...Introduction When a child is diagnosed as deaf, parents are faced with a critical decision to make in the first few years of their child’s life. Deafness as defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), means “ a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child's educational performance” (34 Code of Federal Regulations [section]300.8[c][3] [2013]). Parents can choose to either communicate with the child in English, the major language of society, or teach the child manual language such as ASL and become a part of the Deaf culture. This decision is especially hard for parents to make who were never exposed to the non-hearing world before, and see deafness as a medical problem that needs to be fixed. This can become critical for the child’s future years and development as a person in the society since the child will always be viewed and judged as different. It is mandated that each child with a disability will be viewed individually to make the best decision in how to treat and help the child. The oral approach, audism, is a method in which children learn to use whatever residual hearing they have, in combination with lip-reading and contextual cues. The children will also thus use an auditory approach, in which they receive amplification devices to correct their hearing and to make use of the residual hearing they have as much...
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...respecting in the deaf culture? Deafhood is a term that loosely means a Deaf person finding and understanding their Deaf culture. This is not a static term and it usually refers to a process by which a Deaf person must go through in order to discover themselves and their roles in the Deaf community. Deafhood is a word that was coined by the author of Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood, by Paddy Ladd. With regards to deafness, the people of the past felt lost or upset with being deaf. The families of the deaf would force their children to go to a hearing school and assimilate with their culture. Schools would have to put labels on the children’s clothing to differentiate them. I think that these measures would make a child uncomfortable with his deafness. There were not many schools that a child can have access to so it would be understandable that the child will feel frustrated with himself about his situation. Ladd’s book asserts that deafness is a positive thing and that one should embrace their deafness. On a similar note, the deaf should not consider their inability to hear as a disease or handicap that needs to be cured. Deafhood is the understanding of how remarkable it is to be Deaf and be okay with that. These days with the internet and technology, it is easy for a child and his family to find a community near them. It is a lot easier to have a deaf person reach Deafhood, much like a normal child would reach adulthood. I believe that children and many...
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...On Deaf Culture Deaf culture is usually found in Deaf schools, and Deaf Clubs. Having Deaf culture depends on the person and how they accept being deaf. This is different for every deaf person, depending on their situation. At Deaf school is where culture begins. Here everyone is equal and they can interact with other deaf kids. This gives them a since of actually belonging somewhere. Hearing people see the Deaf schools as a dumping ground for deaf kids. When in actuality it is a place for the Deaf to identify themselves. Deaf of Deaf acquire their culture from infancy, but only about 10% are Deaf of Deaf, others get this culture from attending Deaf schools. And yet there are still others who are put in mainstream schools who aren’t exposed to Deaf culture until college or even when they start attending Deaf Clubs. Deaf communities consider themselves family and believe in taking care of each other, Deaf take care of Deaf. Deaf value Deaf of Deaf, they want to preserve deafness. While hearing people want to do away with deaf by cochlear implants and even hearing aids, are hearing people’s way of fixing their deafness. Deaf people do not need to be fixed. They are very capable of leading a normal life. They think this would destroy Deaf culture; besides cochlear may improve only environmental sounds but it does not cure deafness completely. To go with cochlear, oralism is not thought highly of either. Being forced to speak or learn to lip read is a waste of time to a majority...
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...Can Sign Language Help Deaf Children Learn English? One of the most important things to learn in a deaf community is to learn language it is in critical condition. Because of some public schools having deaf students, they have to come up with new ways of teaching English to them. High school graduates that are deaf can read and write, but only at a fourth grade level. This is not good and that is why they have to come up with new ways of teaching children who are deaf. Recently, there have been ideas on what is the best way to teach deaf children language. This was based more on strong feelings then science. Psychologist hopes to change that though. They are providing a scientific base to help them debate of rather or not deaf children should be taught English or should just English be taught? To learn English only it provides oral training, this concentrates on lip reading and written English. It also teaches “total communication” training, which uses English and Sign English. Signed English is just English that is translated into signs. ASL though is a different forum of English; it has its own vocabulary and grammatical structure. To learn oral only and total communication training that has over powered the American education of deaf and hearing children. Did you know that more then ninety percent deaf children are born to hearing parents? These parents want their children in an English only program. They think that learning ASL will “impede” learning English and that...
