Re: schools

[Guest guest]

, does jason still attend the school for the deaf? I saw that he was

24--I wasn't sure how long they can attend or if he had gone on to college? did

he attend grades in public school at the correct chronoogical age or at his

ability level? We are just stating the school process--2 years of preschool,

and he'll be 5 in august the 15th, but not sending him to kindergarden--will do

a year of regular pre-k with support. And at 6 hopefully go to k, just wondered

what your experience was. thanks .

Re: schools

,

attended a hearing impairment program in a public school until the

age of 17 at which time he choose to change to a residential deaf school for the

last 4 years of high school. He attended the Scranton State School for the Deaf

here in PA. We lived over an hour from the school so he choose to stay in the

dorm during the week and came home on weekends. Both programs had their pro's

and con's. While attending the public school had signing support with the

ultimate goal being as much inclusion into reg. classrooms as could be worked up

to. He always had signing aides available to him in reg. classrooms. The up side

of this was he was taught exact english signing in the beginning which gave him

a good start with written language. We were very lucky as to have a very good

hearing impairment program available to us here and all the teachers and aides

were wonderful. The down side was that when came home he had no one to

play with. The kids in the hearing impairment program where bussed in from 5

different school districts and were scattered over a large area. None of his

deaf classmates lived nearby. Though there were planned get together and parties

among them they were not often enough to prevent isolation. We encouraged

neighbor kids to visit and play with but I'm sorry to say that

understanding and compassion was not abounding in the kids of our area. Thank

God for 's older sisters who have always been very loving and considerate

of their brother. took part in 4-H Horse and Pony Club and boy scouts but

the language barrier always got in the way of him socializing outside family

members. In both cases we had to always be involved which increased his

dependency on us. Another down side to the public school was as got older

it became harder and harder for him to keep up with the higher classes pace.

Homework became an ordeal and we had to get counseling for because he

started to act out in frustration. When I say act out I just mean he wouldn't

cooperate with us in getting it done. He didn't through temper tantrums for

anything like that but would lie about what he had to do or stash it somewhere

so we wouldn't know about it. The problem was that it took longer to do

his work and it would take him 2 to 3 hours to finish what the others where

doing in 1/2 to an hour. What the counselor suggested and we agreed with was to

have work for 1 hour if he worked diligently but didn't get finished in a

hour then that's all that should be required of him. He could do the work but it

just took him longer. I couldn't see punishing him for something he couldn't

help. himself made the decision to attend the deaf school. His own words

where that he was lonely and wanted to be able to socialize with other deaf kids

after school. I have to say it was much harder on me. enjoyed the last

four years at the school for the deaf much more than public school because of

the socializing. They had regular outings during the week. Wonderful dorm

counselors who could all sign fluently and best of all friends. He asked girls

and attended all four proms. He was manager of the basketball and soccer teams.

had health issues that prevented him from playing but the other kids went

out of their way to make sure he was included. I'm afraid that would not have

happened as easily in public school. The classes were small so he got more

individual attention and was on the honor role all through high school. Some of

the cons to the deaf school was It became apparent to me that some (really to

many) of the kids who attended from early on did not have as good an

understanding of written language. When you look at numbers of kids attending I

felt the deaf schools have a problem with the amount of kids who graduate

without the readiness to function in the hearing world. Now there's allot of

controversy between the deaf and hearing on this issue. I've heard the argument

from some people who are deaf that it is because of the majority of hearing

people teaching deaf children. I have picked up on controversy of deaf children

needing ASL to be taught as a first language and exact english being taught as a

second language. I personally am still sitting on the fence. I agree with some

my friends who are deaf on some of the issues but not all. I have seen that

has lost some of his written language skill since going to the deaf school

and changing to using ASL. You can see in his writing that he is writing how he

now communicates but he can switch back and forth from ASL to exact english in

his signing. I sign exact english and we have no problems understanding one

another.

There were the few in 's class at Scranton who excelled academically

and it is my own personal opinion that the ones who didn't should have gotten

more attention in their schooling. I feel that everyone should be challenged

even when things don't come easy for them. How wonderful if the 4 out of 7 who

weren't college bound could have been given more and better options.

