Sunday, August 2, 2009

For those who choose to remain misinformed.

http://www.bccsd.50megs.com/about_1.html

Excerpts from the experts:

3. Informed Information/Decision (i.e. many new parents of deaf children are not aware of potential risks/side effects of Auditory Verbal Therapy(AVT) programs until their children experience mental health and language problems in their later life. There is no checklist for parents of deaf children to identify mismatched communication and acting-out behaviours.)
Fact: No information regarding the harmful effects of AVT and preventative mental health information is available to new parents of deaf children until their children reach their teen years and begin to experience difficulties. Many new parents of deaf children and professionals in the field of the health and education of deaf people are not informed of a full spectrum of information. Many are still not aware of (or avoid learning about) the realities, possibilities and accomplishments of Deaf people. They fear losing their jobs to Deaf people or losing their children to the Deaf community.
4. Misleading Information about implications of sign language (i.e. speech, language and intelligence development are compromised by learning/using sign language)
Fact: Parents of deaf children are often not aware that there is no research or empirical studies to support this perception for those parents of deaf children who choose to pursue to both AVT and ASL services. In fact, research studies show that using sign language greatly benefits deaf children's linguistic, speech, intelligence and academic performance.

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