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Deaf Culture (8)

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by Jennifer Gonzales
March 8 2005

Growing up Deaf

    The topic I choose for my research paper was deaf children. I have always wanted to be a teacher or go into a field working with children such as social work. By doing research on deaf children growing up and what types of schools they go to and I think  would help me prepare for the future. Because you never know who you can meet or have in a class room.

    I looked at different studies done on different children in various books. One that stood out to me the most was a girl named Megan. She was diagnosed at two years old having severe to profound sensor neural hearing. Her parents took classes to teach their daughter ASL. Both parents really dedicated but often found themselves worn out. It takes a lot of work to raise a deaf child. But worth it. When Megan was born her mother and father knew something was wrong. She would react to a sound and say a effortless word such as “up”. Her mother and father also had another child. A son named Sean and he was also born deaf. Herself and her brother are considered “mainstream” (Frazier-Maizwald 1999).

    There are different types of schools for children that are deaf such as: Residential schools: where children are sent away to a type of boarding school with their needs in mind. Made especially for deaf children. Day schools: Is a school that has faculty with the training and education to communicate and educate deaf children (Schildroth, Arthur 1986).  Early Intervention & Preschool Programs: Usually are programs that start from a early age even at birth to four years old.  Mainstreaming is where the deaf children go to the same classes as hearing students. But also go to some special education classes as well. And Inclusion is where children are fully involved in all areas of public education. And the last form of school is Home School: Is where the parents have one on one interaction with their children. They do so by observing their children’s needs and teaching and developing appropriate curriculum for their children. Sometimes the parents of the children will even hire someone to assist them in teaching (Zapien, Cheryl 1998).

    I also was interested in the resources California and other states had to offer. There are 4 schools that I found for K-12 students in California for deaf children. The four are California School for the Deaf both in Riverside and Fremont. In Los Angeles there is the John Tracy clinic, and last is the Oralingua school for the hearing impaired located in Whittier. For higher education in California there is about 19 schools and at this time might even be more that I found making California the largest number in the country. The one school that had the highest percentage of students that are either deaf or hearing impaired was  school called California State University Northridge. (Howard College, 2000)

There are so many resources out there these days for deaf children and the community itself. I did a lot of research in books and on the internet. From taking this class I have learned so much it opened my eyes and it gives me more options and ways to communicate with other people in everyday life. I would recommend this class to everyone.

Work Cited

1.    Frazier-Maizwald, Virginia and Williams, Lenore (1999) Keys to Raising a Deaf Child.  New York: Barron’s.

2.    Schildroth, Arthur. (1986). Residential Schools for deaf students: A     decade review. In  A.Schildroth & M.Karchmer (Eds.) Deaf Children     in America (pp. 83-    104). College hill press, San Diego, California.

3.    http://www.howardcollege.edu/library/deafsch.htm February 29, 2000

4.    Zapien, Cheryl. (1998)"Options in Deaf Education - History,     Methodologies, and Strategies for Surviving the System"
March 6 2005. http://www.deaflinx.com/options_place.html

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