Which oral schools for the deaf are the best?

Miss-Delectable

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Just wondering what you think. I asked this because I noticed that many would say which school for the deaf are the best in the US, and the schools mentioned aren't a proponent of oral method.

Deafdyke, what would you say? :)
 
I don't have much experience with oral deaf schools, but I did live in St. Louis for a few years, which has three oral deaf schools.

Central Institute for the Deaf
St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf
Moog Institute for the Deaf

I've professionally visited all three, met staff and leaders from all three.

I've met more St. Joe's alumnus than CID alumnus. Beyond that, I can't say any of them are any "better" than the others.
 
I don't have much experience with oral deaf schools, but I did live in St. Louis for a few years, which has three oral deaf schools.
Why would a city like St. Louis have three Deaf schools? Given the low incidence numbers of Deaf people in the general population, having three Deaf schools in a city is overkill, and wastes/duplicates invaluable educational resources geared towards Deaf education.

As for the general question, I guess it's a trick question; None of the oral Deaf schools are any good! ;) Ok, you'll may now stop pelting tomatoes at me... I really don't know much about any oral Deaf schools except for Clarke, to really comment on this subject. And due to my limited social interactions with Clarke graduates, my overall impression of that school isn't too good, I'm afraid.
 
To tell the truth, I think that the number of pupils is spread too thin between the three schools. Even worse for their numbers, all three schools have the goal in mind to mainstream the students as quickly as possible, so they're graduating them into mainstream schools around or before the sixth grade.

Most of their pupils are below the age of 12. They're focusing more on early intervention to keep their numbers up, so you'll see a lot of infants and very young children classes, and relatively few upper elementary education classes.

In addition, St. Joe's is a boarding school for students whose parents don't live in the area -- there is an international presence for them to have students live at their school during the school year.

I don't have the number of students handy, but I estimate that CID is the largest with about 50-70 students, St. Joe's slightly smaller at 40-50, and Moog at 35-40 students. However, I could be way off since I don't have any official estimates.

CID is in the city, St. Joe's and Moog are in the suburbs of St. Louis. Location could make a difference. Still, that's about 150-200 deaf/ hard of hearing children who are in the St. Louis area alone who aren't yet mainstreamed. Again, most of them are very very young -- the majority are less than 6 years of age.
 
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