Right now. Today.
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I get the feeling I'm being misunderstood, and I think I have done a horrible job explaining what I was trying to say. There's many of us here that are roughly the same age (Shel, you, DD, me, etc.) and we had horrible school years. Much of that was due to choices parents made, and what programs were available back then.

Today, there's STILL horrible programs. There's STILL horrible choices being made. It just seems to me that there's LESS of these programs and LESS of these horrible choices being made.

So as long as a parent is not making horrible choices, and finding a program that is not horrible, (because I DO think there are more better programs than 30 years ago -- even if not all -- at least some) then having perfect hearing is not a MUST.

I do not know if I explained that any better. :lol:
 
TheOracle said:
What if a hearing person doesn't want to look at a deaf person out of, oh, I donno, shyness?
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A simple request asked politely will suffice. You can tell from the body language if he's mad or just shy.
 
GrendelQ said:
Surprisingly in my area where there are wonderful resources and both oral and bi-bi schools of high academic standing, I know of several cases. One 2nd grader in what would have been my daughter's local school just received a CI last year, previously had no access to spoken language and now has limited access. In fact, our neighboring district is about to launch an ASL program in-house to address the needs of so many local deaf kids.
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Awesome!!!
 
he he, I'd just ask you to please look at me cuz I need to look at you to understand what I'm saying.
 
AlleyCat said:
I get the feeling I'm being misunderstood, and I think I have done a horrible job explaining what I was trying to say. There's many of us here that are roughly the same age (Shel, you, DD, me, etc.) and we had horrible school years. Much of that was due to choices parents made, and what programs were available back then.

Today, there's STILL horrible programs. There's STILL horrible choices being made. It just seems to me that there's LESS of these programs and LESS of these horrible choices being made.

So as long as a parent is not making horrible choices, and finding a program that is not horrible, (because I DO think there are more better programs than 30 years ago -- even if not all -- at least some) then having perfect hearing is not a MUST.

I do not know if I explained that any better. :lol:
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I agree with you 100%.
 
deafbajagal said:
Awesome!!!
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Sort of :) -- I was typing on the move and should have been more clear. The poor 2nd grader is sitting in a large class without para or terp and with limited access to spoken language :O which is a bit shocking.

But, on the other hand, the ASL program integrated into a local school could be GREAT! Tho' it's come about bc the district has several deaf kids who don't have sufficient access to spoken language being forced to mainstream. (3 ASL-using little kids from a soon-to-close TC deaf school are being placed back in a local public school instead of at the bi-bi school my daughter attends that they'd hoped for). Could be a great program, time will tell, but scary for the family. They are kicking themselves for choosing the TC program, otherwise they'd be secure in their placement.
 
deafbajagal said:
I don't know where the whole "deaf kids are no longer isolated in mainstreamed education in this day and age" came from, but that's got to be the biggest bullshit I ever heard.

There are still accounts of deaf kids are still going to schools with virtually no appropriate services. No interpreters. No note-takers. No tutors. How do I know this? As a teacher, I'm the one who ends up with them when they "failed" school because of the lack of appropriate services. Kids, ages 12, 13,14, 15, 16, 17+ are coming to me with absolutely no language and very minimal communication skills. Schools say, "well, he had a hearing aid." Or parents say "I wanted her to have spoken English exposure." And countless of other stupid excuses. It is STILL happening. Right now. Today.
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Yep. :(
 
@ Skeptic: Well, "at" is one thing, "eye contact" is another. :P
@ Jiro: Yeah after I poke my eyes out. ;)
 
I am 31 years old, and I still am haunted by my education experiences. Thinking about this topic brings a lump in my throat and a ball of burning pain forms in the pit of my stomach. I'm not sure if I'm fighting back tears or suppressing spits of anger.

I am a survivor of trauma. I have survived severe abuse from my father (emotional and physcial). I survived cancer - three times. Friends have died in my arms. I have lost babies. I survived a brutal attack by a group of men that nearly ended my life.

And yet those horrible, unspeakable experiences are merely shadows compared to being mainstreamed in a public school without appropriate services.
 
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