The "Mainstreaming" Experience: "Isolated cases"?

[Bebonang]

Not all mainstreamed deaf students were in special ed. Some were in the regular classes. Some were even in the honor classes.

But they do struggle trying to get better grades, even with CI. That is what happened to me when I was in mainstream school in regular classes and I only have one hearing aid. Lipreading is impossible and no accommodations at all. Geez. :roll:

 

[AlleyCat]

But they do struggle trying to get better grades, even with CI. That is what happened to me when I was in mainstream school in regular classes and I only have one hearing aid. Lipreading is impossible and no accommodations at all. Geez. :roll:

Very true. I was in regular classes, even honors classes. I had no special education classes other than the occasional pull-out to meet with my TOD. It was just plain tough.

 

[shel90]

Very true. I was in regular classes, even honors classes. I had no special education classes other than the occasional pull-out to meet with my TOD. It was just plain tough.

I wasnt in honors all the time....a few semesters here and there maybe...but I passed with good grades. It all felt fabricated. Looking back, I feel that I didnt really "learn" but just did what I could do to pass the classes and get the hell out.

 

[KristinaB]

But they do struggle trying to get better grades, even with CI. That is what happened to me when I was in mainstream school in regular classes and I only have one hearing aid. Lipreading is impossible and no accommodations at all. Geez. :roll:

No special ed classes were available at my schools at all, After 5th grade I didn't even have my hearing aid. No assistance at all for most of any of my schooling in regular mainstream public school. In the one town (2nd grade through 10th grade) I was in the upper percentile of regular classes, then we moved and for 11th grade and 12th grade I was so far above the other kids academically that I was in all honors classes or the school didn't have one and had to get a course and materials from the Junior college. I still graduated in the top 10 in my class of 937 students. It was not easy, I had NO social life outside of church and no friends due to lack of communication.

 

[AlleyCat]

No special ed classes were available at my schools at all, After 5th grade I didn't even have my hearing aid. No assistance at all for most of any of my schooling in regular mainstream public school. In the one town (2nd grade through 10th grade) I was in the upper percentile of regular classes, then we moved and for 11th grade and 12th grade I was so far above the other kids academically that I was in all honors classes or the school didn't have one and had to get a course and materials from the Junior college. I still graduated in the top 10 in my class of 937 students. It was not easy, I had NO social life outside of church and no friends due to lack of communication.

You sound just like me. I graduated near the top of my class too, but I had NO social life whatsoever and no friends other than those I went to deaf camp with. So they were not in my school. Nobody in my school wanted anything to do with "that deaf kid". (They actually called me that.)

 

[shel90]

KristinaB and AlleyCat...the feeling I get is that to these oralist as long as we made the grade, that is all what matters, right? Whatever.

 

[TheOracle]

I wasnt in honors all the time....a few semesters here and there maybe...but I passed with good grades. It all felt fabricated. Looking back, I feel that I didnt really "learn" but just did what I could do to pass the classes and get the hell out.

I'm hearing and I kind of feel the same way. I think most people feel they didn't learn much in high school.

But if the Deaf community objected to this, what happened? I know there was a lot of resistance to oral, but I didn't know there was a resistance to special ed or FAPE...? Can you point me to some resources? Because that's something that teachers should learn when they take history of education classes!

Schools are learning institutions. I didn't mean that Deaf institutions equaled mental facility. I know some institutions existed that were "warehouses" of criminals, deaf, insane, sick, etc. That's not what I meant. But VERY FEW PARENTS want to actually be separated from their children. The purpose of having children is to raise them.

 

[TheOracle]

KristinaB and AlleyCat...the feeling I get is that to these oralist as long as we made the grade, that is all what matters, right? Whatever.

The law says that everyone should have access. It doesn't say that it should be the same degree of difficulty. I know what you are saying - trust me - but if students were completely leveled out in every classroom, then As and Bs wouldn't exist. Everyone would be hitting the A mark. Not saying it's actually a bad idea, but that completely changes how we think about education. Wasn't deafydyke talking about designer IEPS a few days ago?

 

[Daredevel7]

If a hearing person has no friends at school, it's because he has some social issues.

If a deaf person has no friends at school, it's because of him being mainstreamed.

ALWAYS.

Right?

Not to mock those who had a horrible time being mainstreamed, but don't you ever wonder if, when a deaf person did not have friends in a mainstream setting, there MAY be reasons OTHER than simply being mainstreamed?

 

[TheOracle]

If a hearing person has no friends at school, it's because he has some social issues.

If a deaf person has no friends at school, it's because of him being mainstreamed.

ALWAYS.

Right?

Not to mock those who had a horrible time being mainstreamed, but don't you ever wonder if, when a deaf person did not have friends in a mainstream setting, there MAY be reasons OTHER than simply being mainstreamed?

she has a point.

while mainstreaming can cause psychological upset because of the difficulty, some students fare just fine. i really believe that teachers today are trying to address that (at least the young teachers I know of around here!) at least in my program, we had to demonstrate that we could show a caring classroom environment. it's not as easy as it sounds.

Like I said before (in this thread or another), if my son went deaf, I may not move him to Colorado School. If he can get a good education with the right supports in the environment he's in, then he'd stay.

I had a deaf friend as a child. Speechreading was a pain sometimes, sure, but he signed fluently. He was my brother's best friend (the two were INSEPARABLE) and if I didn't have Michael as a surrogate older brother during those early years, I would have really missed out.

