Pre-school with an interpreter?

[Lucky Day]

We've been having our son go to speech 4 times a week at a school where he can't go to school because he is too young. Then 2x a week I take him to a VE pre-K and he does PE or plays outside with the other kids.
This VE Pre-K has a CODA and great teachers, but the reason that most kids are there is that they have developmental or behavioral issues. So we're thinking of moving our son to a pre-school program with developmentally normal kids with an interpreter.

He's going to be 4 this month and he's tested at 5.5 years old in tests normed for hearing children. So having him spend the majority of his socialization time with kids who are "immature" doesn't make sense. But then, those kids can mostly talk, so there is that.

We have an oral pre-k in town but he has made so much "academic" progress because of the sign language that we have embraced. We want him to learn to talk, and that's why he has speech 5 days a week. I wish the oral pre-k would let him come with an interpreter. He could build from his current language. He has 2000+ signs. And he voices really well too. But because we won't give up the sign, he can't go.

[Tami Hossler]

When my daughter was young enough to attend preschool, I drove an hour everyday for her to attend a preschool that was for Deaf and HH children. I knew she needed language models and the socialization experience with her peers. The school had two programs...one oral only and the other TC (at the time was Signing Exact English and talking at the same time.). At the time I didn't know that much.

What I have learned since then is that there are two languages ASL and English. Signing Exact English is a coded system and not a language. It is visually confusing for deaf children. On top of that signing and talking at the same time is like mixing two different languages at the same time. One eventually takes a dominant role. And when a hearing person signs and talks at the same time, English takes over and signs are dropped leaving the deaf person baffled at what is being said.

Luckily, when it was time for her to enter school, we were able to move three hours so she could attend a the Indiana School for the Deaf which is a Bilingual/Bicultural School. This simply means that the language of instruction is ASL and English is taught as a second language. Boy once my daughter entered school there, here language skyrocketed. She had peers, role models and teachers who gave her unlimited access to ASL.

By the time she graduated, she passed the ISTEP graduation exam (the state test that all hearing and deaf students must pass to get their diploma) on her first try with flying colors. I would say she is very bilingual and through this has become very self confident and independent as a Deaf person.

So I guess....moving can sometime be a great option to get your child into a good school or preschool. Kendall is a good school. Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick is another good school and has plenty of great resources for parents.

Hope this helps...

[Lucky Day]

That would be frustrating too. We're hoping to move to DC in 18 months and I hope we won't have too hard a problem finding a TC school. I know Fairfax county has 1 of each, oral, ASL and TC. Do you know what options the Kendall school offers?

Also, if you move to a place that has several options, do you have to go with the one you are districted for or do you get to choose?

I was really wanting to move to Maryland where there is a deaf congregation of my church. But I don't want to get stuck in the wrong district. My dad lives in Fairfax County so it would be more familiar to me to move there and I know they have all 3 kinds of schools there.

Thank you for inspiring me to more questions.

[Miss Kat's Mom]

We have the same problem but in reverse! We have our daughter at ASL school, but we want to add spoken language and can't find the right way to do it.