where to start? deaf baby

[Marci]

I grew up oral only and mainstreamed in Phx, AZ. My life was really miserable even though I had good speech skills. I wish I had ASL and the Deaf community like my brother did growing up. I cant do anything about my past but right now, I use ASL 99% in my daily life and I cant imagine going back to be oral-only ever. ASL made my life much much easier despite what the so called professionals told my mom when she found out about my deafness at 7 months old. They were wrong when they told her that for me to be normal, I was never to learn ASL. I felt abnormal in an oral-only environment but feel normal in a BiBi environment.

AZ is very strong on the oral-only philosophy and AZ Dept of Ed has (if still do this day) a thing against bilingual education.

Pls contact AZ Schools for the Deaf and Blind or Phoenix Day School for the Deaf. They will help you.

Thank you for posting those two schools. I am just starting to do some research, and my son's hearing loss progressed a lot more dramatically then anyone ever imagined. I am so glad I decided to start ASL classes asap, instead of waiting to see! I don't know if it sounds weird, but I would love for my older kids to meet some Deaf/HH kids so that they can pick up sign language faster. I have a Deaf tutor who comes to the house weekly to teach them, and I go to the community college.

Marci

 

[deafdyke]

Marci, check out American Society for Deaf Children - Home Also ASDB
PDSD Homepage

 

[deafdyke]

NEVER ASL later...because of the risks with language delays if the child doesnt learn oral skills.

ASL is the only language 100% fully accessible to deaf children. There is no guarantee if oralism will work for the child or not.

Yes. The debate seems to be over which language should be a dhh kid's first language. Even kids with a knack for oral abilty generally will not be on par with a hearing person's. Like parents seem to think " YAY! My kid can hear and talk! That's the ONLY thing they need." But they don't think that their kid could only understand and express speech at say a 3rd-4th grade level.
ASL allows even oral successes to get 100% of what is said, and what is going on. In addition ASL allows for admission into the Deaf Community, as well as a positive identity.

 

[deafdyke]

I grew up oral only and mainstreamed in Phx, AZ. My life was really miserable even though I had good speech skills. I wish I had ASL and the Deaf community like my brother did growing up. I cant do anything about my past but right now, I use ASL 99% in my daily life and I cant imagine going back to be oral-only ever. ASL made my life much much easier despite what the so called professionals told my mom when she found out about my deafness at 7 months old. They were wrong when they told her that for me to be normal, I was never to learn ASL. I felt abnormal in an oral-only environment but feel normal in a BiBi environment.

AZ is very strong on the oral-only philosophy and AZ Dept of Ed has (if still do this day) a thing against bilingual education.

Pls contact AZ Schools for the Deaf and Blind or Phoenix Day School for the Deaf. They will help you.

Exactly. The more tools the better. Oralists do not understand that spoken language does NOT equalize a dhh kid. Oral abilty is a good thing to have, but again.............I'd love to ask the oralists how they would feel being raised with a strong emphasis on a defiect, rather then a strong emphasis on a strength.....

 

[deafdyke]

Thank you for posting those two schools. I am just starting to do some research, and my son's hearing loss progressed a lot more dramatically then anyone ever imagined. I am so glad I decided to start ASL classes asap, instead of waiting to see! I don't know if it sounds weird, but I would love for my older kids to meet some Deaf/HH kids so that they can pick up sign language faster. I have a Deaf tutor who comes to the house weekly to teach them, and I go to the community college.

Marci

It is going to be a lot of fun. Part of the many reasons why we push ASL is b/c instead of being a "therapy family" where the emphasis is on doing spoken language as therapy, you get the FUN parts of being dhh. ASL is fun....we can just be ourselves and not have to worry about going "boo be bah correctly or being yelled at b/c we're talking too loud and don't realize it. We can learn ASL effortlessly, and get the jokes, instead of always saying "what?" or being on the margins of the hearing world/mainstream. Oralists do not understand that spoken language only is basicly like living life as an eternal speech therapy session. It is HARD, and takes a LOT of energy....and for what? Seriously...why is there so much emphasis on an exclusive spoken language approach?!?!?? Yes, its a good additional skill to have ... but concentrating on it exclusively?!?!??! It's not just a matter of putting your kid in a speech school, and having them effortlessly learn speech. EVEN HOH kids still have delays etc..... For example, I remember the mother of a girl who was intitally raised oral only, saying that her daughter's auditory verbal therapist encouraged her to make every single waking hour a Language Learning Opportunity. I also know of people whose kids have gone to the Clarke or other speech schools (the early intervention ones, not the ones that are actual schools) who have said that the oral only therapy regieme is far too intense. Heck, I remember on a site Lainy Jane.com they said that she has therapy for an hour after school?!?!?! Why the heck should dhh kids need to live life as a speech therapy session?

 

[deafdyke]

BTW, I am extremely excited that parents of HOH kids are deciding on both ASL AND speech for their kids. Those are kids who will get a full toolbox of options!!!!! Heck, maybe ASL/deaf ed will GROW b/c of more HOH kids becoming fluent in ASL and taking advantage of deaf ed!