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...Children who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HoH) experience unique challenges in public school settings. They often face academic and social obstacles that their normal hearing peers do not encounter. D/HoH adolescents especially tend to have less positive notions about themselves. Often they feel isolation and alienation from peers in inclusive classrooms because of the language barrier. Due to this, social interactions that could foster feelings of belonging and friendship with hearing peers are limited. During adolescent, children tend to shift their allegiance from their family to their peers. Peers provide them with social support and validate their self-worth. The D/HoH student who is unable to establish positive social interactions will most likely have trouble with his or her self-esteem, self-concept, and the ability to self-advocate. Audiologists can provide personal adjustment counseling to their clients who are dealing with the social and psychological adolescent developmental issues such as self-esteem, self-concept, and self-advocacy (Rall & Montoya, n.d.). History of Deaf Education in America The education for Deaf children in America primarily consisted of private tutoring or schooling in Europe in the early eighteenth-century. European schools used the oral method, which made use of speech, lip-reading, and written language to facilitate learning. They also used the manual method that used signs and writing. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet visited the...
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...Hurt Deaf Culture Alexander Graham Bell (AG Bell) is famous for inventing the telephone. AG Bell wanted to help deaf people because his wife was deaf. The telephone he invented had some amplification. He believed that his telephone would help the deaf people to hear and communicate on the telephone. What he thought would help deaf people and other opinions he held made him notorious for the near destruction of American Deaf Culture. AG Bell was found to have quoted that ASL was a beautiful language, but was against its use. AG Bell said “I admit with ease with which a deaf child acquires sign language and its perfect adaptability for the purpose of developing this mind; but after all, it is not the language of the millions of people among who his lot is cast.” And “We should try ourselves to forget that they are deaf. We should try to teach them to forget that they are deaf.” (Paddy 129) Following the 1880 Conference of Milan which outlawed the use of sign language as a method of teaching deaf children AG Bell used his influence on the Board of Education promoting his ideas of oral education. In 1872 Alexander Graham Bell opened a school in Boston. Its purpose was to improve the speech of those who are deaf, who stutter and who had articulation problems. He called it the School of Vocal Physiology. Soon many schools utilizing only the oral method for teaching deaf students were established. This was popular among hearing educators but resulted in deaf teachers...
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...During his years in school Laurent was a high scholar on his studies where he was taught by another well known person, Abbe Sicard. While in Sicard’s mentor care and education studies, “He was gifted with uncommon mental powers and soon distinguished himself so well as a scholar that, upon completion of his course of study, he was appointed an assistant teacher in the Institution. (Clerc).” While being an assistant teacher and teaching the highest class, he met one of his good life-long friends Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. The story of how Gallaudet met Clerc is as follows told by National Deaf Education Center, “ When Napoleon returned to Paris in March, 1815, Sicard decided that he should leave. He visited England and brought with him Massieu and Clerc. In London, they lectured and demonstrated their teaching methods. One of their lectures on July 10 was attended by the Yankee Congregationalist minister, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, from Hartford, Connecticut.” When returned back to France, Clerc began to teach Sign Language to Gallaudet as his private...
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...America Deaf Culture After reading the book, Reading Between the Signs, I realized that there was a big difference between the America deaf culture and my culture. This book aimed at the audience who study sign language or sign language interpreters. It focused on the different aspects of culture instead of the language expression. Firstly, the author, Anna Mindess, describes the study of the culture. She cited the reference that Tylor said “ culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Then Anna selected topics in intercultural communication, such as the collectivism and individualism, high context and low context, and time orientation. Finally, she talked about the American deaf culture, which is my favorite part in the book. Now, I would like to describe the chapter of America deaf culture that I read from the book. This describes the perspectives of insiders who live in deaf culture and outsider who just study deaf culture. Anna discusses the development of deaf culture that deaf children attended to residential school and hard to communicate with hearing people in the past, while the recent developments of deaf culture are disappearing. The reason is that the deaf culture did not have some rules that deaf people have to live in the deaf culture and they wants to become rich or full people. So it means they have to become enculturated...
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...college. I see it as an amazing opportunity in giving back to the community and helping students out. Within my residential advisor position we uphold several responsibilities but the three most important would include; assisting the residential directors on keeping the community safe, bringing the students together and encouraging them to be involved on campus. Throughout my experience of this position, I have not only become very close to my staff, but also many students. We have a lot of fun with our activities and I cannot wait to continue this leadership opportunity next year as...
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...Born in May of 1862 in the small town of Houcktown, Ohio, William Ellsworth Hoy was one of five children. Like many children, William was born hearing, but unfortunately contracted meningitis at the young age of three years, eventually becoming both deaf and mute. Such an obstacle could not, and did not, stop William Hoy from pursuing a regular lifestyle; in 1872, he entered the residential Ohio School for the Deaf, and went on to graduate in 1879 at the top of his class. Confiding to the norms of his town and era, Hoy opened a shoe shop in his town. In his downtime, he would play baseball outside of his shop with the local neighborhood children. While meaninglessly showcasing his talents outside of his shop, his skillset was recognized, earning him an invitation to play for a team in Kenton, Ohio,...
