Now even deaf programs in public schools are being phased out…
September 23, 2007 by challymack
Isn’t that wonderful? After all this time, I thought I was missing out on being in a deaf program when I went to a public school way back in the early 70’s.. well Golly.. looks like we don’t need em after all *SNORTS*
OH..? Did I just snort then? Well excusssse me.. it’s just a reflex, ya know! I tend to snort when I come upon something like this, thanks to the ever increasing ignorance of the Hearies (oh.. sorry.. I could say ‘Fully Intact People’.. how’s that? ) FYI.. Fully Intact People does NOT mean those who are neutered.. so don’t be getting the idea that we’re normal. Oh heaven forbid if anyone dares to argue otherwise!
Dear me.. I feel another snort coming on….
Wait.. you’re looking at me and wondering if I lost it? Babycakes.. I never lost a thing in my life. (aside from my first pair of glasses in the forth grade)
Ok.. here’s this thing here.. a friend gave me a heads up on this article from the Chicago Tribune
(If there’s anyone from that area, please feel free to dispute this.. I urge you….)
Click on this link: .. no.. wait.. I’ll do better than that.. Let me just stick the whole damned nine yards in here..
*Click*
Lending ears to learners
Thanks to technology, and new teaching tools that help students use it, deaf children are excelling in mainstream classrooms
- Tribune staff reporter
- September 21, 2007
- A beige plastic device the size of a quarter that peeks from his sandy blond hair is the only visible sign Adam Ballent is profoundly deaf.He takes notes as his teachers lecture in class at Naperville North High School. He hollers on the soccer field when his club team scores. He recites the Boy Scout pledge with other members of his troop.
“Sometimes, when it’s really noisy, I can’t hear what people are saying,” said Ballent, his words easily understood. “But most of the time, I can.”
- Ballent never learned sign language. He has no deaf friends. And at age 16, the sophomore is at the forefront of a wave of deaf children with cochlear implants who are entering mainstream classrooms across the country, following a path paved with high hopes and bitter controversy.
- (a bitter controversy? no shit, Sherlock)
- In 1996, after major advances in the revolutionary technology — which stimulates auditory nerves in the inner ear and costs about $50,000 — the first “oral deaf education” school in Illinois opened to teach young children with cochlear implants how to speak and hear. Since then, Child’s Voice, in Wood Dale, has served more than 130 children, with many graduates going on to school districts throughout northern Illinois. Several similar programs have sprung up.Meanwhile, the Illinois School for the Deaf, which serves students through high school using sign language as a teaching method, has seen sharp declines in enrollment. So have the public schools’ special-education programs for the deaf.
- “The first waves of deaf children [with implants] are starting to hit mainstream schools,” said Barbara Sims, who oversees deaf and hard-of-hearing programs for the Illinois State Board of Education.The shift is occurring across the country, said Thomas Kluwin, director of institutional research at Gallaudet University that serves the deaf in Washington, D.C.
Nearly 40,000 children in the U.S. are deaf or hard of hearing, including close to 3,000 in Illinois, according to a Gallaudet survey. Thirty years ago, 80 percent were in residential, specialized programs for the deaf, while 20 percent attended public school. Today, those numbers have flipped, Kluwin said.
Some 22,000 adults and 15,000 children in the U.S. have received the implants, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Deafness, in general, has proved to be a major obstacle to academic success. Historically, deaf children on average graduate from high school with a 3rd- or 4th-grade reading level.
RFW: Take note.. this said Historically.. and also, bear in mind that a lot of the older generation of Deafies are a reflection of this. Unfortunately, education as a whole (hearing or deaf) is not what it can be. The whole picture is NOT being looked at for the deaf kids out there. Oh! Sorry.. just expressing an opinion here.. take it or shove it
Proponents of oral education say the new technology and mainstream classes have significantly reduced learning barriers. But critics say the approach could be harmful to some deaf children.
Some say it’s a mistake to bar children from learning sign language, a guaranteed method of communication, which they see as the best path to academic success. Others point out that it can be extremely isolating to be the only deaf child in a mainstream setting.
A state task force on deaf education, formed by the Illinois legislature last year, is closely following the oral-deaf experiment.
Adam Ballent had just turned 1-year-old when hospital tests revealed that he is profoundly deaf.
- “I’ll never forget that night,” said his mother, Alice Ballent, as she sat in her Naperville home recalling the 1992 diagnosis. “I felt like someone had broken into my house and stolen part of my child away.”
- RFW: breaking out the violin…
- Determined to fill in the missing piece, she and her husband, Tom Ballent, decided to have doctors at Children’s Memorial Hospital install a cochlear implant in their son’s left inner ear.
