| For parents, it can be a stab in the dark trying to | | | | dorm setting. Then on Friday afternoons, the students |
| decide on which school will be more appropriate for | | | | leave the campus with their parents, to remain at |
| their deaf child. Many parents don't know the | | | | home for the weekend. Then again on Sunday |
| difference between a mainstream program and a | | | | afternoons, the cycle repeats itself and the students |
| residential one. Some so-called educated professionals | | | | arrive back on campus to begin another week of |
| may advise the parents to place their children in a | | | | instruction and learning, along with socializing with their |
| residential program while others may advise just the | | | | deaf friends, and being involved in their over-all school |
| opposite. Often, uninformed parents are faced with this | | | | experience. |
| critical decision of where their deaf son or daughter | | | | Today, mainstream programs appear to be growing in |
| should be educated. And, most of the time, the | | | | popularity all across the United States, while the |
| decision to mainstream, or to use the residential | | | | residential school numbers are in decline. Many parents |
| programs, is made without the input from other | | | | with deaf children are seeking ways for their child to |
| experienced parents with deaf children. Those parents | | | | be educated and socialized right along with the hearing |
| children could offer a wealth of information from their | | | | students, in their attempt to have their child grow up in |
| experiences from both educational settings. | | | | an environment that treats him/her like all children are |
| For those of you who are not aware of the difference | | | | treated. After all, the only difference is one student can |
| in the two programs, you will quickly learn that the | | | | hear while the other can't. With a little assistance |
| difference is immense, and the choice a parent makes | | | | through sign language, the communication barrier is |
| can have a tremendous impact on their child's future | | | | broken and the child advances just like everyone else. |
| success. A mainstream program is a school system | | | | Because so many parents are choosing to |
| where the deaf child is integrated with the entire | | | | mainstream their deaf children, funding for the |
| student body, and not just with his or her own deaf | | | | residential programs is being reduced, forcing many of |
| peers. At times, there may be other deaf students | | | | those schools to close their doors. And on an even |
| within that individual classroom setting, and at other | | | | grander scale, the world basically functions as a |
| classroom settings throughout the day, there may not | | | | "hearing" society. Therefore, many parents want their |
| be. In the mainstream environment the school system | | | | children to be placed in this "hearing culture" from the |
| would provide the additional staff and support personal | | | | very beginning of their educational experience. By the |
| required to help facilitate the communication between | | | | time they graduate high school, they will have adjusted |
| teachers and students. Additionally, the deaf student is | | | | very well to this "hearing world" and the adjustments |
| expected to complete all assignments, including | | | | they have to make will be less strenuous. It is NOT |
| presentations to fellow classmates, with the aid of a | | | | easy being deaf, living in a hearing world. What choices |
| sign language interpreter who will do the verbal from | | | | a parent makes today will affect that child for the rest |
| the student's signing. At times, the deaf students may | | | | of his/her life. |
| receive many additional instruction and personal help | | | | The bottom line is the parents are the final judge in |
| within a self-contained classroom, which is a certified | | | | deciding where their deaf child will attend school: |
| teacher for the deaf, trained to instruct students who | | | | Mainstream or Residential. There are many positive |
| are deaf in all core subject areas. Those students who | | | | advantages of both, as well as negative factors, and |
| do not require the self-contained classroom will | | | | all of these factors must be understood, analyzed and |
| continue to achieve by attending classes throughout | | | | discussed before a final decision is made. If hearing |
| the day with those who are hearing. At the end of the | | | | students were proficient at ASL, that would be a |
| school day, the students would then leave for home, or | | | | tremendous advantage for mainstreaming. The lack of |
| remain on campus to participate in extra-curricular | | | | this skill restricts the deaf child's ability to communicate |
| activities such as sports or clubs. | | | | those who are hearing, thereby restricting one's circle |
| A residential program, on the other hand, is a school | | | | of friends. On a closed campus (residential) for the |
| system that specializes in working exclusively with | | | | deaf, there's 100% communication taking place as |
| deaf children. Here, the students arrive by their own | | | | everyone knows sign language. What's more |
| transportation on a Sunday afternoon at a school | | | | important to a parent and to the child? Should that |
| exclusively for the deaf. After their good-byes to | | | | deaf child be immersed in the hearing world 24/7, or |
| family and friends, they will remain on campus until | | | | should they be taken out of that environment and |
| Friday afternoons. Students are now in a silent world | | | | placed in a deaf environment to achieve their |
| made up with his or her deaf peers. The child's | | | | education? Once they leave school, they walk into a |
| teachers are either deaf, or hard-of-hearing, or may | | | | "hearing world", and that can create a cadre of |
| not have a hearing problem, but communication is done | | | | problems. |
| by utilizing sign language. Students sign to one another, | | | | Being a parent of any child is not an easy task. To be |
| and all activities, including school plays and sports are | | | | the parent of a deaf child can be an even more |
| accomplished very successfully with the use of ASL. | | | | daunting challenge. Every day there are issues that |
| The large majority of teachers is fluent in American | | | | need to be resolved. Knowing where to send that child |
| Sign Language, and is fully certified as classroom | | | | to school is just one of those issues. Parents are |
| teachers. The entire campus becomes a family unit, | | | | certainly under pressure to make the right decisions. |
| almost like an extended family living under the same | | | | Understanding all the aspects of the two choices of |
| roof. There are school functions and activities after | | | | educational settings, and then making the correct |
| school, along with social gatherings. There are dorm | | | | decision is just one more of those major responsibilities |
| rooms for the students to call home, just like a college | | | | of being a parent. |