Turning the Tide Making Life Better for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Schoolchildren Gina A. Oliva & Linda Risser Lytle Turning the Tide PEANUTS ©2010 Peanuts Worldwide LLC. Dist. By UNIVERSAL UCLICK. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. Turning the Tide Making Life Better for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Schoolchildren Gina A. Oliva and Linda Risser Lytle Gallaudet University Press washington, dc Gallaudet University Press Washington, DC 20002 http://gupress.gallaudet.edu © 2014 by Gallaudet University All rights reserved. Published 2014 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Oliva, Gina A. Turning the tide : making life better for deaf and hard of hearing schoolchildren / Gina A. Oliva and Linda Risser Lytle. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-56368-599-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-56368-600-9 (e-book) 1. Deaf children—Education—United States. 2. Hearing impaired children—Education—United States. 3. Mainstreaming in education— United States. 4. Deaf children—United States 5. Hearing impaired children—United States. I. Lytle, Linda Risser. II. Title. HV2430.O45 2014 371.91'2—dc23 2013042488 Cover photograph: from l. to r., Megan Mays, AuQueche Rogers, and Cornelius Johnson, courtesy of Camp SummerSign in Brentwood, TN, from a film produced by STARS Nashville-Services for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences--Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. In memory of Fausto Delgado Born February 6, 1997 Veracruz, Mexico Died November 12, 2013 Richmond, California May his short life inspire us all to turn the tide. Contents Foreword ix Debra Russell Preface xiii Acknowledgments xix Introduction 1 1 Our Research Process 11 2 Friendships and Social Access: Outside Looking In 24 3 The Struggle to Shape an Identity 45 4 K–12 Interpreters and Other Placement Issues 67 5 A System in Need of Reform 91 6 K–12 Interpreters and Mediated Education: More and Better Is Not Enough 120 7 Summer and Weekend Programs: If You Build It, They Will Come 146 8 Scholars, Parents, Advocates, and Allies: Working for Change 176 9 Turning the Tide: Making Life Better 196 References 211 Index 219 Foreword Turning the Tide is a timely and much needed addition to the field of educating deaf and hard of hearing children. Per- sonal narratives told by deaf and hard of hearing adults offer us power ful insights into the experiences of childhood, and in particular, into the nature of education. In this text, Gina Oliva and Linda Lytle have delivered a highly readable account of their research that sought to uncover the perspectives of people who have lived the experience of “inclusive” educa- tion over the past 30 years in the United States. From these narratives, readers—whether parent, educator, i nterpreter, or administrator— can discover the layers of meaning that adults attach to their educational experiences, and by doing so, ex- amine what works well and what does not work well in the current approach to education for deaf and hard of hearing children. As an educator and an interpreter, I appreciate the work conducted by Oliva and Lytle in this crucial area and believe this book makes an important contribution to our field. Their findings mirror what my own research with Deaf children has shown, highlighting the very stark realities of an education that is too often academically inadequate and most often so- cially isolating, leading to serious challenges that can persist throughout life. Oliva and Lytle have countered the existing educational literature and movements that tout an “inclusive” education for all, by bringing forward the voices and expe- riences of those who have lived it as students every day. If ix