My son has an acquired brain injury and is deaf so receiving and verbally giving communication is complex for him. He has a Dysphasia the definition of which is "difficulty in speaking and understanding spoken or written language, caused by brain injury or disease."
That in real terms for my son means his processing is impaired and language has to be presented to him in a format he can make sense of visual images are key to supporting him appropriately however how that translates into the prescriptive tick box on his Assessment to "he is not fluent in the English language" defies logic to me and is so negatively judgemental given the effort it takes for him to communicate. It completely does him a disservice on so many levels that you have to as a parent challenge its inclusion in the document.
So at the risk of being equally misjudged as an annoying parent I did and its now changed however its inclusion makes me question why professionals make such judgemental conclusions without question or evidence.
To put it into context for you I attended a lunch in France with friends all more fluent in French than me!! i had a smattering of French vocabulary and had studied French at school so listened intently understanding the gist of the conversation but struggling to contribute as by the time I have processed and translated the conversation and prepared my response everyone had moved on!! The net outcome was I came out of that luncheon with a banging head and blinding headache but with a deep underpinning awareness of what life was like for my boy and how exasperated I felt after all it didn't mean I was stupid and could not contribute it meant I needed understanding and support from those around me to "allow" me to contribute !!!!
combine that with deafness which works in more subliminal ways at compromising an ability to hear language due to environment, peoples speech patterns and i was struck with the awesomeness of actually how clever my son actually is and gob smacked he has the depth of language and understanding he has confirming once more to me just how tenacious he is to rehabilitate and overcome his difficulties following his injury at birth. That should be acknowledged somewhere within his Assessment.
You will note I said the word "allow"....... permit is another how arrogant and misguided are mainstream? Individuals like my son have no less right to opinion or comment on things they just need support in how to and it even being acknowledged they can do. Instead the articulate "take over" and ride rough shod over their decision making capacities never even empowering them from the onset to participate and be merely acquiescent bystanders in their own lives.
He completely sees him self as an orator shying away from using communication tools. Language was introduced initially using key words and a small vocabulary was used which has steadfastly been built upon and added to. Those working with him are given a list of words that his deafness and dypsthasia impacts on, words for example starting with certain letters sound different when my boys say them F, G, S, Th, P etc he is challenged by how those sound. Basic examples are Spoon becomes poon, long words merge so have taught him to break it down to Con-ver-sation for example he understands the word and when to use it in context never assume because he can't pronounce it the words meaning is lost to him. He also knows how to seek another word thereby problem solving so why is my son labelled in Assessments as unable to be fluent in language the deliverance is the issue not the ability!! How many more are being misjudged due to the lack of underpinning knowledge of the Assessor
To have all that effort written off in one tick box exercise is such a negative and toxic experience for parent and child alike.
My boy had the support of a superb specialist teacher for the Deaf when a child and no price could be put on this service and the rehabilitation support if afforded my son. She showed us how he heard sounds and I am gob-smacked on that basis alone that he ever heard any language but my god imagine being trapped in that body and being unsupported in releasing the real you or maximising the potential you actually have. You would cling to anyone empowering you to be you wouldn't you and that is what being a good parent is all about :0) never stop fighting to ensure your child is not wrongly labelled and written off by a society that does not make itself more informed and discovers what in real terms it takes empower and support the person to maximise their true potential.
I appreciate that has an impact on budgets however is this something we cap due to budgetary restraints what's more important the inane objects in life or the humanity towards others challenged by their disabilities and differences.
