Guest guest Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Yes, my question exactly! acknowledges her deafness, attained many things the least of which is being the only Miss America to be deaf. Marlee is an excellent, award winning actress and role model and choses to not take the next step to become hearing. They both appear very comfortable in their positions. I am reminded of that corny song on the Laverne and Shirley...there's no stopping us, gonna do it our way, make all our dreams come true...but they are doing it two different ways. Debra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 It's very important to know that far too often children who do not speak, whether due to hearing loss or autism or whatever, are tested and declared mentally retarded. The tests are NOT valid. Children MUST be tested by more than one method and in their first language. For a child who uses ASL, that would mean all testing must be completed by someone not only knowledgeable in educational testing and the specific tests being used but also in ASL. There are very, very few good tests for use with deaf/hard of hearing children. This makes most tests invalid when being used with the d/hh population. One of my students was labled mentally retarded when he was six years old. The year I had him he was in the 8th grade, and being taught with a 4th grade curriculum. His behavior was HORRIBLE! When I " talked " with him about what was wrong, he let me know in no uncertain terms that he was insulted by people treating him as if he were stupid, and he was BORED! We went from 4th grade to 8th grade curriculum that year. He is now a sophomore in high school taking general education courses on grade level with a 3.8 GPA. =) Now, you tell me, is he mentally retarded or was he mislabled for eight years? This kid is incredibly intelligent, he just needed someone to realize it. Beth > > Second, , you should really ask your sister to poll her knowledgeable colleagues about this severely handicapped child. Granted he may be profoundly retarded (we certainly can't say he isn't) but can they reach him at all? I doubt it! It is more of an...he is retarded so why bother giving him sound issue...they DO NOT know what this child might respond to, IF he could receive sound input. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Beth, Excellent post! As someone who was born prematurely with blindness and a mild hearing loss diagnosed at age 3, doctors thought I would never develop normally in terms of intellectual development. By the 3rd grade I was diagnosed with a learning disability -- a diagnosis that continued until high school. It wasn't until my sophomore year in high school that I decided to fight the system so that I could enroll in accelerated courses in preparation for college. Imagine...7 years wasted on the assumption that I had a learning disability! Throughout my educational career all of my teachers questioned why I was placed in the LD program to begin with, especially when there was no evidence of my having any delays in math, language or science. When I started my freshman year of college I asked to be given a test which would prove once and for all whether or not I had a learning disability. The test concluded that I had *no* LD of any kind and that any problems I may have had were due to access issues related to blindness and hearing loss. Implanted: 12/22/04 Activation date: 1/18/05 (18 days and counting!) Deafblind/Postlingual BTE hearing aid user 19 years Severe-profound hearing loss 9 1/2 years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 In a message dated 1/1/2005 9:09:54 AM Pacific Standard Time, beth_brittney@... writes: We see students who have disabilities that are most definitely causing educational problems who are told they don't qualify for special ed. services. do you have a percentage of qualified students who can't get into special ed because of the parents? I know of many parents who REFUSE to place child in special ed.. that can be some of problems. Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 In a message dated 1/1/2005 9:30:00 AM Pacific Standard Time, beth_brittney@... writes: you can't test the student to even see if the student qualifies for special education services without giving the parents prior written notice and gaining their approval in writing. that's exactly the point,,,, Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 , This is the type of situation that prompted me to go into special ed. rather than regular ed. (my first degree is elementary education, first master's special ed., second master's will be deaf/hard of hearing ed.) Unfortunately, the system is very flawed. We see students who have disabilities that are most definitely causing educational problems who are told they don't qualify for special ed. services. (I observed a student recently who was off-task 21 of 25 minutes during observation. He has Tourette's but they still won't place him on an IEP because he's unmedicated. As if we have the right to decide whether or not to medicate the students....That's why we have behavioral modification classrooms, to avoid medication if possible.) I have also seen students with access issues, such as yours, who have no cognitive disability, but are not receiving an appropriate education because the access issues are not properly addressed. One d/hh teacher wanted to pull my daughter from general education and place her into a self-contained d/hh classroom. There was no reason to do this, she was doing very well in the general ed. setting. This teacher just didn't want to have to travel to a different school to make sure accommodations were in place and provide consultation with the gen. ed. teacher. She never did provide the consultation, only visited the classroom once all year, didn't get the IEP written until February when referral had been made in July, forged my name on IEP documents, changed dates to make it look like she was in compliance with federal and state law, and did many other things which led me to file a formal complaint with the state dept. of education. Come to find out, I was one of 18 parents to file a formal complaint against her in that year alone. She's now the president of a statewide d/hh teacher's association. How scary is that? This is why I'm now working on the d/hh degree. Our kids deserve better than this type of incompetence! I am so, so, so very glad that I never let on at school that I couldn't hear. Back then (in the 80's), d/hh kids were placed into self-contained resource room programs. I would have missed out on being a cheerleader, being in band, choir, being yearbook editor... I was a very strong student, and offered scholarships to some top universities (Cornell, Texas, Kansas State...to name a few) to major in agricultural sciences with the intent of attending veterinary school. Unfortunately, that never happened because of access issues. =( But, everything works out for a reason, and now I've found the reason. I think I was meant to become a special education teacher and fight for better accommodations, more access, and just all around better educations for my students. Hopefully because of my work, my daughter will realize the dream of attending veterinary school that she's had since pre-school. The educational system has come a long way with special education. But...we have a long way to go before we can truly say that we are providing equal opportunities and appropriate educations for students with disabilities, especially those with sensory disabilities. Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Lee, If the school district documents the need for special education services, and the parents refuse, a due process suit can be filed by the district. If the judge decides that the student needs the services, the parents then have no choice. (This happens a lot with ED/BD students. It's either place them in the special education setting...generally a day school by this point...or the student is not allowed to attend school in that district.) I don't have statistics on the parents who refuse services. I have, in the past, refused some services for my daughter, but not all services. This means, the school had to follow the previous IEP (which I was happy with) until we reached an agreement. I have also had parents of my students do this when they weren't quite sure if they wanted to follow our suggestions for placement. With a good educational team and informed parents, it's generally not a problem. The problems occur when the education team has one or more incompetent teachers/administrators/psychologists/social workers, etc., or when the parents have had prior bad experiences in other schools (the case of the parent of my student who refused proposed services), or just plain bad information or no information about the disability at all. Of course, there's the stigma attached to special education services, and some parents don't realize that special education services can be provided completely as inclusive services rather than being pull-out. It all comes down to doing what's best for your child. I truly believe that the parents should have the final say, as they know the child best, and they do (usually) want the best for their child. I'm not a big fan of government interference in parenting. The problem with parents not allowing special education services is that these children tend to fall through the cracks. I know that my success in general education is not typical of someone with my degree of hearing loss. This is why I have my daughter on an IEP. However, we've had so many problems with incompetent teachers that she's now enrolled in an online school and working from home where I can supervise and supplement her educational program. Beth \ I know of many parents who REFUSE to place child in > special ed.. that can be some of problems. > > Lee > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Oops...Lee, also, you can't test the student to even see if the student qualifies for special education services without giving the parents prior written notice and gaining their approval in writing. You cannot formally assess any student, unless it's a test being given to all students in that student's peer group (district or state assessments, for instance) without prior written approval from the parents. Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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