Losing My Position

I won't go into all the details - I've run this decision through my own head so many times that it just exhausts me. I got official notice this year that they will be reducing my hours to part time. How 28 students spread out over 7 schools counts as part time is beyond me. At the end of it all, I am just so pissed off that nobody understands how hearing loss can affect students in the classroom. Of the 28 I work with, only 10 are direct intervention students. Other students are ones I make sure accommodations are in place for (whether through consult minutes or 504 plans). According to the district higher-ups, those other 18 students just don't matter. If they're not getting direct services, then they shouldn't need any additional support. They will go through the RtI process and be "fixed" that way - they don't need closed captioning, CART services, interpreters, FM systems, etc. They can go through RtI until they reach 5th grade and everybody is scratching their heads about why it's not working. Argh. It frustrates me the ignorance that abounds, and then they want to get rid of the one person on staff who is an expert in all this.

~Anonymous

Creepy, Inappropriate Relationship Between Interpreter and Student

I don't think it is cute or funny when a deaf student calls his interpreter "mommy". I wish the interpreter would listen to me and stop allowing this to continue. The interpreter often acts like a mother to the child with the hugging, caressing, and calling her student "my baby".  I find it disturbing and creepy, but the interpreter thinks it is harmless. Never mind that the child is in 2nd grade.

Let's see what the student's real mother has to say about this.

~Mr. P

Come On! Send Us More Stories!

Come on, everyone!!! I know that many of you have juicy confessions and secrets to share! Your secret is safe with us, we promise.

Her Hearing Aid Is Not Working, By the Way

I came in to check on a hard of hearing student in class. She, along with the other students, sat quietly and listened to the teacher go over some directions.

I knew something was off. She seem to be having a lot of trouble understanding what was being said.

One of the other teachers came up to me and said, "Oh, she said that her hearing aid is not working."

I asked her when she first told them this.

"Um, a few days ago."

What?! And you are just NOW telling me this?!

I spoke to the poor kid about her hearing aid. She said that she changed the batteries and that it still did not seem to be working well. I noticed some feedback noises. She said it went on and off throughout the day.

I wrote an email and note to her mother to get her hearing aid checked out as soon as she can. I told the student that she can take off her hearing aid or keep it on, whatever is most comfortable for her. She said that she preferred to take off her hearing aid and not wear it, but was afraid that she might get in trouble if she did. Aaw. : ( I realized then and there, that I need to talk to the teachers more about this student--what she can or cannot do, and talk with the student more about speaking up for herself.

I wanted to scream at the teachers for not letting me know about this problem. They have my email and phone number. Why the hell did they wait until I come by after a three days!!!

~Frustrated D/HH Ed. Consultant

Please Don't Correct My Speech

I know you are a speech teacher and it is your job to help students improve their speech or work on their articulation, but please don't correct me as I am talking to you. I am not one of your students. I realize that my speech is not perfect, but I am deaf, so cut me some slack. And please do not make comments about my speech. Most people with speech disorders or speech impediments are super aware of their speech. I don't need a reminder about how my speech sounds interesting or how good my speech sounds despite that fact that I am deaf.

~Ms. S

Yes, She Signs All of the Time at Home! (Total BS)

I asked a parent, "Do you sign with her at home? Does she sign much at home?"

She replied, "Yes, she signs all of the time! She loves signing."

I asked her to provide me some examples of how they sign at home.

She responded, "She likes to use the sign "more" and I'll use a lot of "stop" and "no" (laughing). She is teaching her brother the sign "more"."

Her signing extraordinaire of a daughter is ten years years old. She had a classroom interpreter for several years. Yet she does not sign fluently, and she never uses signs on her own at school. You have to really make her do it, if you wanted her to sign. Might I add that she has a slight-mild hearing loss. She prefers to talk and listen. Yet, mom wants her to sign fluently.

It is ridiculous.

