"explain to my daughter why she started bleeding last night!"
I get the male counterpart of that:) I know a conversation is going to be interesting when it starts with, "I had this date last night ..."
jmcd0264
There could be several reasons for hearing parents of deaf kids not learning ASL. One I think is most prevelant is that they just don't get it that deafness is not just the physical inability to hear, but that it involves a communication problem as well. So, part of it may be ignorance of the real issues involved. Most hearing parents don't have any experience with deafness and know nothing about it and many in the medical field tell them to contact speech therapists, or oral programs or encourage cochlear implants to try to "fix" their child. Aonther reason could be that they don't see learning ASL as a need to do thing. They work too many hours to devote time to learning, or they just flat out don't want to learn. Another reason could be that they are embarrasssed to use signs in public because it does tend to draw some attention...Perhaps the hearing parents think they can't learn ASL...the truth is that they can. They don't have to be interpreters..just learn ASL for communication purposes.
flyinghands
When I worked as an Interpreter for the D/HH at the schools, I would hear that it was hard enough having a deaf child, do we have to learn sign also? Some think it's too hard to learn or their just too busy.
dragonkpr
When my son lost his hearing the first thing I thought was, how am I going to finish potty training him if we can't communicate. True, I was shocked at his hearing loss, but said I would be darned if I wasn't going to be able to communicate with my son. I took sign language classes as soon as I could. There were about 6 mths of a lack in communication and that did drive me nuts. I soon found out that there are a lot of parents who don't learn sign language. I just can't imagine not being able to communicate life to my son. If you can't communicate with your child, how can you parent to the best of your ability. I just don't understand this.
My son had a friend in school who's parent, to this day, haven't learned sign language. The mother is always saying to me, "Oh, I love to watch you and your son sign together." "Your son is so smart and such a well-mannered boy." She was always saying that she needed to learn sign language, but never did. Talk is cheap. She always told me that her son was having discipline problems at home. I got so tired of hearing that every time I saw her, that I had to talk to her frankly. One parent to another. I told her frankly that if she didn't learn sign language she was going to loose her son. He would always love her, or maybe not, because she is his mom, but he would be bitter and talk about his parents never learning to communicate with him for the rest of his life. This kid is such a nice kid and never has had any bad behavior at school or around me ( I can sign to him). He is a good kid, but of course, she puts it off on him as having behavioral problems. He's not the problem, she is.
signmom98
I, like many who have posted here, have seen more than my share of deaf children who are needlessly lacking a language. Children who come into the school system with no communication skills, no basic understanding of life around them. Many not even able to answer a simple yes/no question, or know the names of their parents or siblings. The parent's excuse for their lack of language/communication? They are varied, but the top reasons given are usually, "Oh, he/she understands us at home", " He/she can hear more than he lets on", "We really want him/her to learn to talk", "Our doctor/audiologist/SLP told us not to", "It's hard to learn sign language", "I don't have time to take any classes", the list goes on and on. Then the parents go on to lament about how their child is so far behind...and blame the deafness - or the professionals working with them, never what they themselves are or aren't doing!
codacat
It just really confuses me as to why some hearing parents of deaf children do not learn to communicate with thieir children. What do they expect? That their children will be mind readers?
A happy has a happy home, and a happy home is born out of good communication; simple as that.
- About Visitor
My comment also involves the parents of deaf individuals never learning sign language. It is unbelievable to me! Growing up my best friend had a progressive hearing loss and wanted to learn sign language. Her parents wouldn't hear of it! They were too embarrassed and told her she could hear "well enough" and needed to speak...and that sign language would only cause her to weaken her vocal skills. Together we began sign classes on the sly. Of course, we eventually got caught and she was so severely punished that she never learned another sign. Ironically, I continued studying and became an interpreter.
