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A WebQuest for American Sign Language I Designed by Mary D. Moran Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Jericho
High School | Library Flash to the future! You are happily married hearing couple and have just had a beautiful new baby. As is standard practice in New York State, your new baby’s hearing is tested and the initial tests indicated a hearing loss. You are to monitor your child's reactions to sound and have another test performed in a few months. Subsequent tests confirm your child has a hearing loss. You are devastated by the news of your child’s hearing loss. Although you have had NO exposure to any deaf individuals except for representations in the media, you are determined to research thoroughly and provide your baby with the best resources and support available. Little do you know that
you are venturing into a new world and will be exposed to many perspectives
on the “correct” way to raise a deaf child. Your future decisions
about the use of technology, language development, and education will
be based on facts, opinions and your own emotional responses to the
varied perspectives you encounter in your journey. Good luck and remember
to keep an open mind! Early intervention and services are critical to be sure that your deaf baby will grow into a confident, educated adult. You and your spouse need to gather information and determine what types of technology to incorporate into your every day life and what type of educational program best fits your child. As you will discover,
these decisions will have a major impact on your lives, the life of
your child and your family relationships. After you have completed
your research and made decisions about the use of technology and educational
placement, you will EACH need to compose a letter to your child explaining
your decisions. In addition to outlining the final decisions that
were made, be sure to describe the various perspectives you encountered,
the individual struggles you faced and the compromises you needed
to make as a couple. Lastly, as a couple, you will present
and discuss your decision with your parent support group (your class).
As a couple, you will need to interview several different professionals and individuals in the Deaf community to gather information. You are EACH responsible to record the information you find and use to make your decisions. 1. Use the following websites and worksheets to aid in your research.
General
Links The
National Deaf Children's Society Audiologist BEGINNINGS For Parents of Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Cochlear
Implant Information and Resources School Administrator Cleary School for the Deaf (click on History and Curriculum & Methods) Lexington School for the Deaf (Lexington website not working) St. Francis School for the Deaf (click on About Us and Programs) St. Joseph's School for the Deaf (click around whole site) Clarke School for the Deaf - Center for Oral Education (click around whole site) Millneck
School for the Deaf (click around whole site) Hearing Parent of Deaf Child Association
for Parents of Children Who are Deaf & Hard of Hearing Deaf Adult Growing Up Deaf - First Deaf Adult Role Model Deaf/Hard of Hearing Role Model 2. Meet with your spouse and analyze the information you found. This should include comparisons between differing perspectives. Make a list of pros/cons to help you with your final decision. 3. As a couple, determine what technologies your child will use. 4. As a couple, determine the appropriate educational placement for your child. 5. Individually, write
a letter to your child explaining your decision making process and
your final decisions. You should be comfortable enough with your position
to be able to explain it to the other parents in the support groups
(our class). Rubric for Written Letter Exemplary 4 Accomplished
3 Developing 2 Beginning 1 Score Statement
of Position (x2) Rubric for Presentation/Class
Discussion
Exemplary 4 Accomplished
3 Developing 2 Beginning 1 Score Content
Knowledge TOTAL GRADE
: Written
Letter: 60 points Guided
Questions: 16 points Oral Presentation/Discussion:
24 points It should now be clear
that hearing parents of deaf children are bombarded with large amounts
of information from a huge spectrum of beliefs with regard to how
they should raise their child. Not only do hearing parents need to
confront their own feelings about having a child that is different
from themselves and their family, but they also need to make some
critical decisions in a relative short time period. How does this
process help you think about other parent/child relationships? How
do parental decisions made early in a child’s life impact the development
of a child and their relationship with their parents? What decisions
are the responsibilities of the parent? Of the child? Great
thanks to Lisa Paschitti and Denise Ryder! Their guidance, patience
and extensive knowledge made the process of developing this WebQuest
as painless as possible. Thanks to the following
websites that provided examples of WebQuests and rubrics. Images included:
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