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Letter Roberts School Parents Support Total Communication The following letter is a modified version of a paper originally submitted as a manuscript for publication. Reviewers concurred that it was not appropriate as a professional article and it was suggested that the author consider submitting the material in the form of a letter to the editor . Responses to this letter are strongly encouraged .—Donald F. Moores, Editor Inception of the Robarts School Parents Association (RSPA) took place in 1984, when the Ontario Ministry of Education proposed a transfer of the secondary school component from the Robarts School, London, Ontario, to the E. C. Drury School in Milton, Ontario. Ninetyeight percent of the parents of students at the Robarts School joined forces, formed an association (a charter member of the Deaf Children's Society of Ontario), and demanded that our programs at the Robarts School, London, remain intact. The Robarts School has offered a total communication program since the late 1970s. During the 1990-91 school year, the Ministry of Education implemented use of American Sign Language and Signed English in place of Signing Exact English. The great majority of parents at the Robarts School requested reestablishment of the total communication program at our school. This request was based on direct communication with parents of children attending the school. During January 1992, a questionnaire was circulated by the RSPA to all 105 families with children attending Robarts asking them which communication method would most benefit their child. Eighty-seven questionnaires (83%) were completed and returned. They showed that, of the responding families, 79 (or 91%) favored manually coded English, seven families (8%) favored ASL, and one family (1%) was undecided. (Of the 79 families favoring manually coded English , 76% requested Signing Exact English [SEE] and 24% preferred Signed English .) Synopses of the comments from the survey follow: • ASL should be a tool of communication both educationally and socially. • School curriculum should include a credit in Deaf culture. • English is our mother tongue and should be the primary language of instruction . • A total communication program will meet our children's needs. • Signing Exact English provides an excellent written English base. • Our goal is to raise an independent deaf child; English, lipreading, and auditory skills need to be developed to their potential; as an adult it would be both unrealistic and impossible for someone to hire an interpreter all the time. The first edition of the Ontario Bilingual /Bicultural Deaf Education Newsletter , published in February 1992, criticized the current educational system and the academic levels achieved by graduates. These unsubstantiated criticisms alarmed parents and students alike at the Robarts School. The 1988-91 Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) results achieved by Robarts graduates for language, mathematics , and reading comprehension involved all 39 Robarts graduates who were tested on the SAT as scored independently by the Center for Assessment and Demographic Studies (CADS) at GaIlaudet University. The following results of the SAT scores over the past four years (1988-91) are interesting , informative, and enlightening. (It is imperative to note that 18 of the 39 graduates [46%] were multihandicapped and that after graduation 79% continued with postsecondary education or were competitively employed.): • Math comprehension: 18 students scored above grade 9; nine of those students scored in the postsecondary school area. • Reading comprehension: 12 students scored at grade 9 or better; three of these scored in the postsecondary school category. • Language comprehension: six students scored at grade 9 or better; two of these had scores at the postsecondary level. These results speak for themselves. An English-based sign system prepares deaf children to take their rightful place as contributing members of society, which, in turn, leads to high self-esteem and personal independence, accomplishments all parents want their children to achieve. In April 1992, the Ontario Ministry of Education provided an ASL/ESL (English as a Second Language) workshop with presenters Dr. Carol Erting and Dr. Robert Johnson followed by a total communication workshop in June hosted jointly by the Robarts School Parents Association and the Robarts School. Dr. Barbara Leutke-Stahlman and Dr. David Stewart were the presenters. After both workshops, the RSPA sent a follow-up questionnaire again to all parents of students attending the...

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