Raising and Educating a Deaf Child

K.G., Virginia

2013-05-07T18:45:39Z

My 8-year-old son is profoundly deaf and uses ASL for communication. About 1 1/2 years ago he was removed from the deaf/HOH program offered by our city public school due to behavior problems and issues. The school told me his only option for placement was a local alternative school where he would use an interpreter. I expressed concern regarding this placement, as it does not seem like the LRE. There is only one other deaf student, there are no trained teachers of the deaf, and none of the school staff or administration knows ASL. I am concerned for my son's social and cultural development as well as his education and ability to work on his emotional and behavioral challenges in this setting. I tried to have him enrolled at the deaf school in our state, but they will not take him because they are not able to deal with his behavioral and emotional needs. I am willing to have my son attend an appropriate program, such as PACES at ASD, but the local school insists he is in the LRE and that he is making progress. Since he has been in the alternative school he has made no significant progress, has had many critical incidents as well as sustained minor injuries, and has been hospitalized for his behavior twice. I do not feel my son is in the LRE, although I have expressed this to the school many times I feel my concerns about his placement are ignored. What is the best way for me to advocate for my son to be educated in the LRE?

R.B., Somewhere, USA

2013-04-26T18:11:23Z

My husband and I adopted our fourth child at age 3.5 from Eastern Europe. He had virtually NO language other than pointing, and indicating if he was happy or sad. The orphanage that we adopted him from reported that they did not realize he was profoundly deaf until he was 3 years old. He had never had any speech therapy, preschool, or early Intervention. Once he was part of our family, through much testing, we confirmed that he was profoundly deaf in both ears. He was fitted with hearing hearing aids, and at age 6, due to concerns for safety, he received a cochlear implant, and continues to wear one hearing aid. Our son is an absolute joy, and makes our family complete. He is now 7 years old, and has learned SO much. We use Total Communication both at home and at school. He is in a first grade class, with most academics taught in a self-contained HOH classroom, and spends part of the day in the "regular education class." Socially, he is mostly like other 7 year old boys: fun-loving, action-packed, into sports and playing outside. Academically, he is still at a pre-school/kindergarten-ish level, and his receptive and expressive language is severely delayed. He talks and signs, but the majority of his words are not understandable. He mostly uses ASL/Signed English to communicate. Our major concern for our little guy, is, that his school is VERY focused on how behind he is language-wise, and academically (which he is). However, it is very difficult for them to see how far he HAS come in the four years we have had him. We don't know any other families that have Deaf Children, that had NO Early Intervention, that were adopted internationally, and have the extreme language delay that our son has. We feel like we don't know how to advocate for him at school, have high/yet acheivable expectations for him. All the literature that we find talks about how very important early Intervention is....but our child was not given that, and it was not in our control until he came to us. How do we provide him the most support possible, and help to increase his global language. His language delay is obviously impacting how much he is able to take in/learn at school. But we don't know how to "hurry language along" for him. He gets "speech/language" 5 days a week at school...and we constantly talk and sign at home. It just doesn't seem to be enough. Does he need some type of intensive therapy?

M.W., New York

2013-04-26T16:20:47Z

I am working with a preschool student who has bilateral cochlear Implants. His audiologist is recommending an FM system for him. What is the appropriate funding source? The County or the school district? Neither party accepted responsibility for this at the CPSE meeting. Can you refer me to some documentation of the regulations for this funding?

S.H., Illinois

2013-04-09T11:02:28Z

I am wondering if you have any information about testing Deaf and hard-of-hearing students who come from non-English backgrounds to determine English proficiency? State laws require all students who have any other language spoken at home be tested when the enter preschool, before they leave preschool, and every year in school thereafter. The tests used by the district in preschool (Pre-IPT and WIDA-MODEL) do not allow sign language to be used, though they are spoken language and listening tests. Besides the obvious concern that students may score low because of a language delay due to their hearing loss and not just the second language at home, there is also the concern of testing students without sign when Total Communication is their mode of communication documented on their IEP. The problem is two laws colliding. The result from a low test score is a letter to parents saying their child qualifies for a bilingual or ESL classroom, though the team is recommending the DHH classroom. Do you have any information or ideas of other ways DHH students are tested to comply with state mandated ELL testing?