She clearly does not sign "all of the time" at home if she is only using one or two signs at a time. That would be like saying, "Yes, my daughter speaks English all of the time at home! She loves talking. She likes to say "more" and I will often tell her "Stop!" and "No" (laughing)."

If you want your daughter to sign fluently, you need to sign fluently yourself.

New Sister Site for Parents!

Just created a new blog for parents of deaf and hard of hearing children:

Parents of Deaf & HOH Children Sound Off!

It does not have any posts as of yet. But, if you know of any parents out there that would like to contribute to the site, please direct them to there! They can email their "Sound offs" to:

dhhsoundoffs@yahoo.com.

Thanks so much to those who have contributed to this site so far. I love them! Keep them coming!

MOTHER F*#ker!!!

Mother F*#ker!  Fu*k! Sh#t!! Bitch ass stupid no good mother-fu#&ing ass*#les!!!  Go to fu#kin hell why don't ya?!

<sigh>

~ Pissed Off Student Teacher

Cochlear Implants Freak Me Out

I do not have anything against parents implanting their children. I really do not. But, for some reason cochlear implants make me feel uneasy. Maybe it's because I have not been around enough people with CIs long enough and I am just getting used to the idea of them. Maybe because it has to do with the surgery aspect. I hate the thought of getting surgery and will do anything I can to avoid it. The fact that part of it attaches itself to the head through a magnet kind of creeps me out, too. But, then again I have a weird phobia of magnets.

I feel bad that I feel this way, especially since I work with implanted children on a daily basis during the week. I love them, and they all seem to be doing really well. I would never tell anyone how I really feel.

But, that's just me.

Checking Hearing Aids = A Nightmare!!

Troubleshooting FM receivers and transmitters only, I can do that. When student's personal hearing aids enter the equation, it drives me crazy!! There are so many other variables all of a sudden.

Today I went to the Middle School. Our district is near Chicago, so we had a half day. I went in anyway, figuring I could meet with at least some of my students. WRONG! I spent the whole half day negotiating with this hearing aid! The student complaint was, "it sounds fuzzy and everyone else can hear it, too." Turns out the kid hasn't even been using his FM for the past 4 DAYS because of this fuzz. Also, I loooove interrogating students about issues they are having with their FMs or with a class. I know it is not their fault, and they truly are trying their best, but sometimes it just gets my gears going that they can't tell any other teacher besides myself that they're having a problem. Although I know that the majority of Gen Ed teachers don't know anything about FM equipment either, they can at least email me so I know there's a problem! That way it gets addressed maybe the same day - certainly not 4 DAYS LATER!! Ugh.

Anyway. I am sitting there with this hearing aid. I can hear the fuzz, so I know there's a problem. (I have had students have "phantom" noises in their hearing aids. I wasted an entire month two years ago trying to figure out a noise that just didn't exist!) The student and I sit for 30 minutes trying different combinations. His hearing aid battery door, the FM battery door+boot, with FM receiver clipped on, with FM receiver off, etc. In the meantime, his battery continues to read a strong 100%. Eventually we come to the conclusion he needs a new battery door+boot. Loaner equipment is at another location, so I go out. Clean off my car, drive on crappy roads, and pick up the equipment. Bring it back to the school after I have replaced the door+boot. Student says, "it just keeps turning off on me." AAAAAAGH!! WHAT?! As a last ditch resort, I put a new battery in (the other one is still reading 100% when tested). Now I am hearing fuzz only when the FM receiver is clipped on. Bring it to the student to explain we need a new FM receiver. He says, "it sounds fine. I don't hear anything."

I almost screamed! It is the last period of this half day, so there is no more time left to figure this out. Did the new battery fix it? (Even though the old battery was 100%?) Will I need to run for more loaner equipment? Will this student tell his Gen Ed teachers if he has the fuzz issue again, or will it wait until next time I can schedule time for him?

Can't Believe the Atrocious Smells!!!

