Crookshanksmum

What is your plan for school? School for the Deaf? Mainstreaming? Something else?

I was born deaf. My parents learned to sign, although they mostly wanted me to be oral. I spoke and heard with my hearing aids while being mainstreamed. As an adult, I threw out my hearing aids and stopped talking. A lot of people were like "But your parents spent hours teaching you to talk and hear! You're just going to throw that out!?" I'm grateful for what they did for me, but I'm mostly grateful that they gave me a choice. That choice is worth so much more than if they only gave me sign or only gave me speaking and listening skills. I think you're doing the right thing for your son.

I could hear many sounds, but listening to people talking was like having a radio station stuck on the "wahwah" sound from Charlie Brown's mom.

An interesting effect was that with hearing aids, people were irritated when I asked them to repeat what they said. Without them, they were a lot more nice and willing to write things down for me.

For some, it isn't just about preserving a disability to save a language. Many Doctors will tell parents whose children are about to get a CI to stop signing, as that will improve the effectiveness of the CI. Research has actually found the opposite, that using ASL supports the success of the CI. Also, many feel that all children should have access to a full language. CIs don't always provide full access to spoken language. So it's basically that they want all children to have access to ASL.

Deaf here. I learned to read real fast from reading live TV shows back in the 80s. I credit captions for getting me ahead of my peers in reading. Thanks for doing what you do!

There's a few misconceptions in your post...

Sign language is not an aide. It's a language with its own rules, grammar, and syntax and is unrelated to spoken language.

Universities in the US are required to accommodate Deaf people. I have a BA and 2 MA degrees, and my 2nd MA degree (online) didn't require much accommodation at all. Deaf people are in all kinds of professions, including Doctors, lawyers, and CEOs.