The Silent child

[Puffycat]

I’ve just watched this award winning short film and am in bits!
My DH said ‘oh you’ll enjoy it, it’s uplifting ‘
Uplifting my arse!
I’m so cross at the stupid parents. Surely the first thing you do when you have a deaf child is learn sign language!
The bit at the end when Libby signs ‘I love you’ to her therapist finished me off!
I just hope it raised awareness

Am I correct in thinking that Deafness is no longer seen as a disability because of all the assistive technology?

Interesting question - I’m deaf not Deaf but consider it a disability because if my batteries run out I can’t communicate. Even with the best technology things are difficult - eating in restaurants, gigs, socialising. Travelling on public transport.

On the subject of BSL - I’ll find it but on the Limping Chicken blog there was a post about people thinking bsl is “a nice thing to do” and “so worthwhile” taking up places that Deaf people could have used. It’s very interesting and I think not quite right but worth a look.

Russo - Thanks. I mean meeting deaf people in the course of social interactions. I don’t even have any friends with deaf children. Didn’t meet any at uni or ever met any at work nor had any deaf neighbours

I’m asking because i never seem to meet any.
I would be surprised if you've never met anyone who uses a hearing aid. Yes, you may have never met anyone who is profoundly deaf, but I can think of 2-3 dozen that I'm aware of that use a hearing aid (not due to old age) between my friends and the dc's friends.

When I was at school there was a girl in the year below who had a hearing aid. It only was obvious one time I can remember. We'd wondered why, in a school that was very strict about hair being tied back that she always had hers loose and no teachers said anything.
It was really hot one day and she tied her hair back, which when I saw it.

I posted recently on another thread regarding a profoundly deaf young person that I worked with. They were not eligible for cochlear implants due to physiological issues and attended a school for deaf children. The schools imperative was that the kids learn to lip read and have clear speech. This is what they worked on to the exclusion of everything else and signing was not taught or encouraged. That person could understand everyone as long as they had a view of their face and their speech was as clear as everyone else’s. Most people the person interacted with could not tell they were profoundly deaf.

I've seen deaf children sent into mainstream school with little or no support. It's ridiculous the way some parents have to fight for the most basic assistance for their child. A lot of the time the support the child gets totally depends on the Head and the SENCO. In a school with a good head and a good SENCO then there are lots of meetings and planning and they fight to get the best for the child. A poor HT, a busy SENCO, a busier class teacher and a child can be very badly let down.

You're probably right butchy you've much more experience with deaf people than i do, that's just what I've been told by various professionals, and most deaf people i know can speak somewhat, although most choose bsl.

Actually this leads me onto another thought re the film and also as a parent of a deaf child. All the professionals we have seen have been hearing. In the film a hearing woman comes in to teach the deaf child sign language. I think the contribution of deaf adults to advising and educating the parents of Deaf children, and the children themselves can be massive and so helpful. I'm so lucky to know a lot of deaf adults through a deaf family centre near us, and i appreciate their input and help. My daughter will be a deaf adult one day, so the experiences of deaf people are invaluable to me in helping guide the decisions i make for her. Our sensory support service is very pro bsl, but doesn't have any deaf adults working within it. As a parent i would like to see more deaf adults working within sss and advising hearing parents of Deaf kids. Just a thought.

As a parent i would like to see more deaf adults working within sss and advising hearing parents of Deaf kids. I completely agree with that statement @nomorespaghetti

But I also think that in order to do that we need to be lobbying the government to stop cutting funding to services for deaf children, and to work at narrowing the attainment gap between deaf children and their hearing peers.

According to NDCS research
57% of deaf children failed to achieve 5 GCSEs (including English and Maths) at grades A to C in 2013, compared to 30% of other children.
If we want deaf adults working with our deaf children this is what we need to change.

i would like to see more deaf adults working within sss and advising hearing parents of Deaf kids.

@Spag - 100% agree with that. It’s also inspiring for deaf dc to actually see deaf adults in a professional capacity. Although I am not a parent of a deaf dc but have dc with SEN.

So what do you think supporters of the deaf community need to do? Are there any campaigns we can join? Any behaviours we should modify?

The teacher I have for BSL is deaf, totally, which makes it far easier to learn and communicate with her

But what’s the level? Do the “translators” all have level 6 BSL? Are they qualified/registered interpreters? Do they have language modification or CSW qualifications?

yes

Do the “scribes” have recognised notetaking qualifications? - well, they are qca registered scribes, but don't need notetaking qualifications to take note in a school lesson. The students don't, do they!

