Where to send our HOH kids?

hurleysrus

hurleysrus

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Some the students have a hearing aid in one ear but have normal hearing in their other, or moderate to profound loss in one and mild in the other.

These students do not qualify for attendance at schools for the deaf in most schools. They struggle to succeed in public school. Accomadations are supposedly provided however in my expierence it is like pulling teeth to get the bare minimum provided. ASL is not taught, seeing as they have some hearing, teachers balk at using FM, one don't like to repeat themselves. Yes, some kids try their hardest and give 200% more than "regular" kids and succeed.... but is it fair they have to work so much harder? Then what about the ones who fail or fall through the cracks? By then its too late to get into a good college, get a good job. And then will we think about their mental health? How do they feel about themselves.... about others.... Teen years are hard enough, can we make school better for them?
 
Maryland School for the Deaf recently changed their admission criteria to start accepting children with unilateral hearing loss. Not sure about the other schools.
 
As far as I know, the Illinois School for the Deaf will accept anyone with hearing loss. Been that way for many years. In fact, the city of Jacksonville, IL is mainly an ASL city, because of ISD. Many people there sign, anywhere from store merchants all the way up to police officers and firefighters. And I also believe they accept out-of-state students, as well.
 
Most schools for the deaf will now accept students with any amount of hearing loss.

I know many who also will accept hearing student who "would benefit from an ASL Bi-Bi learning environment" (typically this means hearing children who have speech/language issues making oral communication difficult.)

I understand the challenges of finding the right placement - I was born with SSD (no hearing on the right), my left side progressed to mild, then mild/mod and is now mostly mod+. I also have Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). I was mainstreamed without any support in k-12 and it was an absolute nightmare.

One option would be to look for a mainstream school that is connected with a Deaf school - this is becoming more common. The advantage is that the students are able to have a Deaf school support system and socialization with the added advantage of being able to take any level classes they want/need (meaning if they're excellent at math, they and other hoh/Deaf students with similar skills would attend a "mainstream" advanced math class with the support of one of the Deaf School's interpreters.)

It's a difficult thing to balance and each situation is unique (take the cues from each student)
 
hurley,in a lot of states there are regional dhh programs/magnet schools that are attached to hearing schools......That type of setup would be AWESOME for kids who are mildly HOH.......Did you look into MSSD for your daughter? What about Maryland School for the Deaf? Sometimes kids from different states can attend different state's Deaf Schools...You COULD argue that your daughter has a progressive loss and will need intensive immersian in ASL to prepare her for any and every possibilty........exactly like how some blind children might go to blind school for a year to bone up on Braille/blind skills.
 
Anij said:
Most schools for the deaf will now accept students with any amount of hearing loss.

I know many who also will accept hearing student who "would benefit from an ASL Bi-Bi learning environment" (typically this means hearing children who have speech/language issues making oral communication difficult.)



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True,but that example is pretty rare overall.It HAS been seen,but most nonverbal kids are taken care of in autistim or mental disabilty programs...there ARE kids with apraxia (and St. Rita's has an apraxia program) but nonverbal with no other problems is pretty rare....It's good for those kids thou.....otherwise they'd get shuttled into communication classes or severe autism/mental disabilty classes.
 
Also forgot to mention....we all know how annoying it is trying to get accomondations etc for HOH kids,especially since the kneejerk assumption is that they'll do well with a minimal accomondations approach at a mainstream school......There's always the possibilty of camps etc..Actually, camps are a MUST for any dhh mainstreamed kid.
I also wonder....maybe Delaware needs regional programs for dhh kids...There are prolly LOADS of parents wishing for a set up like that....dhh specific ed at a hearing school.....
 