 

[sansalmom]

I had posted about my son's situation by accident in this thread (will repost elsewhere)... But about this thread, I strongly recommend the "Signing Time" DVDs for beginning ASL and introducing to your kids. I checked them out from my local library (there are also helpful DVDs for adults who want to study ASL). Also, lifeprint.com has great resources!

 

[birdlady]

I have a book called baby signs let me know you can have it. teaches baby sifn language..Linda

 

[birdlady]

Well I'm completely overwhelmed. My son, 8 weeks old has moderate/severe loss (one ear each) and I know that our state's Early intervention program will be connecting with us; we've been referred by the children's hospital that conducted his BAER. And we are seeing an Ent next week.
But for weeks since we've known he likely had a loss (now confirmed) I've been online reading and reading and Im honestly totally overwhelmed by all the sites and organizations and resources and opinions. All i want now is to figure out.what i could be doing for his best interests right now as a parent wanting to ensure we give him the best shot at communication and learning, since these early months are so critical. Im just overwhelmed so that i don't even know where to look first. Anyone been through this? I am hearing and so is my husband and older daughter (age 3.5)

I posted a later on .I have a book called baby signs gives you sign language on how to teach your baby signs ..pm me and I'll send it to you free..

 

[Ashli]

Hi Marci, yes I am still around, just haven't checked the site in a while. We are in NE Phx. How are things going? I can't figure out how to 'private message' on this thing but feel free to PM me if you know how!

 

[Moelza]

Hi. I don’t blame you for feeling this way. I can’t say that I don’t “understand” what you’re going through but I’ve seen it thru my parents. I’m deaf myself and they made the toughest decision by sending me to an oral school for the deaf. I was raised with speaking only. I didn’t learn sign language until a later age. I’m profoundly deaf… so… I’ll have to say… what I went through was tough. I don’t blame my parents for making THAT decision, they were only thinking what’s the best for me. The school was great, I now have a great lip reading skill. But… as I grew up .. around the age of 6, 7.. I realized that I was missing out a LOT. I didn’t understand what my teachers was saying. I realized that it’s because as we get older, the teachers started using NEW and complicated vocabularies.. I was struggling and I finally admitted it to my parents.. they decided that I need access to sign language so at the age of 7, I started learning sign language and… it was the best thing ever.. I understood things clearly. I was able to be “myself” to my peers by speaking on whats on my mind. If I need to voice it out, I would struggle b/c I’m not a good “voicer”. It was tough….

I don’t know what is your child’s level of hearing but if it’s bad, like mine.. profound or severely deafness, I would suggest you to think of using BOTH world.. hearing and deaf. Send him to speech classes.. 2x a week if you have to.. younger the better. Expose him to hearing people by having him in soccer leagues, etc… but at the same time… be sure he have deaf friends.. be sure YOU and everyone else in the family know sign language, you all can learn together. I wish my siblings learn sign language when I was young. Have you thought about cochlear implants? If you do, please expose both world. It’s important. So that way he won’t be “lost” and unsure of what his identity is. Like if he’s in the hearing world for his whole life, he might feel leftout, or lonely… if he’s in the deaf world, he might be curious what the hearing world is like. So do both.

Well I'm completely overwhelmed. My son, 8 weeks old has moderate/severe loss (one ear each) and I know that our state's Early intervention program will be connecting with us; we've been referred by the children's hospital that conducted his BAER. And we are seeing an Ent next week.
But for weeks since we've known he likely had a loss (now confirmed) I've been online reading and reading and Im honestly totally overwhelmed by all the sites and organizations and resources and opinions. All i want now is to figure out.what i could be doing for his best interests right now as a parent wanting to ensure we give him the best shot at communication and learning, since these early months are so critical. Im just overwhelmed so that i don't even know where to look first. Anyone been through this? I am hearing and so is my husband and older daughter (age 3.5)

 

[deafdyke]

I started learning sign language and… it was the best thing ever.. I understood things clearly. I was able to be “myself” to my peers by speaking on whats on my mind. If I need to voice it out, I would struggle b/c I’m not a good “voicer”. It was tough….

I don’t know what is your child’s level of hearing but if it’s bad, like mine.. profound or severely deafness, I would suggest you to think of using BOTH world.. hearing and deaf. Send him to speech classes.. 2x a week if you have to.. younger the better. Expose him to hearing people by having him in soccer leagues, etc… but at the same time… be sure he have deaf friends.. be sure YOU and everyone else in the family know sign language, you all can learn together. I wish my siblings learn sign language when I was young. Have you thought about cochlear implants? If you do, please expose both world. It’s important. So that way he won’t be “lost” and unsure of what his identity is. Like if he’s in the hearing world for his whole life, he might feel leftout, or lonely… if he’s in the deaf world, he might be curious what the hearing world is like. So do both.

Even audlilogically HOH kids can benefit strongly from a dual language approach....Sign and Deaf stuff shouldn't just be limited to severe and profound kids.