57% of deaf children failed to achieve 5 GCSEs (including English and Maths) at grades A to C in 2013, compared to 30% of other children.

this is a meaningless statistic, as hearing impairment is frequently part of a syndrome with many disabilities, including learning difficulties, so you need a statistic which compares deaf children within a certain IQ range with other children within the same IQ range

Do the “scribes” have recognised notetaking qualifications? - well, they are qca registered scribes, but don't need notetaking qualifications to take note in a school lesson. The students don't, do they!

The students are not taking notes for other people. The notetakers are! So yes, whilst it's not mandatory, the notetakers, be they manual or electronic, should have a recognised notetaking qualification and have undergone appropriate training. And if they were truly professional, they'd be registered with NRCPD and doing CPD.

That said, I'm impressed by your claim that the "translators" all have level 6 BSL, CSW and language modification qualifications. Since you don't seem to know the appropriate terminology to describe these "translators", I'm a bit sceptical about whether or not you're mistaken. The number of people in the country who have level 6 BSL, a CSW qualification AND language modification qualifications is vanishingly small. It would be stunningly impressive of whatever school you teach at to have managed to snag them all.

That said, I'm impressed by your claim that the "translators" all have level 6 BSL, CSW and language modification qualifications. Since you don't seem to know the appropriate terminology to describe these "translators", I'm a bit sceptical about whether or not you're mistaken. The number of people in the country who have level 6 BSL, a CSW qualification AND language modification qualifications is vanishingly small. It would be stunningly impressive of whatever school you teach at to have managed to snag them all.

well they all do, in every school I've worked in, not just one, but all, as I said, I work in London, maybe the resources are better here, I don't know. I don't think so, but it could be that there are just more units for hearing impaired in main stream schools

The students are not taking notes for other people. The notetakers are! So yes, whilst it's not mandatory, the notetakers, be they manual or electronic, should have a recognised notetaking qualification and have undergone appropriate training. And if they were truly professional, they'd be registered with NRCPD and doing CPD.

maybe they do, although they are general support staff, and support students with 50 or so different conditions, not just hearing impairment, so it would be silly to waste time concentrating on one.

But, no they don't need any qualifications, as I tell them what to write anyway, same as the other students who can hear.

well they all do, in every school I've worked in, not just one, but all, as I said, I work in London, maybe the resources are better here, I don't know. I don't think so, but it could be that there are just more units for hearing impaired in main stream schools

In every school you've ever worked in, the "translators" have the following:

• level 6 BSL
• a CSW qualification
• a language modification qualification?

Sorry, but no. You're overegging the cake now.

Sorry, but no

sorry, but yes

But, no they don't need any qualifications, as I tell them what to write anyway, same as the other students who can hear.

Your ignorance/arrogance is pitiful. I pity the deaf students you come into contact with.

I suggest you read up on the importance of adequately trained notetakers for deaf people.

sorry, but yes

Utter bollocks. You don't even know the correct terminology for "translators"/"scribes".

whats your gripe, exactly? we are talking about the support available to deaf students, I am explaining that the support is excellent where I work.

You don't like that for some reason, goodness knows why?

Does it mess up some political point you are trying to make or something?

I am not ignorant at all, you calling me is just a knee jerk reaction to you not liking what I am telling you. Goodness knows why not.

you would prefer to be spinning some other narrative??? of deaf children being totally neglected up and down the country? why? whats in it for you?

I suggest you read up on the importance of adequately trained notetakers for deaf people.

grow up, stop trying to make yourself sound clever and important, you clearly know nothing about education what so ever. I on the other hand, have had decades of experiences at all levels

As I said, we deal with around 50 different medical conditions in any one school at any one time.

My only observation is that I tried to learn to sign.

I have modern language qualifications and picked up 3 oral languages easily. I could not retain the bsl I learned. I was bottom of the class, didn’t even attend my exam. It was really interesting/weird as I had always found school etc really easy but I just couldn’t do it. I guess I’m not a visual learner.

I have modern language qualifications and picked up 3 oral languages easily. I could not retain the bsl I learned. I was bottom of the class, didn’t even attend my exam. It was really interesting/weird as I had always found school etc really easy but I just couldn’t do it. I guess I’m not a visual learner.

As a very general observation*, I would say that the better one is at spoken languages, the more one tends to struggle with manually coded languages.

*(very, very general observation).