I have been looking into some early intervention (EI) programs in our area. There is one at a private school that I am intrigued with. They are an oral school for the deaf. They have been around for 60+ years and have a really good reputation. I met with their early intervention coordinator on Friday and she was really great. The school seems awesome and they really do amazing things there with the kids. I even met a few kids who have the exact same condition our son has and were adopted from China a few years ago.
So what is bugging me is that when I talked to her about using sign language she made it sound like it was wasn't good idea. She even discouraged me from using it with Scarlett saying it could delay her speech.I'm not sure if I agree. Scarlett has great speech and loves signing. We watch SigningTimes all the time and she adores it. I even have the app for it on my phone. I think we are raising Scarlett bi-lingual.
The EI coordinator was telling me it will be really important to focus on our son learning to hear and learning to talk and that signing can disrupt that process or give him a crutch to use.
I guess I was kind of bummed that she was so negative about signing. We have really enjoyed it with Scarlett and it is what prompted us to be open to a child who is hard of hearing.
So last night at my signing class I asked our teacher about the private school and she didn't have many positive things to say about them. She is really pro-signing mostly because she works with kids whose families don't sign with them at all. See this link for some background:
http://deafness.about.com/od/newtodeafness/a/nonsigningpars.htm
So I am going to visit with our county EI and I think I'll schedule a visit at the Oregon school for the deaf. I want to sign with Liam. I think it is important for him to have that langauge even if we can get him hearing with a hearing aid. He might choose not to wear one later in life. Anyway... I'm just trying to sort out my thought on all this. There is so much to learn.
1 comment:
Hey Mary Anne, it's Kate, Mary Jean's daughter. I learned a lot about the Deaf community in Austin when I lived there, and it was very enlightening. I really recommend watching "Through Deaf Eyes." It's a great documentary. I don't know if you have netflix, but it's currently on the watch now. Lots of luck to you with your new son!
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