I grew up mainstreamed and entered a residential school in middle school. I was mainstreamed again in high school for one year, only to decide I'd rather be at the school for the deaf. There's nothing more lonely than walking around campus and superficially greeting the few friends you have. There were a few oral deaf students in my local high school and their lives were lonely. They escaped to the computer lab during lunch hour and played computer games. One actually grew up in the school system and had nice family friends looking out for him. But I'd see him sitting with them in the hallway and try and fit in. When the group laughed, he was always last and tried to laugh along. It was pitiful.

These kids are like ghosts. They don't make many friends, they're often lonely. They try to pretend everything is alright just to please their ever so hopeful parents who want to have a normal kid. They smile and grin and are friendly. But they don't come away with the real leadership and people skills that are so critical during that time of our lives.

I think it's like prison. You're stuck, unable to be yourself, and you cannot function normally. At many of the college programs for the deaf (CSUN, Gallaudet, NTID) they have serious problems with the incoming kids from mainstream backgrounds. These kids are socially inept. They hole up in their rooms watching tv and surfing the net. It's sad. Real people get out and socialize. These kids are trying to go through life lacking the very tools they need.

Least restrictive environment for a deaf kid? That's a joke. They're GHOSTS, ask any sociologist and he/she will tell you how important it is to develop social skills and learn to work with other people.

Hi Raymond, your comment was interesting to read... a bit of history for me, since my daughter attends ISD now.

Yup, even today, IPS (Indianapolis Public Schools) still has a lot of problems. So far 67% of IPS has failed ISTEP+ (state test) to this date (I am talking about hearing schools, not ISD.)

In response to your comment about ISD's dorm, I am not familiar with the residential dorms there, but from what I hear, things have improved a great deal in the last decade. However, due to the state budget, the funds for the residential dorm at ISD are badly needed... the RA's are assigned to work in the cafeteria (some of the cafeteria workers have been let go to save costs.)

The quality of ISD's education is still up though. However, we are waving our arms like crazy before the legislators' eyes, letting them know that ISD is still dealing with the rising enrollment, so ISD is rightfully entitled to more funding, but..... ugh!

Not all schools for the Deaf are created equal just like public schools. It depends on which schools we are talking about.

From my experience, I have always enjoyed interacting with peers from a school for the Deaf close to my home while growing up although I was not a student there. I begged my parents to send me there but they insisted me to stay in a mainstreaming program since it was more challenging. Later on in my high school years, my parents allowed me to transfer to a school for the Deaf not close to my home but in another state because of better quality that this school had to offer. It was the best year of my life and I was able to experience bilingual instruction offered by Deaf teachers. They made a strong influence and were my role models that you would never get to see in a mainstreamed program since it is rare for Deaf teachers to be visiible there.

Now I am a teacher of the Deaf and I work in a school for the Deaf who strictly follows the standards that requires students to pass two of each core subjects by taking state exams in order to get a high school degree. From my observation, I have noticed that students who transferred from mainstreaming programs are more behind in their academics than students who grew up in the school for the Deaf. It saddens me to see the struggle that these Deaf students had to put up after a number of years in a mainstreaming program that it took a while for the school district to finally admit them in a school for the Deaf when it becomes more difficult to "fix" the lag.

As for LRE, we added in our IEP emphasizing the points that makes it LRE in the school for the Deaf.

I'm sorry, but residential deaf schools are the worst places to send deaf kids to. Residential deaf schools are places where deaf kids experiment with drugs, sex, and dependency. Residential deaf schools need to be abolished!