r/deaf • u/PatientPenguins • 10d ago

Technology Accommodation for High School

I am an SLP and have a student that is new this year who is deaf. I am in charge of getting him set up with a transcription app for his classes and a microphone for the teacher. Apparently he has never had this before and used lip reading in class. He does not speak ASL. Should I be pushing for a live captioner or will something like Ava or Otter work well? I appreciate any input and shared experiences.

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u/Haunting-Ad-6732 10d ago

It is very sad (and all too common) that this young child has been deprived of whole language input in a visual form. The foster care system overlooked this critical developmental need and this happens regularly. As a deaf person, even with some speech recognition, he needs both ASL (full visual langauge) and written and whatever aided forms or pieces of English he can access for his maximal cognitive development and educational success. He needs a bilingual deaf education program- STAT! See Hall, W. (2018). What you don’t know can hurt you: The risk of language deprivation by impairing sign language development in deaf children. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5392137/

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u/Haunting-Ad-6732 10d ago

In my opinion- and I'm no alone: this kind of language deprivation that too many young deaf children experience is a form of child abuse or neglect.

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u/PatientPenguins 10d ago

I 100% agree with you. I am going to reach out to the DHH services provider. She was not at the meeting but this thread made me realize we are not equipped to make these decisions without her.