I can say for sure that Indiana School for the Deaf uses "voice off" policy with pull-outs for speech therapy only (20 minutes 2x a week at maximum... not minimum.) My kids were scolded for using their voices, and my daughter was sent to the detention twice for using her voice. Opposite of oral deaf schools, as you'd say. So they went mainstreaming, to meet their communication needs, since they liked using their voices. Now, they are back at the bilingual Deaf school, in a different state now, yes, and so far it's not a totally 100% "DEAF" school, so it is good for now.And it happened in kindergarter and 1st grade. The detention forced them to miss recess. A fun social activity for deaf/hh kids.
This deaf mother continues to explain:
Actually, I'd not mind for my kids to be told to use ASL. But for kindergarten and 1st grade kids... being sent to detention for using voice... I disagree with it...that's what happened to my daughter.
Well, it's over. The challenge is of course how to meet the deaf children who have aptitude to talk and listen... we can't leave them behind in deaf education. Often the solution would be mainstreaming them, which shows that deaf education needs to develop resources to meet their needs.The question now becomes at what stage would this kind of punishment be acceptable or not? We all know the stories of the past (and even perhaps to today) of how deaf students were punished for signing. Now, it seems that in some instances this situation has reversed where a deaf student is punished for using his or her voice. Obviously to this deaf mother it certainly shouldn't have taken place in kindergarten and 1st grade. What about in the 2nd grade? 4th grade? 8th grade? 10th grade?
Let's take two scenarios, one in an oral/aural school and another one in a Deaf school. Imagine a 1st grader in an oral/aural school gets detention for signing. Imagine the outrage. I agree. Now, imagine a 1st grader in a Deaf school gets detention for talking with his/her voice. Imagine the outrage. I agree. Though we'd have to ask why was there punishment involved before we can make a judgement.
18 comments:
I don't think it is acceptable in any grade. No one should stop anyone from using their voice. Neither should anyone stop anyone from using sign language or any other communication choices.
If it was in a bi-bi classroom and a rule, the detention would not be for the infraction, per se; it would be for breaking a rule/an infraction just like anything else.
Tousi
Huh oh, not really expecting you to blog about my comments... ha.
Hmmm... Bi Bi approach does use voice off in the classrooms only, to fully immerse the children in ASL as L1, with English as L2 in the written form later on in the upper elementary grades. Like I said before, my children liked using voices... we recently moved to Indiana from Rochester, NY where SimCom was widely used... to ISD where ASL was dominant. So it was a bit of struggle for my kids to adjust. ASL does not have any vocal requirements... just hands and facial expressions, not voices. So that put my children at odds. Now they both have good foundations in both ASL and English, so it's not an issue for me.
As I said before and will say again, we need to focus on meeting the needs of some deaf children who have aptitude for speaking and listening without losing them to mainstream schools.
Okay, later.
Tousi, I just asked my daughter to explain again to me what happened, three years ago. She said that she was using her voice while signing and one student who was hard of hearing heard her and reported on her to the teacher who herself was deaf... it was during the lesson time. The teacher then scolded her and sent her to detention. That's it.
Okay, I have to step outside...
It should never have been a rule period.
Here is another scenario: Imagine punishing someone for using a foreign language in a classroom.
It is just dumb. Plain and simple.
Brian L. Mayes
Brian, teachers do discipline students for using a foreign language such as German in mainstream North America. Why? Most of the time, teachers have no idea if there were cuss words being spoken or not. I know hearing peers who got punished for using their native tongues.
I don't remember deaf schools disciplining me for using voice. The teachers just had a sit-down and explained using voice or simcom is excluding students who cannot hear from the conversation.
What a bizarre case the blog post is presenting.
Hence the word, "punishing". I understand where you are coming from and I do concur. But to punish a student for using their native language/communication mode is a bit too far.
There should not be a rule, just a simple explanation is good enough with a strong emphasis on the reason why - "so that everyone can understand each other" so forth.
And I don't think this post is at all bizarre.
Brian L. Mayes
This story is not uncommon at all.
I have a story of my own. We home schooled our children but one of our deaf son wanted to know what it was like at the deaf school so we arranged to have him participate in some of the classes at Idaho School for the Deaf. They allowed him to come into certain classes several times a week.
