I went to two preschools and were in classes for deaf kids starting at 3 months old. In the second one, which I remember fondly, I learned to read and do simple math. My parents helped by getting me a library of books, each with words starting with a letter of the alphabet. The second one used a TC approach, but I remember it as just sign. We had FMs on in both schools. I had the kind that were 2 small boxes strapped to the chest and then the single box kind.
I went to two public elementary schools and was in a deaf class. At the first one, I was mostly in the deaf class and went to hearing classes like music, art and gym with interpreters. The deaf class had teachers of the deaf and several interpreters covering K-6. The program moved to the second elementary school starting when I was in 3rd grade. That was when I went to mainstream math class. After that, I mainstreamed in social studies and science too. I just stayed at the deaf class for English, spelling and handwriting. They were giving me 8th grade level stuff to read in 6th grade.
I stopped wearing FM systems in 6th grade because the teacher of the deaf said I paid attention very well to the interpreters. The FMs never helped me. All I could get from them was noise and tones. In hearing music class, they once had us play xylophones. A whole class worth of that on the FM gave me a headache. The recorders they had us buy for the classes also were one of the few things I could identify over the FM.
I also went to summer school in a different hearing place with the same staff for more deaf classes earlier in my elementary school days. There, we didn't mainstream in anything and did fun stuff like go to a swimming pool each week. That was the closest I got to going to a deaf school. I never visited an actual one until I drove to the Austine school in Vermont for a sign language show a few weekends ago.
Very early in my elementary school years, when I was at the first one, I had some oral training where the teacher of the deaf tried to teach me to speak. I spoke a few words like shoe once or twice. That didn't last long because I never picked up speaking. I went to speech classes throughout elementary school that had some oral training like lipreading and basic English lessons. Now I lipread a bit when I have context, but I often can't.
In 7th and 8th grades, I mainstreamed in my home middle school instead of being driven over to a deaf class. I still had speech classes, but they were teaching me things about English like idioms people use. I was the only deaf student in that school and had a really good interpreter who used to be with the elementary school deaf class. I also had a teacher of the deaf visit me once a week.
In 7th grade, I was put into the regular classes and then they saw that I was a good student so they put me into the smarter classes for 8th grade. I still had to take music classes, but it was only for 8 weeks each year because they had several special 8 week classes everybody had to take. They were music, art, 'skills' (home economics), technology and health. When we did stuff in music class that depended on listening to stuff, I'd be excused from class so I could get work done. They put me into a 9th grade math class in 8th grade called Course I. That was New York State's old name for algebra class.
One time, the interpreter was out and they had someone who knew a bit of sign come in. He was someone who worked in my elementary school deaf class for a while. I would often gaze at the interpreter without moving and he thought that it meant I was not paying attention to me. So he told me that I was making him waste his time signing for nothing. That upset me enough to cry for the rest of the class and into the next period, so they moved me to the resource room to let me calm down. They even called my mom, who came in from work to see what was going on. After that, they never hired that guy again. So I often got notetakers when the interpreter was out after that.
I kept the same interpreter in high school and got involved in some activities with the National Honor Society, which is a society that good students get invited into in their junior or senior years. I was on the honor roll all the time, so it was no surprise I got invited in during my junior year. I was in the honors and AP classes. I kept the same teacher of the deaf for two more years, then they changed to a different person.
We were tested in 8th grade to see who could get into the AP English class in high school. It asked us to choose a book we've read and write stuff about it. I failed it, because I wasn't that great back then at writing about books I've read. My 8th grade English teacher encouraged them to let me try out the class and I ended up staying in it for the full four years. In the very last class of the senior year, the teacher we had for our freshman and senior year classes said that I was the student who exceeded her expectations. She was the one who went over the tests to decide who got into the class.
Early in high school, it was somewhat boring for me sometimes because I had only met my classmates recently in my 8th grade classes. That lessened once I got to know some of them from class, activities and by writing during lunch.
There was another deaf student for a short time at high school and we talked during lunch. She soon moved to NYSSD, which I've been warned about by multiple people about its terrible academics. Most of the time, I was the only deaf student in high school.
My interpreter was getting sick so she retired at the end of my junior year, so they had to hire my mom to be my interpreter for my senior year. It didn't feel too strange because my mom was one of the staff at my elementary deaf class when I was in 4th grade. Those weren't the only times I had a family member in school with me. The teacher who taught my Course I class in 8th grade was a first cousin of mine.
In the end, I graduated second in a class of almost 150 people.
The AP tests gave me credit for a few classes at RIT, including Writing & Literature II, so I only had to take W&L I. After 4 years of AP English, that class seemed easy, but not too easy. The book we read was The Intuitionist that uses elevators to represent the uplifting of black people in mid 20th century America. The View at NTID had an article on somebody burning a copy of that book near LBJ. That seemed extreme to me because it wasn't that hard to read and interesting to piece together due to how it was written.
