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What is the LRE? In lay terms, it means an academic environment where
children with disabilities should be educated alongside peers who do not
have a disability. In the special education world, this has been the goal for all
children with disabilities since 1975. For years, there has been a long-drawn
argument about whether Deaf children fit under the constraints of these
disability education laws. Deafness is known to be one of the most unique
groups among all disabilities due to the unique communication and learning
needs that cannot be addressed in a regular education classroom in the same
way their hearing peers are accessing academics. These specific needs set
them apart from the rest. They require intensive knowledge and understanding
of American Sign Language and how deaf children’s brains acquire
information within a world that demands that their learning be conducted
through auditory means.
The deaf community is not just a group bound by disability laws but a vibrant,
culturally and linguistically diverse minority. They have their own schools,
dedicated universities, comprehensive specialty staffed statewide agencies,
multiple national and state organizations, retirement homes, established
social clubs, numerous committees to tackle a multitude of issues, and a
language, American Sign Language, taught and used in all walks of life. Their
long, rich history and culture of people is unparalleled in the world of
disabilities.
Again, deafness has been a group placed under the same umbrella as other
disabilities, in which these laws try to isolate and dismantle their language
and history. These are laws that try to force deaf children and adults to
assimilate into a hearing world because we are told it’s the only way of life and
the only way to be successful.
It's crucial that we provide a language-rich environment for deaf children
where they can receive fair and appropriate education in the same way
hearing children do. This is not about pushing them to be something they're
not but about giving them the tools they need to succeed. It's about creating
an environment where they can learn in a language they have access to, with
ease, effortlessly, just like hearing children have with spoken English. This is
not a luxury but a necessity for their social and academic development.
We live in an ethnocentric society where we are programmed to believe that
listening and speaking is the only way to become successful and that being
around hearing people is the only way you will make it in this world. In deaf
education, the LRE, from a special education perspective, is really the MRE
(Most Restrictive Environment). No matter how hard we try to use technology
and other accommodations to fit deaf children into regular education classes
for hearing children, it never quite does the job of fixing the issues that deaf
people have been facing for years. When we provide an environment where
language is accessed directly, naturally, and with ease, we see the horizons
expand for maximum growth and success. Could you imagine if all young
children had to learn their first language, learn academics, and socialize with
others using technology and other accommodations? Why do that to deaf
children?
If we can create this environment in public schools by having deaf education
classrooms at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, we will start to
see better academically performing deaf children with strong social skills.
These good social skills developed in a deaf education classroom willdefinitely show when interacting with hearing children. No matter how oral
the deaf student is, they are almost always experiencing social isolation.
When a deaf child does not develop good social skills, they do not develop
good language skills, negatively impacting their academic growth.
Let's make plans to better the lives of deaf children. Instead of doing what we
are so used to doing and continuing to see no positive results year after year,
why don’t we try something different? Let's implement bilingual deaf
education classrooms in public schools and hire teachers of the deaf who can
use American Sign Language and English fluently.
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