I read about ASL for the deaf and hard of hearing from my dearly friend PrisciLLa's cousin. I would like to post it here from her blog.
Do ASL first. No regrets, guarantee.
Many times children that are not given their language (ASL,) when they are babies, will suffer one way or another. I.e.; many of my friends who were implanted at young age, would feel lost in the hearing world and then when they discover the Deaf culture/ASL, they would be extremely grateful. I believe that if parents really want to implant their children, they should at least give them a language so they can stay on track. Implanting children isn’t “one size fit all,” while ASL will definitely work on all children. It is like ASL is a guarantee for children to get their language to start off their school years and graduate with great scores on exit exams.
About the deaf schools having low percentage on exit exams, it is because the children weren’t given language at the earliest age and some of the students were enrolled during middle school with lack of appropriate education from previous school or lazy parents who refuse to learn ASL. If all of their graduating students were enrolled during preschool, they would be passing tests with flying colors! This needs to be compared properly and with every aspect/perspective.
My daughter is 20 months now and she was using sentences months ago. She signed her first word at 7 months old. I want all other deaf babies to be like her, to be normal despite the fact that some of their parents may not know ASL.
LEARN ASL for your children. Do your research and think about how ASL can make your child grow up normal and happy. Your child doesn’t have to be a blondie? Your child doesn’t have to be implanted to hear. You child HEAR the world by using ASL for the child can read, write and talk. It is as beautiful as if your child has brown hair, red hair or curly hair?!
I am begging all parents to be fair to all Deaf or HH children by giving them a language by using ASL as earliest as possible. There will be no regrets.
After I read this, It made me realize how value ASL is. I have three children who are deaf. Tobias is 5 years old and he has mild/moderate hearing loss. I don't like to label him as hard of hearing so I like to call him deaf because it is easier to understand who he is than in the middle from Deaf and Hearing. It is just like an idea of lukewarm that would make them confused which is hearing or deaf. Twin girls are almost 3 years old. Keirah has mild/moderate hearing loss and Nevah is profoundly deaf. My husband, Tyler and I are deaf too. We are only deaf with deaf children in this Calgary Deaf Community. It is really difficult for us to find the deaf parents who have deaf children. We enjoy with CODA children with their deaf parents but I want to find the deaf children for Nevah. It is really very hard to find here around because the Alberta Children Hospital, most Audiologists encourages hearing parents to get Cochlear Implant for their deaf children and it is already extinct for deaf children and they don't use ASL that very much. Their parents put themselves into so hard to put their children in oral to success. No, it will never success unless they decide to give the opporunity to learn ASL for their children's sakes. Tobias' ASL is much improved since 2 years now. When he was born, we didn't sign to him that very much. We should have to make an effort to sign more. Keirah and Nevah don't use ASL that very much right now. I know that I should do that better than this one. It doesn't mean that I am lazy mother to not teach kids ASL. I am going to make this better for my children. I only want to see them success in the future. I admit it frusrates me too. I want to learn ASL more that would be benefit for my children.
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Me and Mat
