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Educating a Deaf Child

I have read several articles about educating deaf children. I am a mom of a twelve-year-old deaf child. My son was diagnosed at the age of three with being deaf. I took him to many different Ears, Nose, and Throat doctors, and they told me that my son would never hear. At the age of four my son was diagnosed with a brain stem glioma, which was cancerous. It was connected to all the audiological nerves that run through the brain stem.

As my son grew older, it was time for him to start school. I enrolled him into a public school, where come to find out he would be mainstreamed by an interpreter. Dakota, went to this school on and off for five years. As a parent I thought that this was the only option that I had at that time for him.

Now Dakota goes to a private deaf school out of Cincinnati Ohio. Now as a mother you have to realize how upset, I am to read some of the articles on the internet, newspapers, and magazines about educating deaf children.

When Dakota was being mainstreamed, this was not an education. It was more like he was being coached. An interpreter is not a teacher. They do not have a teaching degree from a creditable college. All interpreters are there to do is interpret what someone is saying. NOT TEACH! My son is twelve years old and in fifth grade, and cannot even read. This is not only the school's fault but it is also mine for believing what they told me.

I thought to myself, was this the best education that my son could have. So I decided to do some research for an all deaf school. The local public school suggested that I send my son to an overnight program. Dakota would be away from home, Sunday - Friday, and then only home on Saturday. Well I just thought that was awful. Dakota has a lot of medical problems and the school they first agreed to send him was three hours from the Children's Hospital. Dakota needed to be in a day program. Not only with his cancer, but he has other medical problems. I remember, in one of the IEP ( Individual Education Plan) meetings, the special education director suggested that I change Dakota's doctors. This way Dakota would be closer to the doctors at his new school. I told her that there was no way, I was going to up root my son from the doctors that he has known throughout his life.

I remember one day where the school coordinator from Children's Hospital went to stay the day with Dakota. She was a licensed special education teacher for the state we lived in at the time. With the report

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