Re: school question

April 4, 2003

Hi ,

I also live in Mass., so I know the school you're talking about. The

Learning Center does have a summer camp program. Maybe that would allow her

to explore the deaf world. Here's the url:

http://www.tlcdeaf.org/summercamp/index.htm We go to The Learning Center

for EI services and know a lot of the staff there, so let me know if you

need names of people to talk to.

Also, just so you know, there is also the CASE Collaborative school in Mass.

It's an oral program and it goes up to 5th grade in the towns of Bolton,

Carlisle, Concord, and Littleton. (I think if they have room they'll take

kids from outside.) See http://www.colonial.net/progweb/caseweb/ and click

on Programs, and then select Hearing Speech & Language Impaired .

And there's also the EDCO program in Newton from 6-12th grade. See

http://www.edcollab.org/, specifically

http://www.edcollab.org/DeafProgram.html

Good luck,

Jen

Mom to , born 2/21/01, N24C 3/1/02

jborhegyi@...

school question

> Looking for any help or suggestions regarding my 9 yo daughter. She

> received her CI 2 months ago and has been turned on for 1 month. She was

> profound in the ear that was implanted since birth (her left), and has a

> progressive loss in her rt ear but still has fair benefit with her ha in

that

> ear. She is totally oral and has always been mainstreamed and is in the

4th

> grade, uses an FM and we just got c-print for her. She is showing slow but

> steady progress with the CI. Doing well with it in therapy, but really no

> benefit yet for conversations.

> My only problem with her now is she keeps telling me she feels

different

> at school and she wants to go to a school with other kids " just like her " .

> She just read the Whitestone book and I think she wants to be just

> like . The only schools in Mass. are an oral school for the deaf

over

> 2 hours away, and another school that is primarily ASL, the have a

bilingual

> program for CI kids that is supposed to be both oral and ASL, but I have

been

> told is a lot more ASL than oral. She says that she wants to be both

" part

> of the deaf world and part of the hearing world " she also says that she

would

> gladly go live away at school (something I am not ready to let her do).

> Needless to say she is very stubborn and persistent.

> I know there is nothing wrong with ASL but I don't know how quickly

she

> would pick it up where she has never used it and is oral - but I am also

not

> willing to send her away. Any suggestions?

> Thanks,

>

April 6, 2003

> My only problem with her now is she keeps telling me she feels different

>at school and she wants to go to a school with other kids " just like her " .

> She says that she wants to be both " part

>of the deaf world and part of the hearing world " she also says that she

would

>gladly go live away at school (something I am not ready to let her do).

Hello ,

I have a 8 1/2 year old daughter, in Natick, MA. She received a CI a little

over a year now after a slowly progressive loss, identified as severe at 2

1/2.

She is oral, though we use sign supported English to help lip reading when

her CI is off. She is mainstreamed (included ?) in a local elementary in

2nd grade (Sept. birthday). She uses an FM into her CI and the classroom

also has a soundfield system too. No C-print yet, though I am trying to get

someone in the district to get trained on it. We are trying a number of

different approaches for dealing with assemblies - sign supported English

interpreter, CART, eventually C-print. I am also starting another sign

class

for me - Kathy will pick up what I use, and I am trying to add Cued Speech.

I am adding a lot of things to try to increase Kathy's options for access.

Right now she is very limited in what she can use if it is not oral with

lip-reading. Sigh!

Anyway, the real reason I am writing is that I was wondering if we could get

together? I would like to get a support group going in the area. We know

another girl who has a CI in Natick - 9 years old. She attends the CASE

program that wrote about. I think we met at the MIC meeting -

right?

If we could get a group together, maybe we could get some sign class for the

girls (if they wanted it) and some social supports. We could even arrange

for tours of different schools too if they wanted it.

Terri , Mother of Kathy, 8, CII BTE Jan '02, future artist and

paleontologist and story teller

April 7, 2003

> She just read the Whitestone book and I think she

> wants to be just like .

I had the opportunity to meet on the 4th, and I'd like to say that

it is a commendable goal. was great with all, especially with the

children. She gave each child her personal attention, they weren't just

another child who wanted her autograph. She talked with each, let them hold

and/or put on her tiara, and let the parents take all the pix they wanted.

She told us during the brief talk that she gave that she would be the last

person to leave the room that evening, so that everyone who wanted to speak

with her would get a chance. I was speaking with a friend of mine (who

arranged for her visit) and she said that really is the person she

is when doing these things. It's not a put on character, it's the real

thing.

Kay

April 7, 2003