But afterward, the boy needed a way to learn how to make sense of the sounds hitting his brain.
At the time, there were no schools in Illinois that taught children with cochlear implants how to speak and hear. The closest were in St. Louis.
So in 1996, the Ballents and two other families with deaf children banded together to establish Child’s Voice. It started with one teacher and four students.
- Today, its sprawling one-story building in Wood Dale bustles with nearly 80 children ranging in age from several months to 7 years. Half have cochlear implants, half regular hearing aids.Prohibited from learning sign language, the pupils are submitted to constant auditory training.
RFW: *Snort* *snort* *snort*
It begins with sound recognition. Young children are asked to hold a block, then drop it to the ground every time the teacher makes a sound. From there, it’s on to articulating — over and over and over — the “tick” of a clock, the “moo” of a cow.
- On a recent day, a teacher sat at a low table with two 6-year-old boys. She had an array of stickers in her hands. The boys were asked to select one and place it on his lunch box.”What is this?” the teacher asked.
“It’s a sticker,” said a boy with shaggy brown hair, an orange T-shirt and a mischievous smile.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Put it on my lump boxch.”
After two more tries he nailed it.
“Put it on my lunch box.”
A four-year-old state law requiring that all newborns be screened for deafness has resulted in early intervention for more children. It’s helped put more children on a path to mainstream schools, experts say.
- On a recent day, a teacher sat at a low table with two 6-year-old boys. She had an array of stickers in her hands. The boys were asked to select one and place it on his lunch box.”What is this?” the teacher asked.
“It’s a sticker,” said a boy with shaggy brown hair, an orange T-shirt and a mischievous smile.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Put it on my lump boxch.”
After two more tries he nailed it.
“Put it on my lunch box.”
In the 1970s, dozens of local school districts in Chicago’s north and northwest suburbs formed an agency to serve deaf students. It offers sign language instruction in self-contained settings in select schools as well as support services to students attending mainstream classes.
Within the last five years, the number of students in those programs has dropped from 120 to 75, while the number of those in mainstream settings has grown from 160 to 240, said Becki Streit, the agency’s executive director.
Similarly, since 1995, the number of students with cochlear implants attending Chicago public schools has increased from 8 to 89, said Eileen Andrews, with the district’s office of specialized services.
In Adam Ballent’s case, a hearing specialist visits him once a month to discuss his progress. The teen, who enjoys English and history more than math and science, is part of his high school’s enriched language arts program. When asked what is the hardest part about being deaf, he shrugs.
“I really don’t know,” he said, seemingly bored by the topic.
Three years ago, Child’s Voice invited 30 of its graduates ages 6 through 12 who had entered mainstream schools to come back for a day of academic testing. They scored at levels comparable to their hearing peers.
- Some schools say that children with cochlear implants are performing notably higher than deaf children who communicate and learn through mostly sign language.”Their language levels and vocabulary are much higher,” said Joann Kort, special services coordinator for the Schaumburg School District. “So are their reading levels.”
RFW: Stop right here! How about the Deafies who have moved on to higher education, moving up academically to obtaining a Ph.d in various fields at other universities?
But not everyone with cochlear implants enjoys such success, experts say. (NO???!!!! *GASP*)
Some students with implants have failed to graduate from Child’s Voice and go on to mainstream schools. Some turn out to have other disabilities, which hinder their progress, said Child’s Voice executive director Michele Wilkins. Others, for unknown reasons, cannot translate their implants into successful language skills.
The results of the oral deaf experiment, experts say, won’t be known for years, even decades.
For Adam Ballent and his family, that’s fine. They’re thrilled with the results they are witnessing.
“It’s been a miracle,” Alice Ballent said.
- The End.. or is it? “Its been a long nightmare battle all the way for Deafies” RFW said Thank you AGB! Thank you! Let’s hear it for AGB!!! *holding hand to ear*
- *Snorting very loudly*
I read the article the other day. Just couldn’t believe somebody actually wrote this. Well, maybe not so hard to believe but I just find it mind-boggling that we continue to be viewed in such a primitive way.
I managed to go through elementary school and high school just fine and I even managed to get honoured with a college/university scholarship from the government for being the top student in the school. I also graduated from college with honours. I hold a good paying job with great benefits. I am able to do my job without any barriers or whatsoever. I can communicate with my co-workers without misunderstanding each other like many would assume.
By the way, I don’t have a cochlear implant. How about that?
Uh-uh. The article is just another of the countless articles where we are in the “poor me, poor me” category.
It’s a pity.
I guess many people do not understand that a deaf person who RAISED deaf has a brain that has been “rewired”. When you are missing a sense, all the other senses make up for it.