I tried the computer engineering major, found that it wasn't for me, then changed to imaging science. Then I got my BS degree in that around a year ago.
I went to two public elementary schools and was in a deaf class. At the first one, I was mostly in the deaf class and went to hearing classes like music, art and gym with interpreters. The deaf class had teachers of the deaf and several interpreters covering K-6. The program moved to the second elementary school starting when I was in 3rd grade. That was when I went to mainstream math class. After that, I mainstreamed in social studies and science too. I just stayed at the deaf class for English, spelling and handwriting. They were giving me 8th grade level stuff to read in 6th grade.
I stopped wearing FM systems in 6th grade because the teacher of the deaf said I paid attention very well to the interpreters. The FMs never helped me. All I could get from them was noise and tones. In hearing music class, they once had us play xylophones. A whole class worth of that on the FM gave me a headache. The recorders they had us buy for the classes also were one of the few things I could identify over the FM.
I also went to summer school in a different hearing place with the same staff for more deaf classes earlier in my elementary school days. There, we didn't mainstream in anything and did fun stuff like go to a swimming pool each week. That was the closest I got to going to a deaf school. I never visited an actual one until I drove to the Austine school in Vermont for a sign language show a few weekends ago.
Very early in my elementary school years, when I was at the first one, I had some oral training where the teacher of the deaf tried to teach me to speak. I spoke a few words like shoe once or twice. That didn't last long because I never picked up speaking. I went to speech classes throughout elementary school that had some oral training like lipreading and basic English lessons. Now I lipread a bit when I have context, but I often can't.
In 7th and 8th grades, I mainstreamed in my home middle school instead of being driven over to a deaf class. I still had speech classes, but they were teaching me things about English like idioms people use. I was the only deaf student in that school and had a really good interpreter who used to be with the elementary school deaf class. I also had a teacher of the deaf visit me once a week.
In 7th grade, I was put into the regular classes and then they saw that I was a good student so they put me into the smarter classes for 8th grade. I still had to take music classes, but it was only for 8 weeks each year because they had several special 8 week classes everybody had to take. They were music, art, 'skills' (home economics), technology and health. When we did stuff in music class that depended on listening to stuff, I'd be excused from class so I could get work done. They put me into a 9th grade math class in 8th grade called Course I. That was New York State's old name for algebra class.
One time, the interpreter was out and they had someone who knew a bit of sign come in. He was someone who worked in my elementary school deaf class for a while. I would often gaze at the interpreter without moving and he thought that it meant I was not paying attention to me. So he told me that I was making him waste his time signing for nothing. That upset me enough to cry for the rest of the class and into the next period, so they moved me to the resource room to let me calm down. They even called my mom, who came in from work to see what was going on. After that, they never hired that guy again. So I often got notetakers when the interpreter was out after that.
I kept the same interpreter in high school and got involved in some activities with the National Honor Society, which is a society that good students get invited into in their junior or senior years. I was on the honor roll all the time, so it was no surprise I got invited in during my junior year. I was in the honors and AP classes. I kept the same teacher of the deaf for two more years, then they changed to a different person.
We were tested in 8th grade to see who could get into the AP English class in high school. It asked us to choose a book we've read and write stuff about it. I failed it, because I wasn't that great back then at writing about books I've read. My 8th grade English teacher encouraged them to let me try out the class and I ended up staying in it for the full four years. In the very last class of the senior year, the teacher we had for our freshman and senior year classes said that I was the student who exceeded her expectations. She was the one who went over the tests to decide who got into the class.
Early in high school, it was somewhat boring for me sometimes because I had only met my classmates recently in my 8th grade classes. That lessened once I got to know some of them from class, activities and by writing during lunch.
There was another deaf student for a short time at high school and we talked during lunch. She soon moved to NYSSD, which I've been warned about by multiple people about its terrible academics. Most of the time, I was the only deaf student in high school.
My interpreter was getting sick so she retired at the end of my junior year, so they had to hire my mom to be my interpreter for my senior year. It didn't feel too strange because my mom was one of the staff at my elementary deaf class when I was in 4th grade. Those weren't the only times I had a family member in school with me. The teacher who taught my Course I class in 8th grade was a first cousin of mine.
In the end, I graduated second in a class of almost 150 people.
The AP tests gave me credit for a few classes at RIT, including Writing & Literature II, so I only had to take W&L I. After 4 years of AP English, that class seemed easy, but not too easy. The book we read was The Intuitionist that uses elevators to represent the uplifting of black people in mid 20th century America. The View at NTID had an article on somebody burning a copy of that book near LBJ. That seemed extreme to me because it wasn't that hard to read and interesting to piece together due to how it was written.
I tried the computer engineering major, found that it wasn't for me, then changed to imaging science. Then I got my BS degree in that around a year ago.
