Implants are replacing sign language

From: Seattle Post Intelligencer, WA - Apr 8, 2003

Devices can help hearing-impaired students, but not all favor them

Tuesday, April 8, 2003

By LA MONICA EVERETT-HAYNES
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The night before Karol Danielsson's deaf son would have a cochlear implant surgically inserted in his inner ear, she and her husband wrote a letter to the then 2-year-old boy.

John, now 4, won't be able to open it until his 16th birthday.

The Seattle couple wrote the letter because they knew the surgery would be life-changing, no matter what the outcome. "This was a most difficult decision your father and I made, but we feel that, by doing this, we were just opening doors for you," they said.

Today, John can hear clearly and speaks distinctly.

Because more parents like the Danielssons are opting for the cochlear implant, school districts -- such as the Seattle, Highline and Puyallup districts -- have begun modifying programs that serve deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

Districts have offered fewer traditional sign language classes to students with cochlear implants because of a high interest in speech-based courses.

The cochlear implant includes a speech processor that is attached to the outside of the ear. The implant itself is planted deep inside the inner ear to bypass damaged nerves, but it doesn't amplify sound. It converts audio vibes into electric pulses, then zips those waves directly to the brain.

More parents want auditory-oral-based programs, said Michelle Corker-Curry, Seattle Public Schools' special education director. Some say the cochlear implant, which was first implanted in 1978 by an Australian doctor, is a godsend; others say it is ruining the foundation of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community's culture.

More than 60,000 people across the world have had the operation.

Seattle schools serve nearly 100 deaf and hard-of-hearing students, nine of whom have cochlear implants. Two more students are awaiting surgery.

The district must close one classroom at View Ridge Elementary School -- kindergarten through second-grade -- this fall, partially because of the device, Corker-Curry said. District administrators chose to close the class because not a single parent signed up for it, she said.

A few students will move to The Optional Program at Seward (TOPS), which is considered to have a more speech-based curriculum even though it also incorporates sign language, she said.

At a recent town hall meeting to discuss the View Ridge classroom's closure, several parents backed its teacher, Gary Smith, and voiced their frustrations over him having to get another Seattle school district teaching position.

Others were upset that auditory-oral programs were preferred over American Sign Language.

Terry Dockter, who is deaf, said he never wants to see the day when the spoken word is chosen over sign language.

"In my family, ASL has been passed on generation to generation. There is 150 years of deafness in my family," Dockter said through an ASL interpreter. His wife, son and parents are deaf.

"It's culturally appropriate, and I don't want to see our language lost."

But nothing else can be done where the interest is lacking, Corker-Curry said.

Donna Ruble's 8-year-old son, Joseph Cancela, is deaf and blind. Administrators say it is time to Joseph to enter the third grade, but Ruble said she doesn't want him in a classroom with third- through fifth-graders.

She said his communication skills are lacking and a mainstream classroom wouldn't suit his needs.

"Some of these teachers come in here and say: 'I'll fix it. I'll make him talk,' " Ruble said.

Joseph can understand more than 50 signs, including coat, bedtime and bath time, car, candy and food, but he can't speak.

"I know I can't expect him to be here (in Gary Smith's classroom) until he's 18, but this has been really good for him. This is an exceptional program."

Meg Johnson, one of Joseph's teachers, believes otherwise.

"I don't think Joseph will lose anything from this change," said Johnson, an instructional assistant.

"This has nothing to do with the program. It depends on his personal growth," Johnson said. "Sometimes change is good, and sometimes change is exactly what's needed."

The Highline and Puyallup school districts have not yet enrolled more students with cochlear implants, but more parents are beginning to request speech over sign language, district officials said.

The Highline School District is in the process of coordinating training with Virginia Mason and the Children's Hospital.

The Puyallup School District is also developing seminars for its educators and administrators this year to help them learn about the deaf culture and the effect cochlear implants will have over the community, said Tony Apostle, Puyallup School District spokesman.

The district is serving 43 deaf and hard-of-hearing students from preschool to ninth grade this year.

"We're trying to increase sensitivity among the deaf population and the sensitivity begins with the integration of those students into classrooms with (hearing) students," Apostle said.

Local educational centers that serve deaf students are also seeing more interest in speech-based programs.

Nearly half of the 48 students at the Listen and Talk center in Bothell have cochlear implants; the center's program that revolves around speech, not sign.

Three more children are candidates, said Maura Berndsen, the educational director.

"Our goal is to have children entering neighborhood schools with a high independency," Berndsen said. "The social benefits are that you see these children talking to other children. They're learning to play, negotiate, speak up for themselves and have their needs met."

P-I reporter La Monica Everett-Haynes can be reached at 206-448-8320 or lamonicaeverett-haynes@seattlepi.com

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