RE: Least Restrictive Environment
When I worked at a SPED school for those who were also mentally ill (these kids had gotten kicked out of public school for violence) our goal was to "rehab" them as quickly as possible so they could return to public school. Sometimes it took a year, sometimes it took three. Our school was considered a more restrictive environment.

 

[deafdyke]

If you use oral language, you would need to be able to understand spoken language, in noise, without lipreading.

WHAT?!?!? Sorry, but having difficulty hearing in noise is simply what being hoh is about. Even unilateral dhh people have difficulty in noise....HELLO, that is why they still have oral interpreters and FM/soundfield.
:roll:

 

[TheOracle]

WHAT?!?!? Sorry, but having difficulty hearing in noise is simply what being hoh is about. Even unilateral dhh people have difficulty in noise....HELLO, that is why they still have oral interpreters and FM/soundfield.
:roll:

I'm unilaterally deaf!

But I think she meant if you use oral as a primary communication method.

 

[faire_jour]

Wirelessly posted

WHAT?!?!? Sorry, but having difficulty hearing in noise is simply what being hoh is about. Even unilateral dhh people have difficulty in noise....HELLO, that is why they still have oral interpreters and FM/soundfield.
:roll:

I'm unilaterally deaf!

But I think she meant if you use oral as a primary communication method.

yes, if a child is going to be successful in a mainstream setting, using listening and spoken language, they must be able to understand speech in a noisy enviroment. Or they will be unable to understand the curriculum and their peers.

 

[sheila022]

If a hearing person has no friends at school, it's because he has some social issues.

If a deaf person has no friends at school, it's because of him being mainstreamed.

ALWAYS.

Right?

Not to mock those who had a horrible time being mainstreamed, but don't you ever wonder if, when a deaf person did not have friends in a mainstream setting, there MAY be reasons OTHER than simply being mainstreamed?

Point taken. In my time, when I was mainstreamed full-time starting 3rd grade, I never had a lack of friends, deaf or hearing, within my school or other schools. I'll say my time in elementary school was quite happy. Those who had "no friends" are usually hearing, often ridiculed for other reasons.

Unlike other people here in this thread, I guess I was relatively lucky to get good accommodations and have accepting peers. Sure, elementary school children were curious about my cochlear implant, but they just treated me like I'm one of them.....probably because there were so many deaf and special needs students around the school that we just got used to seeing and interacting with them often. It also doesn't hurt that many of my hearing peers wanted to learn ASL, and I also learned some ASL while interacting with ASL-only peers.

I was able to get just by fine with FM system and staring at the whiteboards or looking at the textbooks while in middle and high school, and...instant As!!!!! Haha, I did hate high school. It was full of shallow classmates, and the materials weren't super interesting or challenging enough--->not well prepared enough for MIT. =/ I should have gone to a math and science magnet high school. Oh well.

 

[faire_jour]

Wirelessly posted

If a hearing person has no friends at school, it's because he has some social issues.

If a deaf person has no friends at school, it's because of him being mainstreamed.

ALWAYS.

Right?

Not to mock those who had a horrible time being mainstreamed, but don't you ever wonder if, when a deaf person did not have friends in a mainstream setting, there MAY be reasons OTHER than simply being mainstreamed?

people talk about being horribly teased....lots of people are teased! In fact, i think that the research says 90% of people say they have been bullied. It is certainly not confined to the deaf.

someone here talked about having things thrown at them in the luchroom. My little sister had gum put in her hair, twice in one week! She had naked pictures taken of her in the locker room...it goes on and on.

school often sucks, it is not just deaf people.

 

[deafskeptic]

It's only my opinion but I think deaf day school would be a good option but it usually requires the whole family moving to a location near the school.

Personally, I think that a Deaf day school is the best option but it's not always realistic for family to move to a location near the school. I do have to admire jillio for doing just that for her son.

 

[deafdyke]

'

m on the fence about that statement. I've known some very popular deaf students who were in mainstream schools. I think there's more to socialization success than whether or not a student is in a mainstream program.

(As an aside, I was a hearing student who never went to the prom, never had a date, and had very few friends in high school; it's not just the special ed kids who fit that description.

)
True, but when you think special ed, you really don't think of kids who are popular or high achiever.

Not all mainstreamed deaf students were in special ed. Some were in the regular classes. Some were even in the honor classes.

No, but a good number (both oral and Sign using) were in the lower level classes/sped/Resource Room. Virtually ALL receive sped services (through their IEP and through a TOD)
I was in Resource Room but that was b/c of my math disabilty. I was in sped math, but everything else regular classes. I was even in Honors Latin 2! HOWEVER, it was a NIGHTMARE trying to get accomondations. The admins treated my parents and I like I was one of those kids who was claiming that a mild LD was going to keep me out of Harvard. I barely graduated high school. And socially...it was a fucking nightmare!

 

[deafdyke]

Faire joure, if that's true, then how come most kids still have to use FM or soundfield....which blocks out the background noises!
What about all the oral aural kids who did decently by sitting up front and speechreading the teacher?

 

[BecLak]

Let's consider there have been and are many dhh children around the world who have been thrust into mainstreaming without any accomodations whatsoever.

 

[Bebonang]

Wirelessly posted



yes, if a child is going to be successful in a mainstream setting, using listening and spoken language, they must be able to understand speech in a noisy enviroment. Or they will be unable to understand the curriculum and their peers.

Why are you trolling us like this? You keep saying the "using listening and spoken language", which I hate that every time you said that over and over. You are not getting it at all. With the CIs, it is all the same like the hearing aids, so that means you want them or us to suffer trying to comprehend what the hearing person is saying. I am going to try hard to ignore you. Grrrrr!