As I read your "Exit Slips" last night I was blown away by your "connections," "extensions" and "challenges." What you already know because of your other classes is simply exciting. Yet, as many of you were honest and shared because of your personal experiences or previous classes you come already holding a "specific viewpoint." I am energized because of how you are "challenging" yourselves to explore and "open my mind" to learn more about various topics and to understand different perspectives! That is all one can ask of a PROFESSIONAL, to be open-minded and consider ALL sides!!! I nearly cried as I read some of your papers! I am humbled to have the opportunity to learn with you and to teach you this semester!
The "big hitters" that appeared repeatedly that people really want to understand more about or I realize we need much more clarity around will resurface in other chapters. It was affirming to me that these important ideas were important to you, too. I will definitely make a point to highlight them in a variety of ways in our upcoming classes. Some of them I am going to introduce as topics for discussion here on the blog as well. I invite YOU to share links, experiences, anything you would like from your wealth of expereince related to these topics as well. Post away!
Here were the "big hitters" that were still puzzling us and causing us challenges: modes of communication, methods of instruction, identification/definition of Deaf/Hard of Hearing, The Deaf Community/Deaf Culture, IEPs, legislation,
I am definitely one of the ones who came into this class expecting not to learn anything new. In my previous SED 104 class, it was difficult to listen to the teacher talk about the mainstream setting because she always seemed to indicate that it was always the least restrictive environment for Deaf and HH students and that residential schools were not a very good place for them. So I cam into this class expecting the same kind of attitude and I cannot tell you how relieved I am to see that is not the case. I can see that we will be looking at the wide variety of placement options,recognizing that each placement has its pros and cons, and learning to respect the wide variety of opinions.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tia in that my past experiences with SED classes (even though it was only one) burnt me out on the ideas that came along with a special education type class. I always come to class hoping to learn something new and I know that this will be the case with this class which very much excites me. I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn more in this class about Deaf and HH students that i can take with me in my ITP travels.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to know you want to learn MORE!!
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that I want us all to really begin to think even more about is how INDIVIDUALS are INDIVIDUALS! What's beneficial for one may not be the most conducive to learning for another!
The next idea I want us to consider is how incredibly VALUABLE all OPTIONS and PROGRAMS can be! It's not about good and bad or good and better. What if we look at it like we do a menu in a restaurant and the VARIETY or TYPES OF PROGRAMS there are available from which we can select the BEST FIT for that individual child.
Think about students who are choosing a college or university.
What's the difference between Centre & Transy? What's the difference between UK and UL? What's the difference between EKU and WKU? What's the difference between Harvard & Yale? There may be several differences among many of those schools. e don't need to compare a mainstream setting to any of those universities and a residential setting to any of those. Each educational setting offers different programs and academic opportunities. How can the adults ensure that the students ACADEMIC as well as social needs are met so that they have the opportunity to grow and develop in healthy ways?
I love how you (Cathy) tell us to be more understanding towards parents of Deaf children. I definitely agree. For me, this comes as a challenge sometimes and I know I'm thinking more of one individual as opposed to the whole group of children of deaf children, but this is a challenge. I have a deaf cousin. He was diagnosed at 3 years old, and implanted soon after with a cochlear. He went through extensive speech therapy and was mainstreamed, of course. My aunt wanted him to learn English so she immediately learned SEE and taught him. So he's grown up very receptive to SEE and graduated high school with a higher level of reading than most Deaf individuals do. It was exciting. He is oral and does not sign. That is fine, and it seemed to suit him except he felt very isolated from his hearing peers. Now that he's in college, he only wears his cochlear during class and a lot of his friends know ASL, so they sign to him. He is beginning to sign a little and really branch out, knowing he can talk to both Deaf and hearing. He is still "hearing minded" as he calls himself, which is fine. I guess what bothers me, is when my aunt tells him to wear his Cochlear constantly because he can "do better than that" when he only wears it during class. It's very frustrating because its like she is forcing him to be hearing, when he doesn't need his cochlear to have conversations with me or my signing friends. We can communicate just fine without them.
ReplyDeleteThis is just what I mean by being challenging. It may just be my aunt who acts this way and therefore it really bugs me. I just felt like sharing.
Chelsea Eddins
Chelsea, I'm glad you shared! There are many people who have this OPINION. It is their experience of the world and how they navigate it - by hearing other people and things. It is very difficult to understand and accept at times that which you have not experienced. For many people they simply do not understand how or why a person would want to go through life without HEARING if you have the OPTION to do so. Can we really fault those people for what they don't understand? We can't write their script any more than we want them to write a child's who is Deaf .
ReplyDeleteWhat does it really mean "to be hearing?" What does it really mean "to be deaf?" How can an individual CHOOSE to do those things which they MOST WANT TO DO to simply be the individual they want to be and not make it a "deaf" or "hearing" characteristic? When does an individual have the right to choose to do something which gives them a benefit or pleasure because that is simply who they are and how they choose to live their life?
Just my rambling thoughts tonight! :)
I would have to say that I am really trying to keep an open mind about this class. The reason for that is I have experienced working with deaf education and there teachers. I would have to say that most of my experiences were good, but some were also not the greatest. I do have the most respect for Deaf Ed teachers. I wanted to be one at first and there is a part of me that still does. I love the ideal of teaching. I do have my own thoughts about how Deaf children should be taught, but I'm trying to open up my mind and gain new information from this class. I would have to agree with Chelsea in that I do want to keep an open mind towards parents who have Deaf children. It is hard sometimes. My other reason is I guess I view the Deaf as though there is nothing wrong with them. When I know many others view them as having something wrong with them.
ReplyDeleteThe story: I visited a mainstreamed school it was elementary and I saw this one Deaf child. The deaf ed teacher told me how this child's parents tried giving this child a cochlear implant and it didn't work, so the parents decided to try the other side of the child's head to see if it would work there. It didn't.
I guess my heart went out to the child knowing that this child had to go though two major surgeries just to find out what they already knew. I mean I understand that the parents wanted what was best for their child. I really do get that, but I don't understand why they felt the need to "fix" their child. Again I guess I just feel that there is nothing wrong with Deaf people.
Trying to help us UNDERSTAND...
ReplyDeleteDo you think "all" parents are trying to "fix" their children? When is a parent trying to maximize the opportunities a child may have?
How do we accept and work with those who DO have a different perspective? If you were the teacher in this situation how do you develop a POSITIVE relationship with the child and the parents?