As a parent of a deaf child, I ask all of you who plan to work with deaf children to keep an open mind and find what works for each individual child. There is no cookie cutter answer to teaching a deaf child and it is important to work as a team with the parents and other professionals to benefit each individual child.
I found this link to a youtube video from a deaf adult talking about educating deaf children. I cannot say it any better myself. If you ever feel like working with deaf children is a job, and not a passion anymore. Please find a new profession.
http://youtu.be/L0rFDEOS1CM
Dang right Renee!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comment Renee. Really, I wish people had more guts to recognize that what they are doing is no longer their passion and make a change. When folks stay miserable, they tend to pass that misery along and it makes for miserable people. Thank you for your post!
ReplyDeleteI agree! And i think that goes with any job that deals with children. If helping children is just a job to you then you need to step aside and let those who truly want to make a difference in the child's life.
ReplyDeleteRenee I agree! I'm also glad that you made this statement. I believe that there are some teachers in the profession (not deaf/hh but in city and county schools) that have become tired of their profession. It means a lot hearing that coming from someone who has experienced this first hand.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Sometimes I feel as if teachers get stuck with decisions that parents made for their deaf child, and they may not agree with these. These educators should still try to help the child! They're there to support and help the child excel, no matter what environment they have been placed in. Teachers shouldn't try to make decisions for the child, that is the parents job. The teachers can educate the parents about other options, but still support and teach the child to their optimal ability in the mean time.
ReplyDeleteThis is really well said Renee and that by you saying this it may resonate a little more then someone without the first hand experience. Teaching should first and foremost be about helping the children learn and I think some teachers forget that after X amount of years teaching.
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