I too went to a public high school, no”mainstreaming” or interpreters in those days. went in cold turkey and came out smelling like a rose. It was good for me. I can communicate with ANYONE which is as it should be.
I pity these children who had CI’s forced on them without any feedback from them personally. They are going to be very lonely adults.
The Gerber Baby syndrome again. Parents dream about a perfect baby and when that does not happen — perhaps a mild handicap of some kind — many of them wind up divorced and living a nightmare of their own making.
Excuse me, I cannot “snort”, it isn’t ladylike.
Lantana
Lantana, I agree with you! Robert, great posting!
It seems like the ‘tidal wave’ of pro-CI and AVT propaganda is heading our way and it is fast approaching.
Our defenses are small, and we need to band together to create a counter-attack of these one-sided propaganda pieces.
The biggest challenge is…
I am starting to feel disillusioned and overwhelmed with massive propaganda, and realizing that I am one of few trying to strike back.
I admit by wondering… why do we have to deal with this attitude every single day, dealing with misinformation and propaganda that comes along, and a systematic denial that Deaf people are doing very well in what they want to do, but the society will never allow us to succeed?
Hitting my head against the wall, “Why me?”
Amy Cohen Efron
Hi, Robert,
Thanks for this information. This is mindblowing! Unreal!!
Amy, I agree with you that I feel so small here. I strike back, but I am afraid that I strike back to the wrong field!! We need to play smart and strike back real big and into the right field!!
deafk
Hi,
This article has brewed a serious fire in my stomach. I spoke to my friend how much we need to change deaf education. The next action of battling this. WE NEED TO CREATE A LAW TO PROTECT DEAF CHILDREN.
I just could not help but post in response to what you’re all saying here.
My husband and I are both “Hearies”, as you say. When our little girl was born last year with a bilateral and profound hearing loss, we were devistated. Not because she was deaf but because we didn’t know what to do! We didn’t speak ASL at the time. No one in either of our families had ever been born deaf and no one used ASL, ever. We were also told, due to ignorance, by the nurse that “your little girl failed her hearing test because of equipment failure.” It was only because of my persistence that I was able to gain an accurate diagnosis for my baby girl.
Did you know…
One baby is born every other day with some degree of hearing loss and 70% of those mommies are going home with those babies NOT having all the facts with regard to communication options. I would also like to add that the majority of babies born with hearing loss in North America are born to parents with typical hearing. When those hearing parents take those babies home with no information and no one to help them, how does one expect them to make a decision?
I’m going to jump in with a little more about my family. Our daughter (now 16 months) received her first cochlear implant in May of this year. She was 12 months and 3 days. Her implant was activated in June and things have been amazing ever since. Our little girl has NO language delays! NONE! It’s wonderful!
This is what works for our family. Our daughter will receive her second CI in November or December of this year and we’re thrilled.
I’ll add at this time that we are also taking ASL classes because my family sees itself as the future of the deaf community. I feel it is my place to do what’s right for my family but to also do what’s right for my daughter’s community, a community that until recently has all but shunned us away. We have pushed and pushed to be involved and included in the deaf community because it is our community and because it’s what’s right for our daughter.
I want to comment with regard to deaf education in public schools. Where our daughter is concerned, she won’t require any deaf services in school. She might require an FM system but even if our school doesn’t provide that, we’ll get it for her. For families that cannot afford one, (this includes my family) there are organizations out there that help provide such things for children. In my opinion, deaf programs in public schools are being “phased out” because a lot of deaf kiddos are receiving hearing aids, FM’s, and CI’s. Most states and their schools are seeing that it is more cost effective to send the signing deaf kiddos to a state deaf school when there is one nearby rather than providing a duplication of services by also providing the same services in the local public schools. Many state deaf schools are beginning to provide a lot of new services that are allowing deaf children the option to learn to be oral. Some of these kids want that. So, why not let them attend the state deaf school, if that’s the place to learn? Now, if your child requires a typist in school and you are not willing to send your child to the local state deaf school then you go to the school and make sure that their IEP includes a typist. That’s what an IEP is for, afterall.
For my daughter’s sake, I beg everyone in the deaf community to open their eyes and their hearts and see what’s really out there. Keep an open mind and be understanding of the reality of life as a hearing family with one deaf child. We’re doing the best we can. We all work really hard for our children and you don’t have to agree that oralism and cochlear implants are the right thing to do but we don’t all have to agree with everything everyone else does. The only thing we need to agree upon is that these children are deaf and whether they use a CI or ASL or both, they’re all still children and are all still a part of this community.
Thanks for reading and come by and visit us sometime.
http://thestotts6.blogspot.com/