Guest guest Posted May 14, 2002 Report Share Posted May 14, 2002 Hi Donna, I don't know how long your son has been signing but at the age of 6, a LOT of fine motor skills would look " choppy " . Our family (and my son's school) uses Signed Exact English which requires even more word endings and additional words than Signed English does. The people I know who are fluent in SEE are every bit as graceful as those I know who use ASL. In our particular case, my 8-year-old daughter signs in a choppy way, my son is smooth but sometimes too fast for me and I tend to be graceful because it seems to be my style. If I were you I would make myself very familiar with the differences between the systems so that you can better advocate for your son. Signed English and SEE require that a child communicate in English word order. (Ideally a young child would RECEIVE communication in the same way that they express themselves.) ASL, while a terrific system, has it's own syntax and therefore is almost a whole new language. In our case, we chose SEE for ' early learning because English is the language of our family and because we believed it would help him with reading. (He's in kindergarten and now reading at 1st grade level.) As his hearing loss progresses and he meets more friends who use ASL, I'm sure will pick that it up as well. (85% of SEE signs are also ASL signs.) Personally, I always wanted to learn ASL but never retained what I got from my classes because I had no one to practice with. It's pretty coincidental that when I had my son many years later, he had a hearing loss! Maybe I'll finally get my chance. :-) I also wonder why the teacher is worried about your son's being able to sign in the case of additional hearing loss. It seems to me that his receptive capability would be more important. Since you state that he is oral, he would still have the ability to communicate. Carol - mom to , 6.0, mod to severe/profound, EVAS and Kate, 8.4, hearing IEP on the 22nd Hello everyone!! We have our son's IEP on the 22nd of May. One thing I am concerned about is his signing ability. His Teacher said he is very choppy at signing because he uses signed English. Signing each word is making him a choppy signer. He already as a very large amount of English. He is oral but also is severe/profound deaf. His Teacher is concerned about him losing the rest of his hearing (it's inevitable) and not knowing how to sign smoothly. He has great receptive skills because he uses an interpreter. She suggested we speak up about this and have them (in school) sign ASL or pigeon to him. I would like to know if I have a choice of what I want them to sign to my son. I know if someone uses cued speech the school has to accommodate them. Is this the same for ASL? Thank you in advance for your help. Donna Mother to ny 6, severe/profound 3, moderate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 14, 2002 Report Share Posted May 14, 2002 > I know if someone uses cued speech the school has to accommodate them. Is this the same for ASL? Thank you in advance for your help.< http://www.listen-up.org/rights/advocate.htm#11 and here is the answer on the page above in action: http://www.listen-up.org/rights2/ruling3.htm Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 14, 2002 Report Share Posted May 14, 2002 We don't use BSL with Dominic but i'd say that if you want your son to be a fluent ASL user you must ensure that his support assistant is completely fluent in ASL so that he always has that extra bit to learn from her. I think it would be limiting if her knowledge of ASL would be just at your son's level or only a little bit higher. Best wishes and good luck with the IEP. Cristina Mum to Dominic (2;6 prof. deaf, HA) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 14, 2002 Report Share Posted May 14, 2002 If the laws in your state are like maine.they must provide what every language mode you choose weather it be SEE pigion ASL Oral cued what ever that child needs to access langauge. good luck to you I know first hand how fustrating and stressful it is to get services DEB MOm to courtney 5.6 n24c 1-17-01 asl/oral rd Augood <richard@c...> wrote: > We don't use BSL with Dominic but i'd say that if you want your son to > be a fluent ASL user you must ensure that his support assistant is > completely fluent in ASL so that he always has that extra bit to learn > from her. I think it would be limiting if her knowledge of ASL would be > just at your son's level or only a little bit higher. > > Best wishes and good luck with the IEP. > > Cristina > Mum to Dominic (2;6 prof. deaf, HA) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2002 Report Share Posted May 15, 2002 Donna, I wonder if you are considering a CI for ny? How much time and energy you/he should put into signing seems to depend on how much he will need to use it in the future. I think before CIs were an option, progressive loss meant that even with aids, once it was gone, it was gone. It seems to stay oral would be very hard (some of the resentment I've read from those who were forced to be oral with no signing make me think this, IMHO). I realize CI technology isn't for everyone but sure has benefited from it. Mom to 9, 5 (bi-lat sensiorneural profound and hearing with her CI (n24 4/00)) and 2 IEP on the 22nd Hello everyone!! We have our son's IEP on the 22nd of May. One thing I am concerned about is his signing ability. His Teacher said he is very choppy at signing because he uses signed English. Signing each word is making him a choppy signer. He already as a very large amount of English. He is oral but also is severe/profound deaf. His Teacher is concerned about him losing the rest of his hearing (it's inevitable) and not knowing how to sign smoothly. He has great receptive skills because he uses an interpreter. She suggested we speak up about this and have them (in school) sign ASL or pigeon to him. I would like to know if I have a choice of what I want them to sign to my son. I know if someone uses cued speech the school has to accommodate them. Is this the same for ASL? Thank you in advance for your help. Donna Mother to ny 6, severe/profound 3, moderate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2002 Report Share Posted May 15, 2002 > some of the resentment I've read from those who were > forced to be oral with no signing make me think this In those early years, I ran across some folks who had this same attitude - very bitter against their parents, and so while we raised JD AV, I've always made sure that there were books about sign language on his bookshelf and videos on signing in the cabinet. He was never interested in them (don't think he even looked at them