Re: ToD .. a rambling response

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In a message dated 11/22/2004 12:53:08 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

exactenglish@... writes:

" how do we use

phonics with a deaf child? " " how do we teach her to read " ? I DON'T

know!!! Thanks

LOL ... that's why you would need a TOD, because we parents don't know until

someone teaches us. Teaching deaf and HOH kids is what they do and what they

are trained for. We didn't know about our son's hearing loss until May of

2nd grade and he finally got a TOD in 5th grade -- we started fighting for one

in 3rd grade.

I don't know what specific things would be worked on in kindergarten, but I

do know that as the years have passed, the TOD's stuff has evolved and she

worked on issues that were specific to our son's current grade and his own

collections of needs. Oddly enough, in 5th grade, at the very beginning, she

worked on organizing everything about him, his writing, his homework, his time,

his desk, anything you can think of was given an organizing strategy. The poor

kid had been a jumble all the time. We color coded his notebooks and

folders, (green = science, red = math, blue = English, etc) so he could just

grab

what he needed and the visual color cues helped him do that. He's now a

freshman in high school and he still color codes everything the same way.

They also worked on specific skills. For instance, Ian had a terrible time

writing essays but could verbally explain things. He needed to learn to get his

words onto paper. Ian also had a hard time with idioms. Since the language

isn't being used in a concrete fashion, idioms confused him. So, he'd do small

essays explaining idioms. (These are common issues for D/HOH kids) The

solution gave him practice in writing and acquiring new ways to use language.

The TOD taught him classroom strategies, like how to stay focused on the

teacher for lip cues and how to take simple notes. Many little things that help

a D/HOH be able to learn in an essentially un-welcoming environment. A

mainstream classroom, no matter how well-intentioned the teachers are, is a

struggle for a D/HOH kid. He is always coping in one way or another. Ian also

learned to advocate for himself -- to speak up and say something when people

turned

away from him when talking. That may seem like nothing, but for a shy

10-year-old to tell a 6'4 " gruff teacher to stop pacing is a big deal. He'd

been

quietly getting by, but he needed to learn to be pro-active for himself.

Each year the TOD does an in-service training of all Ian's teachers BEFORE

school starts. They spend a day learning how to have a D/HOH kid in their

class. The TOD has played games: she stuffed their ears with cotton, had them

to

listen to a story and then take a test about the reading. They all always

fail that one. She teaches them not to talk to the board, not to pace ... the

little things that make life easier for our kids in a mainstream classroom.

They are taught how to use the FM system and how to recognize if it's not

working. This training is reinforced by two classroom observations during the

year.

Also, the TOD has allotted time each week for meeting with the teachers and

addressing their concerns and issues. Sometimes that means solving an acoustic

problem, sometimes that means discussing an upcoming project, or the test

schedule. So far, Ian is the first kid like him to go through our schools. The

first HOH kid these teachers have ever met. So the TOD is a resource for the

teachers as well.

The TOD also addresses issues that are special for that child. And the

solutions that work for our son do not work with the other kids in the same

TOD's

care.

For instance, our TOD knew Ian's schedule before he did. She used that

information to use pre-teaching for new vocabulary, to start working on new

concepts, and to help him learn to keep track of his own workload. Once he was

in

high school and college, he'd be on his own. To do that she needed to know

what was coming and what he'd missed. With one teacher, he always missed some

part of the homework assignments. We discovered that was because the

assignments were often shouted out to the class as they were leaving the room.

An easy

fix, which Ian handled himself -- he explained his problem and asked if the

assignments could be written on the board. Pro-active and a solution all in

one.

When he was younger, the TOD was his main advocate. I am convinced that he

would not be doing as well in school if she had not been there for him. (He has

been an honors student for 3 years now.) Many times she is the only person

in the school who understands how hard Ian works and what struggles he faces

every day. She is often the one who has the solutions right at her fingertips.

These kids all take tons of standardized testing, starting in elementary

school. The TOD knew how to adapt those tests so that Ian could take them. For

instance, for one test, the teachers read a story twice. The kids just listen

the first time. The second time through, they are supposed to take notes.

Then they use those notes to answer questions or write an essay. Well, for a

D/HOH kid, it is hard to take notes and listen because listening means also

watching lips for cues. The teachers were at a loss as to what to do. They are

strictly forbidden from handing Ian the story to read since this is suppose to

be test of listening, note-taking and writing. But the TOD had the solution.

The test was administered one-on-one (as permitted in his IEP) and the

teacher would read once through. Then the second time she would read a couple

sentences and pause, allowing Ian to write some notes -- or not write anything.

And then move on to the next few sentences. This simple testing technique, so

common for a D/HOH kid, was not thought of by the Spec Ed people. They'd

recommended exempting him because of his disability. The TOD didn't even have to

pause to think, the solution was a standard one for her.

Tough as it can be, the mainstream setting is the appropriate placement for

our son. (Plus it's where he wants to be.) But it is a hard place for a kid

who can't hear like everyone else. His TOD has been a godsend. The SpecEd

people, while well-meaning, just could not understand how to help Ian. His

issues

stem from his hearing loss and related brain damage*, not traditional

learning disabilities.

The SpecEd people could not understand the underlying motivation and subtle

differences. They wanted to use remediation techniques, and for Ian, those

were just not appropriate. Those techniques did not answer his needs, even

though they seemed to be a related service. Teaching him to develop writing

skills sounds like it could be done by anyone, yet it didn't work with the

SpecEd

teacher. She just didn't get it. The underlying issue was not a learning

disability, it was language usage issues related to his hearing loss. Our TOD

explained it was very common and she had a variety of things to try. She found

which ones worked for Ian and they've built on those solutions over the years.

In 5th grade, the SpecEd teacher was indignant at the TOD being there. In an

IEP meeting she pointed out that several of the things the TOD used were

also used by the SpecEd people (webs and outlining strategies). She could not

understand why we insisted on Ian having a TOD, and she thought she could do the

job. But she had failed miserably during 4th grade and we'd insisted on the

TOD. Both teachers may use some of the same teaching tools, but they each use

them quite differently.

Obviously I'm very biased about a D/HOH child's need for a TOD as they go

through school. That is because our son benefited so much from having one. But

to defend the SpecEd teachers -- if the child has a need that is answered by

SpecEd, then by all means, makes sure that the proper support is there. For

Ian, it was a mistake to think that a SpecEd teacher was the same thing as a

TOD. There is definitely a difference.

Best -- Jill

* We don't refer to Ian's problems as " brain damage, " but to be honest that

is literally what it is. He has a slower processing speed and memory issues.

Damage occurred to his brain and 7th cranial nerve during gestation at the

same time his hearing was affected. We refer to it as Ian's " hard-wiring " that

somehow went awry. My point in mentioning it is that the damage is something

he has learned to work around. There is nothing that can correct it or repair

it. His memory and processing speed will be what they are for his entire

life. He is learning to cope, overcome, and live with them. These issues could

be

labeled as " learning disabilities " using the usual diagnostic standards, but

our local SpecEd people had no clue how to deal with them. Perhaps elsewhere

in the country, they do.