I know many deaf schools "claim" to accept dhh kids, but in my experience, that is only true if you have money and know the right people. As I fight Delaware for my daughter I am working with Maryland school, too far for us, but they have been great sending people to us. We are learning a lot. All that being said.... I will quit posting HOH stuff on AD as it feels the opinions are as unkind and unwelcome as the hearing world. Thanks for both the kind words and good advice. Some of ya'll have been great
 
hurleysrus said:
I know many deaf schools "claim" to accept dhh kids, but in my experience, that is only true if you have money and know the right people. As I fight Delaware for my daughter I am working with Maryland school, too far for us, but they have been great sending people to us. We are learning a lot. All that being said.... I will quit posting HOH stuff on AD as it feels the opinions are as unkind and unwelcome as the hearing world. Thanks for both the kind words and good advice. Some of ya'll have been great
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I think I know why......There is a REALLY horrible TOD (shel knows who I am talking about ;)) who basicly assumes that inclusion= perfect setting for HOH kids, and that the deaf school is *only* for kids who can't learn to speak/hack it in a hearing school.........since Delaware is so tiny, she is VERY influential....:(
Stay here.....HOH stuff is welcome espcially since your daughter is becoming bilateral HOH.
I do hear you about Deaf schools and all....Wish they were promoted as an active altenative to the mainstream....Look into camps....heck maybe look into moving?
 
Got a lot of stuff going on, and the YMCA has already waived the fee for this summer, they have a deaf day thing in the summer, and I am petitioning the school board to add ASL as a language option, idk why they don't.... it makes more sense than french, more practical here. But my main fight right now is on the teachers not using FM. She asked one teacher to repeat and she said... get this... "don't worry about it, its not on the test"! OMG, right.

I understand people think mainstreaming is good because of accommodations like FM, and terps and such but if its so great accommodations then no one needs deaf school because Deaf kids can use terps too. They don't need to fight for their accommodations,why should we.
 
hurleysrus said:
I will quit posting HOH stuff on AD as it feels the opinions are as unkind and unwelcome as the hearing world.
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There are plenty of Hohers here ... don't be discouraged.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like to chat privately.
 
hurleysrus said:
Got a lot of stuff going on, and the YMCA has already waived the fee for this summer, they have a deaf day thing in the summer, and I am petitioning the school board to add ASL as a language option, idk why they don't.... it makes more sense than french, more practical here. But my main fight right now is on the teachers not using FM. She asked one teacher to repeat and she said... get this... "don't worry about it, its not on the test"! OMG, right.

I understand people think mainstreaming is good because of accommodations like FM, and terps and such but if its so great accommodations then no one needs deaf school because Deaf kids can use terps too. They don't need to fight for their accommodations,why should we.
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Look into Deaf camp as a supplement! She would LOVE it!!!!!!! I think that pretty much all mainstreamed dhh kids can benifit significently from Deaf camp.......
And yeah, its frustrating dealing with clueless hearing teachers......
 
Hey....are you near a city? Maybe a good idea might be to suggest a dhh program or magnet program for middle/high schoolers!
 
deafdyke said:
Hey....are you near a city? Maybe a good idea might be to suggest a dhh program or magnet program for middle/high schoolers!
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Hmm, kinda close to a city.... what is a magnet program? My daughter just started a church club with 2 other hoh kids.:hmm:
 
Many cities and counties have 1 schools each for ES and MS and HS for deaf and HOH kids. Bused to the central points. Mainstreamed is not that bad. Why not look into that?
 
She is mainstreamed, have you every tried to keep 7 different teachers to use accommodations? Looked into magnet program but as we are an hour from DSD, they say its not possible.
 
yes. With sign language interpreters. High schools are divided into classes with different teachers and subjects. Not like ES with one teacher most of the time. MS is like half ES and half HS.
 
hurleysrus said:
Hmm, kinda close to a city.... what is a magnet program? My daughter just started a church club with 2 other hoh kids.:hmm:
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Many states have a set-up where dhh kids attend a mainstream school that has a dhh program...MUCH better then inclusion as the teachers at magnet programs are more experianced with accepting accomondations etc.
Church? That's a possible way to get your kid into ASL and Deaf culture........Many churches have Deaf programs or Deaf camps....and there's even two Deaf Christian Schools.....St. Rita School for the Deaf ,Welcome to Harvest Deaf Ministries! - Copyright © 2014
There's even a Deaf Christian camp........A lot of the Deaf Christian stuff out there seems kinda fundamentalist.....that's not bad....just might not be your thing if you're a more moderate Christian....there ARE moderate Christian Deaf camps out there thou...........We got anyone out there who can point hurleyres to Deaf Christian stuff?
 
I know TSD accepts all hearing losses even mild, it's just not as common


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