Two weeks ago we visited Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral Deaf School, and last week we went to the California School for the Deaf in Fremont. Both of these schools had really friendly staff, nice kids, and classrooms full of fun stuff. The schools have completely different target audiences, and very different approaches.
The Oral School, Jean Weingarten, serves primarily birth to age 5, and aims to mainstream kids by first grade. They are mostly a toddler and preschool program, and their older students were more special needs or late-diagnosed kids. The classes there were all really small, and I can understand when you are trying to group people by language skill/age/developmental level you end up with small Groups. The classrooms were small, too, so I guess it all works out. The teachers there are all Teachers of the Deaf, and I saw lots of positive, encouraging interactions with the students. I got to see the speech/listening therapy rooms, which looked fun, but no one was using them when we were there. We got to meet some parents in their Family Center, but one thing we didn't see was the toddler groups in action. There were some babies/toddlers in high chairs having snack, but I guess I kind of missed the explanation on what group they were part of. The toddler area looked like a very well- stocked playroom, and was large, but still cozy. I think I need to see kids who are the same age as Peter will be using the area before I have a complete opinion. My Early Start teacher and I spoke with the head of the school, and she explained how they didn't teach ASL, but that they often used it as a bridge for kids when they got cochlear implants. She signed to Peter several times, and he liked the attention. I don't think that I will be driving the hour trip up there until Peter can actually hear something, but I may enroll him if/when he gets his bionic ears. I need to see the toddler group in the classroom before I make any decisions, though.
The California School for the Deaf used to be on the UC Berkeley campus. They had to move, and got a huge, beautiful campus right across from a huge, beautiful park in Fremont. They serve about 500 students, from age 3-high school graduation. They have larger groups of kids in large light, airy rooms. They had amazing art and projects all over the school. The people we talked to were all wonderful, and all conversations were interpreted in ASL. Peter loved it. All the students seemed engaged and interested. It felt good to be there. I am going to start going to ASL story time once a month, as that is open to the public, as well as their weekly deaf/hoh baby playgroup. I know it is a bit of a drive, but I think giving Peter access to as much language as possible, and peers, is important. Maybe Peter won't care that the other babies are deaf, too, but as he becomes more self aware he might. I also might meet parents who share more of my questions than the parents in the Santa Cruz Early Start play group, where Peter is the only deaf baby attending. My goal is to give Peter a positive early experience with ASL, and hopefully, even if he has Bionic ears, he will continue with it. I hope he doesn't HAVE to attend CSD when he's older, but if did have to or if he chose to, I know he would get a good education there.
I am really lucky to have these two great schools within an hour from my house!
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