I'm sorry to say that something I also saw at the Scranton School was the

absence of to many parents and family. We lived an hour and 1/2 away from the

school but made the trip for proms, special events, and 's birthday if it

fell during the week. Even at graduation there were parents or families not

present for some of the kids. How sad.........

This turned into another one of my book versions. Soooooo sorry but I'll

put my keyboard away now. Please remember this is just my own opinion of

personal experiences with . I do have to say from what I have seen with

that the School for the Deaf was the best place for those last four

years of high school.

Vicki mom to (24)

teresa stevermer wrote:

Hello to all,

I am writing to inquire if anyone is currently sending their CHARGEr to a

school for the deaf? Is it proving to be beneficial? Also is there anyone

who has had a CHARGEr that has been a resident and stayed at the deaf

school? Any pros or cons to that experience?

We are making some educational changes for Katelyn. Just wondering if

anyone has been there, done that.

Katelyn(9)

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[Guest guest]

When Patty was born we had early intervention, specialists came to our house.

She still wasn't developing so at 10 months she went to a Regional Center, 1

hour away. She left at 7 and was home by 3. There she learned how to walk

and had a few signs. This school was for children with all kinds of

disabilities. Around 2/3 we noticed she was modeling behaviors-not good ones

too-and still wasn't verbal, though she desperately tried. It seemed she

didn't know how to use her mouth. She did sign to express her needs but she

always made guttural noises with her signs. At around 2 1/2 we found a

school for the deaf, mostly oral and sent her there. They continued to let

her sign in the beginning but mostly taught her how to speak. It took years

and great effort but they did it. They also taught her how to use her

hearing. The class was also great because there were about 7 children to 3

adults. PT, OT, Speech and all came to there classes. She got intensive

speech therapy. At this school she was happy and made friends. She

progressed in leaps and bounds. But she left at 7 and was home by 4. She

slept on the bus and when she got sick it took over an hour for me to get to

the school.

What was good about this school is that half the day they had " regular "

kids their age which they could model. Then when she got to school age and

they felt she could be mainstreamed in some classes. This school was next to

the public school. The two worked directly, and wonderfully with each other.

I cannot sing their praises enough. Patty made friends in that class too.

I made two mistakes though. The first is that we went oral and

discontinued sign when she could express her needs orally. I wish we had

continued to use sign. We now have to learn it again. The other was that

our home district continually told me they had similar services in our town.

Now I know that wasn't so. I fought them until first grade. Patty was not

doing well in math and our home district said they could do better. They

also said she would be with children in her own community. It was the year

my father was suffering with cancer and died, and my grandfather died also.

I couldn't fight and gave in. We brought her back to our home district.

They did well at first, especially in elementary school. But then through

the years many services slowly stopped. Also, in elementary school it

seemed she had friends, everyone gets invited to all parties...but as she

grew things got harder. There is no one with disabilities similar to her.

In fact there aren't any deaf or any visually impaired children her age. The

focus was always on her work. This kid has spent much of her time

educationally with adults and there was little help with social issues,

though I tried. Finally there is some focus on this issue but she is now 15!

Patty has done wonderfully educationally. She is in the 9th grade in

regular ed with help from a one on one and resource. She also seeks help

from a councilor now. She has so much potential for her life. She has

worked so extremely hard to get where she is. But sometimes I don't think she

should have.

I think a few more years for Patty at the school for the hearing

impaired would have given her a better base. It also would have been with

children more similar to her. When she graduates and does what ever she

chooses I have a feeling her type of employment will be working with the

disabled population somehow. The absolute best thing about her diagnosis

about CHARGE Syndrome is that she now no longer alone. She knows there are

others who are similar to her.

Whatever academic decision any of you make will be the best for your

child. Investigate everything but go with what your child needs are. I

honestly don't feel that there is one way that is the best but I do believe

that the whole child should be looked at, not just the disabilities.

Whatever all of you do, make sure you look at social issues. By that I mean-

is there time in their schedule to be with peers or be happy. Academics are

of utter importance to all children, but so is time to feel good about

themselves. That Circle of Friends I read about is Wonderful! Bring it up

at your PPTs.

Bonnie