School Program for Deaf Children, Essay Example

New students should be identified and chosen first on the degree of difficulty they have interacting in public schools. Referrals can be made through doctors, counselors, and current families. Parents should be supported with an education program for them that will help the parents to understand difficulties their children face now and in the future and teach them how to support their children. Sign language will be the primary communication system with verbal speaking encouraged secondary. There will be a boarding option for students who may benefit from an all-inclusive setting. Other students may commute by bus. Ideally government grants, private donor funding, and insurance will offset a large amount of cost, keeping out-of-pocket tuition costs low for families.

IDEA refers to all laws regarding public education for children with disabilities and requires early hearing loss tests for all school-age children and that tests are given in sign language or a child’s native language. LRE stands for Least Restrictive Environment and means deaf children should be placed in a the closest program to their home that best meets their specific learning needs. ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Deaf people face a unique communication barrier that can isolate them entirely at times. While language minorities can learn another language, sign language is all that is possible for deaf people.

ASL has rules in phonology, morphology, syntax, and use of classifiers, like any other language. You could say it is based on the French language, since the first formal sign language system was developed and taught in France, however there are many different origins and systems. Left hemisphere brain damage can show problems in communicating with sign language. Spoken language is also affected with left hemisphere damage, as opposed to right.

Although I have been in the deaf community for awhile, this class taught me many new things. The most interesting would have to be information about the public education system and the difficulty deaf students went through back in the day. Based on information learned in class, it is clear public education is still nowhere near the level provided at dedicated hearing schools and much still needs to be done for deaf students in public schools. Overall, this was a very useful class and I am so glad I decided to take it.