once) till after he got his implant and he was able to hear sounds again. But, I think in those cases, at least the ones I observed, I think the problems went a lot deeper than their parents forcing them to be oral. For example, they had jobs that forced them to interact with the public, very vocally denounced their parents when they saw hearing aids on JD, and went on and on about how they were going to 'learn sign language' one day. It seems to me if being oral was really the problem, they would already be learning sign language (they were in their 30's), and wouldn't have jobs that required them to be oral. I know I certainly wouldn't work at a job that required me to be the very thing that I resented and detested. Don't get me wrong here, I'm always happy for someone when they find a communication option that works better for them and switch to it. I think everyone should have the right to do that and to have their choice respected (yes, even my son). All I'm saying is that you might want to evaluate whether this is really the cause for their bitterness or if the problems run deeper than that. And yes, I do champion for choices in real life (as I do in my cyberlife). Hugs, Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2002 Report Share Posted May 15, 2002 Hey guys, I hope you don't think I am forcing ny to be oral. He has good speech so he chooses to talk. We give him the choice to do whatever he wants. We are involved with Deaf culture. I have a playgroup for D/HOH children. This is where ny feels comfortable. He wants to play with Deaf children compared to hearing children. ny is mainstreamed with an interpreter and his teacher wants him to get together with the hearing children after school (he needs to work on social skills) to play with them and ny doesn't want to and I don't want to force him. He said he would rather play with his Deaf friends. He said he can understand them. He cannot understand his hearing classmates. I give him the choice of whatever he wants to do. I feel he has enough stress with the hearing losses (loses his hearing and gets some back all the time) he goes through without putting more stress on him. I feel like he is getting teased with his hearing. He will have some hearing and then lose it and then he will get a little back and lose it again. I'm not sure if anyone can understand this type of hearing loss. They think he has Autoimmune inner ear disease. We totally give him the option to do whatever he wants. If he would like a CI, we would get it for him. He said he doesn't want one. He said he will sign. If he wants one later in life, we will get one. ny will be a good candidate for a long time because he has heard speech and has great speech. A lot of people mistake him for a hearing child because he has such good speech. I hope you guys understand. Thanks, Donna Mother to ny 6, severe/profound HA 3, moderate HA > > some of the resentment I've read from those who were > > forced to be oral with no signing make me think this > > In those early years, I ran across some folks who had this same attitude - > very bitter against their parents, and so while we raised JD AV, I've always > made sure that there were books about sign language on his bookshelf and > videos on signing in the cabinet. He was never interested in them (don't > think he even looked at them once) till after he got his implant and he was > able to hear sounds again. > > But, I think in those cases, at least the ones I observed, I think the > problems went a lot deeper than their parents forcing them to be oral. For > example, they had jobs that forced them to interact with the public, very > vocally denounced their parents when they saw hearing aids on JD, and went > on and on about how they were going to 'learn sign language' one day. It > seems to me if being oral was really the problem, they would already be > learning sign language (they were in their 30's), and wouldn't have jobs > that required them to be oral. I know I certainly wouldn't work at a job > that required me to be the very thing that I resented and detested. > > Don't get me wrong here, I'm always happy for someone when they find a > communication option that works better for them and switch to it. I think > everyone should have the right to do that and to have their choice respected > (yes, even my son). All I'm saying is that you might want to evaluate > whether this is really the cause for their bitterness or if the problems run > deeper than that. And yes, I do champion for choices in real life (as I do > in my cyberlife). > > Hugs, > Kay > > > > All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post is the intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to copyright restrictions. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2002 Report Share Posted May 15, 2002 Fantastic for JD! That is awesome! ~allison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2002 Report Share Posted May 15, 2002 > I hope you guys understand. Absolutely, and I didn't mean to imply that. My son is oral too. ;-) I just didn't want folks to think that in the future, the kids always look back and feel their parents forced them to be oral. Sometimes there are other reasons, and of course not all kids look back and regret choices their parents made at all. JD's thanked me about a zillion times for making the choices I've made for him. He's happier than any other 15 year old I know, and I'm amazed at how well he's doing in school right now. He did an autobiography for school recently that's 30 pages long and he's one of the 2 people who got 100 on it. His teacher was so impressed that she wants to keep it, but I told her no - she can have an electronic copy of it. They also want to show it off at an awards banquet tomorrow night. He also passed all areas of the TAAS - the statewide assessment they do here at the end of the school year. It's the first time he's passed all areas. Pretty great considering 2 of the areas were new for the state and had never been scored before. This means he's on grade level for math, reading, writing, social studies, and science. I couldn't have said that 3 years ago. Anyway, I didn't mean to make you feel like I felt you were forcing your son. Sorry if you did. Hugs, Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 16, 2002 Report Share Posted May 16, 2002 Kay, That's great for you and especially JD!! ny is also an advanced child. He's only in Kindergarden but, he is above all of the hearing children in his class. He reads great and I really think sign language had a lot to do with that. Donna > Fantastic for JD! That is awesome! > > > ~allison > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.