This arrangement did not last very long simply because he had a radical "D" deaf person for a teacher. She had a nasty habit of criticizing other people's ASL skill. She was always on the attack mode for those who tried to sign and lip read at the same time. She'd ask what you'd move your lips for? She criticized my son's ASL several times and made him feel uncomfortable about continuing the visit.
Since then my son expressed zero interest in deaf schools. He's been visiting the public school and attending some of their events since then and loves it there. This son does not speak at all but he's found his comfort zone at the local public school where he does not get criticized for his choice of language.
The weird thing here is this deaf teacher carries second generation of deafness in her family and my son carried the 8th generation label. It did not make whole a lot of sense.
This might have been an isolated occurrence, and you have already to date received a lot of outraged commentary disagreeing with it. Including from me.
In past history, however, you will see that there have been far more punishments for using ASL, and more severe, from oralists than from the current bi-bi teachers.
Hands slapped, hit with rulers, encased in paper bags, sitting on hands, standing in a corner, put out in the hallway, sent to the principal's office, held up to ridicule, names posted on the blackboard, etc.
Off the point? Perhaps. Just consider the background, though, and who set the precedent.
That doesn't make it right either way. This is where we see almost unanimous agreement that punishment for using a different communication style is wrong.
That's outrageous. I would not want to rob my children of the ability to understand phonetics and being able to speak would greatly help.
-Wiggums
If that so, then it's illegal.
If that so, then many kids will not want to be associated with deaf peers.
Where are the rest of people? Why deaf of the deaf are getting smaller each year?
Out of their stupidity revolves around them as usual.
If the government knows about this, they'll shut it down.
Enough said!
What bothers me is this -- when I was a kid, I had teacher praising for my speaking ability -WITH- sign language. However, as I got older, it became a "taboo" to speak at the residential school. Of course, it's a whole different ball game if we kids were off-campus from the residential school.
Now, this... is not cool, man.
I don't know why a teacher would trust a student, especially kindergarten and first graders, to tattle on another student Especially when she is deaf herself. What kind of teacher is that? They should be trained for that kind of situation (the tattling, that is). Anyway, kindergarten students do get in time out. In this case, it is probably due to not answering the teacher's question -- using voice, not ASL because I can't picture a teacher putting a kid in a "detention" over someone's word of mouth.
I'm wondering if the student got
it mix up with detention and time out. They also lose their recess privilege as well. that what they did with me in a hearing school, and that's what they do with our hearing son as well.
You going to have ask the kid what they do in detention. when I was kid, they made me nap longer while other kids got to play out because I was talking during naptime. It felt like detention to me although it was not the term I used back then.
Nope, not cool at all.
Agreeing with finlake here.
I can't help but wonder how that affects the child that has the ability to speak, we're talking self esteem here. Has anyone ever taken that into account?
Anonymous 6:14 PM...
It was detention; the teacher emailed to me about it; she apologized for it, but at the same time, she had to do it to enforce the voice off policy in the classroom and asked me to explain it to my daughter when she came home, which I did. We did not agree with it, but we respected it, since ISD made it clear that the classroom's MAIN language was ASL.
I think this detention policy is just plain silly. I myself don't use my voice when I sign; I just find it too confusing. But I do use my voice when I'm with hearing people who don't know sign. And even if they do know sign, if it's very clear that all they know is to fingerspell (very slowly) and only about 5 signs total, then I will use my voice because I'm concerned about getting information in a timely manner.
Lola LB (lolajl)
Karen, I definitely am with you on not agreeing with that ISD teacher or ISD policy. Here's why:
Behavior modification at the basic level recommends ignoring the behavior that is not desired. To pay attention to it, either positively or negatively, increases the chance it will recur.
Relying on a HOH student to tattle on and punishing your daughter for it creates a divide between the oral and the ASL factions that is unneccessary, unproductive and detrimental to the school community.
It puts a value on voicing that was inappropriate (grossly devalued it, in this situation.)
It increases the chances for bullying to occur in later situations.
In sum, a badly concieved approach that deserves outrage.
Awesome comment, Dianrez! I totally agree with you. Thank you.
Brian L. Mayes
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