Return-Path: <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id fAL58s013114; Wed, 21 Nov 2001 00:08:54 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 00:08:54 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <103.c71f7e6.292c901e@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: KathleenBombach@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-LD:3791] Re: Deaf, communication issues X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: AOL 7.0 for Windows US sub 10021 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="part1_103.c71f7e6.292c901e_boundary" Status: O Content-Length: 3022 Lines: 46 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Vicki: There are different ways of being deaf. Those who lose their hearing after learning to speak proficiently think like hearing people even after they become deaf. Those who are deaf from birth or soon thereafter think like deaf people, i.e., they have different cognitive structures. Deaf who become so later in life may prefer signed English because it is a match to the way they think. So do hearing parents who learn to sign to communicate with their deaf children. Many deaf cannot wait to drop SEE as soon as they leave the classroom. They actually argue over who speaks ASL better and who is making mistakes because they use some SEE signs (definitely a cause for ridicule). SEE is the standard approach for deaf education in the US and it is an utter failure if the goal is for children to meet adulthood with the same academic skills as their hearing peers. That one program has students who do a little better (maybe better teachers or curriculum?) than other deaf students in a different program does not disguise this fact. We need to find new ways of deaf education that result in equality of results between deaf as a group and hearing as a group after twelve years of schooling. Marginally better is not enough. I'm with Steve. Kathleen Bombach
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