The farts that come out of these little kindergartners bodies are atrocious!! What in the hell do they eat for breakfast?!! I almost passed out during story time today. Unfortunately, I was on the ground with the little ones, so it was as if I was blanketed in the horrible smell. It smelled like something had died and was rotting away in a bucket of sewage. The interpreter was lucky that she was sitting on a chair, even though she was also affected by the smell. She had trouble interpreting the story. Some of the kids were pinching their noses and the few students who knew sign language kept signing 'fart' and 'poop'. The interpreter started laughing. I had to really try to keep from laughing. Finally, I just stopped in the middle of the story and told them that we were going to do another activity. Then I checked with every student to make sure they were not having any stomach problems or bathroom issues.

People, if you want to work in a kindergarten classroom of 25 or more crammed into a small room ---be prepared to encounter various awful smells---not just farts. I can't stand how the rooms smells at the end of the day: like a mixture of sweat, dirt, candy, urine, and stale milk.

I wish I could wear a gas mask without offending anyone.

I know this is not really deaf education related. But, I feel that I have to tell somebody other than the people I work with and wonder if anyone else encounter the same problems.


~ Mrs. G

I Work With a Bunch of Idiots

Yo, peeps.  I’m a terp with an axe to grind: namely, the educational system is failing our kids and my job is f-ing impossible.  Yup.  Plus, I work with a bunch of idiots.  Who doesn’t, right?  Mine are the helper-model, low-skilled, old “terps” who do not have any college education in interpreting (and some no college classes ever, not one, not ONE).  Forget RID certification, or EIPA 4.0 or above!  Ha! What, qualifications?  What are those for?  Yet, with this rag-tag crew, and a bunch of burned out mainstream teachers, and a burned out/crazy (and not the fun kind of crazy, the scary kind of crazy) DHH teacher, we are supposed to educate some of the brightest and best little DHH children you could ever meet. 

HA!

If your kid is deaf and in the mainstream, you should be scared. 

Since life doesn’t make sense, I got a team interpreter recently because one of my five DHH kids (yes, five in one mainstream class, with different language needs) is having “behavior issues.”  One, I love how the educational system treats our kids like lab rats - the “behavior issue” is that she is a teenager and would rather talk about glitter nail polish and boys than actually concentrate on science.  Big shock.  It’s typical human development.  Plus, there are at least five kids in that class much worse than she is.  Because she is D/HH though (Deaf or Hard of Hearing), the mainstream teacher went to Mr. C, our DHH teacher, about this behavior problem.  Bada bing, bada boom, we have another terp.

The other terp set up with Mr. C and our mainstream teacher that she would sit in the back of the room with her (in the very last desk) and interpret so that little H would not be a distraction to the other students.  I hope the terp has some breath mints handy, because she is sitting in the kid’s f-ing lap.  It’s such an invasion of space it is ridiculous. 

Now, here comes two, ready?  WHAT IS THIS TEACHING THE DHH KIDS, THE HEARING KIDS, AND THE CLASSROOM TEACHER ABOUT THE ROLE OF AN INTERPRETER?!?!?!

To me, it looks like interpreter/babysitter.  The last time I checked, best practice in the field of educational interpreting (especially at the secondary level) was to not oppress the kids.  But, you know, they’re DHH.  They’re “special.”  Rather than let the DHH kid play the same rule-breaking/getting caught game as the other kids in the class,  she is relegated to the back corner with her own personal warden.  I can only scream when I think of the impact to her socio-emotional development.  Shoot me now!  They NEED peer interaction, especially kids as emotionally stunted as our little DHH darlings.  It’s not their fault, just lack of exposure to world knowledge, and lack of a critical mass of signing peers.  Now that they actually have peers to pick from (which is the cool part about having five DHH kids in one class), they are getting the kind of smack-down hearing students never get.

Why do we let this happen?

Anyone reading this blog knows that DHH kids are just as capable as anyone else, but fall through the cracks a whole lot more.

It’s frustrating.

Sigh.