Chapter 31: More Resources

This is the first I have heard of a hearing child with Deaf parents having issues with English, though it makes perfect sense.

"The little boy speaks okay, but sometimes he reverts to an English version of the ASL sentence structure."--pg. 187, p. 1

I wonder if this is typical and how long it takes for such children to reach the English-speaking level of their peers.  I knew a girl in middle school and high school with Deaf parents and she spoke normally.  My mom had her little sister in first grade and she spoke normally, as well.

The authors sure do like listing off resources.  I notice that all of the materials they listed were published between the late 80's and early 2000's.  Were the 90's an important time for Deaf research?

Quiz: Chapters 16-30

I answered all of the questions correctly.  I think this information stuck with me because most of it had some sort of emotional/opinionated aspect to it as road blocks to Deaf people's maximum potential were really highlighted in this section.

Chapter 30: Reading Sources on Deaf Topics

I am not sure how to respond to this chapter as it was mainly facts.  I have not looked for reading material on Deaf topics; I will have to look into some of the suggested sources.  I do not know anything about the legal agencies in my community who support the Deaf community.  I guess I have some research to do!

Chapter 29: Pros and Cons of Deaf Residential Schools

I can see pros and cons of Deaf residential schools.  As great as the pros are (qualified teachers and a community of peers with which children can communicate), if I was a parent of a Deaf child, the cons would win for me and I would look into Charter schools.  Childhood is about more than education.  A parent-child relationship should be more than financial support and occasional in-person encounters.  I would not want to send my children to any type of boarding school whether it was a residential school for the deaf or a prep school.  I think it is more than just what the parents want.

"They believe that they can offer their children something that no dorm parent or teacher can.  They want their children coming home to them every afternoon; they want to talk with them directly about their everyday concerns and monitor their homework; they want to tuck them into bed at night."--pg. 178, p. 1

It's not a mere "want," it's a need.  Parents raise their children, it is what makes them "parents" as opposed to sperm donors and surrogates.  That's just my opinion on the matter.  If it was an option, I would look into moving to a city with a residential school for the Deaf that my child could attend during the day.  If that wasn't an option, I would stick to Charter schools.  

Chapter 28: Deaf Schooling in the Old Days and Now

I went to middle school and high school with a Deaf girl who was being mainstreamed in the public school system.  She had two ASL-using friends:  one met her in elementary school and took ASL classes during her lunch periods and could use ASL comfortably by middle school; the other friend had Deaf parents.  Her friends would interpret for her during lunch and such when she interacted with other students and she had an interpreter who went to all of her classes with her.  I'm pretty sure her usual interpreter knew what she was doing as she gave off an aura of confidence and was the same woman who taught the Deaf girl's friend ASL. Occasionally she would have other interpreters who seemed very unqualified.  I remember once at a school play a woman who looked very stressed and confused attempting to finger-spell everything being said.  I am not sure how much the Deaf girl got out of the public school system, but I know the only people she ever directly communicated with were her two friends and her usual interpreter.

I like the idea of the Charter schools.  The issue with Charter schools, however, is that they require lots of parent support and interaction, and apparently the parents of the Deaf just do not care for the most part (I am thinking about how they often let their children go without language until they start school and how they do not make an effort to learn to sign themselves most of the time).  The original Deaf schools before the take-over of oralism (which I cannot understand the reason for it happening in the first place) seemed to work well based on the chapter with the exception of how time-consuming they were.  After comparing this chapter and my personal experience, I am of the opinion that mainstreaming is probably not the best choice, but that a Charter school-like option should be available to Deaf children with uncaring parents.

Chapter 27: Closed Captioning vs. Closed Interpreting

If the trend in closed captioning changed to a trend in TV interpreters, I do not see how it would effect hearing people who were not using closed captioning in the first place.  Just as you can turn closed captioning on and off, why wouldn't you be able to turn the little interpreter in the corner on and off?  I think having both options of closed captioning and closed interpreting would be great.  I cannot think of any reasons why other hearing people would not also support it.

"Some deaf people prefer interpreters on TV.  A few programs, notably Christian and Catholic-oriented ones, feature them in fairly unobtrusive oval 'inserts' in the lower right-hand corner of the screen."--pg. 165, p. 2

On youtube there is a closed captioning feature that is provided purely by technology.  If people do not speak very clearly, the captions are mangled nonsense.  It is amusing but I can imagine it would be very frustrating if you were trying to use the closed captioning for constructive purposes.

I think it would be a good idea for select showings of all movies in movie theatres to have captions.  This way if you find captions distracting you can attend a showing without them, and if you want the captions you have options of captioned showings to choose from.

Chapter 26: Deaf Distaste for Reading

For me, I think that reading with my parents when I was little is what groomed me to enjoy reading.  Most Deaf children do not get this (I am still curious as to how it is possible to read to Deaf children).  If Deaf children are only exposed to reading and writing in educational settings, it makes sense that they wouldn't want to do it for fun, especially if they do not have a proficient grasp on it due to not enough time spent on it and "drilling" methods.

"If they never get beyond 'bad, mad, pad, and dad' or drills in sentence diagrams, they won't stick around to luxuriate in the delights of Jane Austen or Shakespeare.  Why bother?"--pg. 159, p. 4

I can see where it would make sense that reading is one thing that Deaf people and hearing people experience in the same way...if they had the same English backgrounds, and they do not.  I do not understand why anyone would think not being able to hear would make someone less intelligent.

I would say that literacy therapy is more important than speech therapy.  Once grasped, reading is something that Deaf people would be able to do without struggle due to not being able to hear.  Speech, however, will never match the level of hearing people.  Unless a Deaf person has an individual interest in learning how to speak, I do not see a reason to make them attempt it.  It seems like it would be very frustrating, especially if you have no desire to learn the skill.

I think there is a fine line of political correctness in every aspect of life and the story of the Deaf man on page 161 is walking rather close to it.  It is almost as if he is asking for separate but equal--which has been ruled as inherently unequal in regards to race in 1954 and Massachusetts marriage terminology in 2004--and I am glad that the authors point out that this man's view is not universal for the Deaf community.  I personally think that qualified teachers with positive attitudes should teach, regardless of their status as Deaf or hearing.