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16. A Normal Pair of Boys
- Gallaudet University Press
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN A NormaL Pair ofBOyd ~ Today as I write, our little boys are growing as all children must do. My role in my grandsons' childhood is certainly different from my role in their mother's life. I am emotionally free from all the baggage I carried around when I was "the hearing mother of a deaf child." I am able to enjoy my grandsons in the same way as any other grandmother. I firmly believe it is my job to spoil and dote on them, and I perform to the best of my ability. The only difference between me and many other grandparents of deaf children is that I'm more informed about deafness. I occasionally implement speech therapy methods -the same methods I learned at Central Institute for the Deaf-just because I want to see their response. They are interested, but only to a point. If they want to speak, they will, but it's fine with me if they don't. They are certainly getting a good education, so I know they will have the means with which to make the choice. Tyler started school at Snow Heights Elementary when he turned three. He looks so cute getting on the bus every morning. I often drive over in the morning so that I can put him on the bus myself. It always reminds me of helping his mother onto a bus so many years ago. The other little kids on the bus, all boys, seem pleased that we sign and talk to them. Tyler and his friends saw fit to shorten my name, I39 A Normal Pair of Boys which is now "Tyler's Granny B" or just the sign for "B" for short. One morning Austin insisted on walking Tyler out to the bus with me. One of the boys asked me why I signed to Austin. When I told the boys that Tyler's brother is deaf, the boy signed "Wow!" I further impressed him by signing, "Mother, Father Deaf." I just couldn't resist. Mrs. Suzanne Nichol, the school principal, puts a tremendous amount of effort into the school and everyone adores her. She attends every function that the school hosts for its deaf students, and is genuinely interested in the success of both her hearing and her deaf students. Snow Heights has a lot of parent-teacher involvement, and the classes are small. The school offers sign language classes to the entire school, and seventy percent of the hearing kids take the classes. Tyler's teacher is Kathy Glenn. She laid the groundwork for reading the first year Tyler was in her class. The second year, Tyler was able to recognize many words and read simple sentences. She made learning fun, and Tyler cried when he found out he had to change teachers for his third year of school. I was so amused to find out that Kathy Glenn studied at CID more than twenty-five years ago and has actually seen the training video Alandra and I filmed. Funny, how very small the Deafworld really is and how closely its people are knit. When we discovered the connection, we laughed at my 70s hairdo and Landy's unruly, curly hair. Today, both of us agree that you can gain more ground in shorter time by using total communication rather than strict oralism. Kathy was planning to retire after Tyler started his third year, but Alandra persuaded her to stay and teach Austin. [3.80.131.164] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 11:43 GMT) A Normal Pair ofBoys Austin is our silent one. He seems to have very little usable hearing and I think that is why he makes very little sound even when he is playing or crying. Chad and Alandra occasionally ask me to take Austin to his early intervention class. The class trains children to listen for sound and respond when they hear something. Dianne Fisher teaches the class, and she persists in her efforts to get Austin to listen. Yet he often refuses to wear his hearing aids, even for class. When he does wear them, the batteries are often dead. Alandra and Chad can't hear the device's high-pitched whistle of alert, so they have to take the batteries out to test them. They often forget to do this-hearing aids are just not a priority in their routine. Alandra shudders as she tells me that batteries would run their lives if she let...