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...Benefits of Inclusion for Students With Disabilities 1. Friendships 2. Increased social initiations, relationships and networks 3. Peer role models for academic, social and behavior skills 4. Increased achievement of IEP goals 5. Greater access to general curriculum 6. Enhanced skill acquisition and generalization 7. Increased inclusion in future environments 8. Greater opportunities for interactions 9. Higher expectations 10. Increased school staff collaboration 11. Increased parent participation 12. Families are more integrated into community From Regular Education . Not everyone is excited about bringing students with disabilities into the mainstream classroom setting. Tornillo (1994), president of the Florida Education Association United, is concerned that inclusion, as it all too frequently is being implemented, leaves classroom teachers without the resources, training, and other supports necessary to teach students with disabilities in their classrooms. Consequently, "the disabled children are not getting appropriate, specialized attention and care, and the regular students' education is disrupted constantly." He further argues that inclusion does not make sense in light of pressures from state legislatures and the public at large to develop higher academic standards and to improve the academic achievement of students. Lieberman (1992) agrees:We are testing more, not less. We are locking teachers into constrained curricula and syllabi more, not...
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...There are three program that will be discussed in this paper. The D.A.R.E. Program, the Safe Haven, and the Late Night Program. The D.A.R.E. Program The Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program, which is commonly called D.A.R.E., targets younger generations. It is one of the largest prevention programs directed at school aged children from kindergarten through high school. (West & O'Neal, 2004). Established in 1983, the goals of the D.A.R.E. program is to educate America’s youth in the prevention and dangers of using drugs and alcohol. D.A.R.E. focuses is not only telling children that they should resist the temptation of using drugs but teaches the how to resist the temptations. (Department of Safety & Homeland Security, n.d.). D.A.R.E. has proven to be so successful that it has been implemented into 75% of America’s schools. The officer led classes educate children to “resist peer pressure and live drug and violence free lives” (Department of Safety & Homeland Security, n.d.). Every officer must go through 80 hours in depth training that includes child development, classroom and teaching techniques, and communication skills. For those who work with high school students an additional 40 hours of specialized training is required. (Department of Safety & Homeland Security, n.d.). Funding for the D.A.R.E. programs come from corporations, foundations, and government agencies. Corporations include Warner Brother, Fruit of the Loom, Estee Lauder, American Honda, and Abbott...
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...improve the quality of life of children/adolescents, young adults, adults and seniors (age 65 or older). The agency offers programs for persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders, persons with serious mental illness (SMI), those who have experienced trauma, and individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They also provide assertive community treatment (ACT), consumer run (peer-support) services,...
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...felt about the residential treatment homes that have a no-touch policy - what about the children who are suffering from attachment disorder. How do we ensure that they are getting the quality of care from us that they never received while at home? How do we teach them to have a healthy caring relationship if touch is not an option for us as an intervention? If someone could write back to me and tell me how to do this that would be great. Thanx Kim ____________ There is no question that touching is a basic biological need. When infants are denied touching, they die - as they did by the thousands in the foundling homes of the 19th century. This is a condition known as "maramus" - from the Greek, meaning "wasting away". The need to be touched does not diminish with age. Having run a residential center for many years, I realize some of the difficulties involved but, one way or another, touching is essential to the ongoing growth and development of the residents. There are many ways to do it. Gerry Fewster. ____________ Dear Kim, Congratulations to you for asking such an astute question. I am holding that institutions which have a no-touch policy are CHILD ABUSING. They should be reported to the licensing authorities of their particular mental health district. Professionals within that particular community should raise their sincere objections to such lack of caring policies within their respective communities. As I have stated earlier, to touch children is neither bad...
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...is the theory that children with disabilities, particularly those with learning disabilities, should be placed in regular classrooms full time. It refers to the movement that all students with disabilities, regardless of type or severity, are educated full time in a general education classroom and program. This method would allow disabled children to make friends with “normal” children and be given the opportunity to learn in a stimulating environment, where they can get the “real world” education that they will need to be able to fit into society and flourish as productive members. Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, students with special needs are entitled to a full, free, public education in regular educational programs and settings. The inclusion classroom would provide exactly that, a setting for these students to interact with their peers of all ability levels, thus most accurately mirroring the real world outside of school. At current most schools in the United States do not use the method of full inclusion. The current trend in education is to use either mainstreaming or what is considered the least restrictive environment (Feldman 273). Mainstreaming refers to the practice of educating students with special needs in regular classes during specific time periods based on their skills. This means regular education classes are combined with special education classes. Least Restrictive Environment refers to the concept that children with disabilities should...
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