Lunch time (formerly: digital aids)

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In a message dated 2/6/2006 9:43:27 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

Parentsofdeafhoh@... writes:

We are tackling this issue with my oldest son. is in 7th grade and

while he is happy in his school overall, he tells me that lunch time is the

pits. We have an IEP meeting tomorrow to discuss this with the school.

Some of

the options we are exploring is to have the itinerant put together some

social activities for the kids in the district (78 mainstreamed kids and

many

have never met another deaf/hh kid in the district), lunch once a week or

more

with a few friends in a quiet place and we are also exploring the option of

attending a cluster school.

(and everyone else, of course),

Ian and I have talked about what options might be available for him in order

to deal with lunch. He agrees that it is probably the most exhausting period

of the day, it takes a lot of work to lip read, listen and keep up with what

is going on around him. In middle school, he and his friends would sit over

towards one corner of the room, near the " front " where there was a stage (and

curtains) where the sound didn't echo as much. It was easier to hear when

sitting there. They moved around the room until they found the " quiet spot. "

He didn't want to have lunch someplace else, someplace quieter. (Our TOD had

suggested that). He thought his friends would think it was a pain and would

stop coming with him. In the lunch room, they interact with kids they're not

actually sitting with, it's quite social. He wanted to keep that. He point

blank said that eating someplace else would make him feel like an outsider. (On

the other hand, our daughter LOVES eating someplace else, and being allowed

to do it makes her feel special.)

So, we talked about self-advocating techniques for himself in that setting.

He asks friends to repeat things, they know to sit facing into the center of

the group, and my favorite -- he uses his Deaf Boy routine when someone talks

to him and forgets to get his attention. The school has silly dress up days

each year, and this year he wants to make up a t-shirt for Deaf Boy as his

superhero costume. (too funny)

He seems to have lunch pretty well under control. But he readily admits that

he misses quite a lot. He just doesn't see that there's a viable solution

and takes the stand that it is what it is and he'll make the best of it. There's

a little core collection of friends who always eat together. They all

recently attended a semi-formal dance as a group instead of having individual

dates. They've done this before and they all go up to the photo area and crowd

into that cliche floral arch and take a group picture. They crack me up.

I wish I could come up with a lunchtime solution that would make it easier

for him. The only thing I could come up with was to pass the mike around the

lunch table. But it's quite likely that the mike would end up in someone's

pizza, and honestly, Ian won't push for its use in that setting, so I'm

deferring to his preference and not asking for that accommodation.

Best -- Jill