T.A., Maine

2013-04-09T10:55:15Z

Everything I have researched on the internet has said that IEP goals and objectives are determined by the team - annual goals that are measurable - and only after that is the placement discussed. I just received the draft IEP for my son's meeting and here is what was written under Goal: Goals and Objectives for (name of child's) educational program to be delivered in an regular academic setting through the ____ Deaf program at _____ school as follows: (Child) will participate in all academic classes in the academic program supported by the ____ Deaf program at _____ school with classes at the 7th grade level to include - Immersion in ASL: -Reading: - Written English: - Mathematics: Science: social Studies: and electives that apply. How Goal will be measured: Using curriculum based assessments (CBA's), grades, rubric scores, standardized testing scores and/or other measures as needed. Is it just me, but is this not an IEP? I'm reading it as my son's annual objective is to go to school. Isn't this objective just simply referring only to placement? It mentions nothing about goals for him, benchmarks, etc. - seriously, am I reading this wrong? For example, his evaluation by the school stated "Student should continue to work on his written skills using the Writing Process of pre-plannning, first draft, revisions, and final draft." Just one example, there are others. So, wouldn't this evaluation recommendation be the basis of one of his IEP goals, with perhaps four benchmarks of how his progress would be measured? That's what I think, but am I wrong?

A.H., California

2013-04-05T15:52:57Z

My boyfriend has a 3 year old son who was late on his speech, so we decided to take him to see a doctor. He has seen a neurologist and taken a BAER test which indicated that he had profound hearing loss in the left ear and severe in the right. He is very smart and his motor skills have always seemed high for his age. Were just confused on what are all the options it could be... we have been referred to the children's hospital, but it wont be for a while. If any one has dealt with this or has any advice we would appreciate it. We're just kind of lost on where do we go from here. (When he was born he passed his hearing test.) Also he seems to have behavior problems, and the docs say its just his age, but we feel it could be more. He has really bad anger problems and is very moody. Could that be because he can't hear or should we look into other things like ADHD or bipolar syndrome?

T.A., Maine

2013-03-05T20:47:18Z

I have a deaf son, grade 7. Just recently, I have attended an IEP meeting and requested that my son (who is currently homeschooled) be registered as a full time student. I asked that he be placed in the local junior high, who currently have no interpreter on staff. The school refused, saying that the IEP team's recommendation was he attend an out of district day-school program (about 30 minutes away) because they have a deaf program set up through the state deaf school. I basically said that my son has the right to attend the local school, and providing him with an interpreter through an IEP is their responsibility. They refused, and for the first time ever - and my son attended public school many years ago in a different state, so I've been ot plenty of IEP meetings - the person in charge of special education services said that we could file a due process hearing and that he had plenty of lawyers that would argue against what we want. Never ever in over 30 plus IEP meetings had someone basically say, sue us, we dare you. Wow. but anyway, can a local school (district) refuse services to a deaf student based on the arguments of a) we aren't set up for a deaf student, b) this other program already is set up and c) the IEP team recommends it (IEP team of 3 people and the 2 parents and deaf student disagreeing). Obviously they can, but do they have the legal right? Can we do anything other than sue, sue, sue?!

C.M., Arizona

2013-02-27T11:51:07Z

I am trying to help my daughter. One of her children, a boy of 17, is deaf. He is in a regular school and now the school tells her that he only has 9 credits. They lie to her about things, saying that he wants to go to a deaf school 4 hours away and what they will do for him. What are the options? There are limited services here.

D.L., Massachussetts

2013-02-12T10:27:57Z

Why is it that some schools include socialization in the IEP and some do not ? Shouldn't it be included?

K.M., Vermont

2013-02-08T14:44:25Z

I am looking for listening comprehension programs for elementary HH/CI students. Again, I find checklists but few programs for what we used to call 'auditory training'. All are either for young, early implanted (Dave Sindrey for example) or teenagers (music and phone use). I have used the SPICE program... but is that all?