Customer Reviews

Choices in Deafness

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is invaluable for any parent choosing a communication option for their child. The author takes an unbiased look at the following communication options: Auditory-Verbal, Bilingual-Bicultural, Cued Speech, Oral, and Total Communication. Each option contains an outline of the option, and stories of three or four children who are using this option. The stories are written by the children's parents which helps give us an insight into how they chose the option that was right for their child. For those children who were covered in the first edition of this book, this second edition includes a "Where I Am Today" written by the now grown children.

This is a great book!!

After our child was diagnosed with deafness, we were overwelmed with so much information, so many decisions to make. This book offers a nonbiased, comprehensive outline of the educational options available for deaf children. I use it as a reference manual and read it three or four times after my son's diagnosis. We're four years down the road now and I'm going to read it again. There is a wealth of information here. It is the first book I recommend parents read after finding out their child is deaf.

As a mom with a one year old newly diagnosed as severely deaf, I found this book very helpful. After going online and learning of all the controversy surrounding deaf issues,it was refreshing to find a book that gave equal time to differing views. This book led me to making the choice that is right for our child and our family. I loved that it gave professional veiwpoints for each language-learning option, as well as the story of a family that chose each of the various options.

Second only to Paul Ogden's "Silent Garden" (which treats of a broader range of issues than does "Choices") this is the most balanced and readable book specifically dealing with deaf education and communications options that we (hearing parents of profoundly deaf toddler) have yet found. There is a very good mix of professional articles and actual parental stories, recently supplemented by updates from the children themselves, now mostly grown. This is the only book of its kind that we have seen that provides actual audiograms for most stundets/subjects, something hearing parents MUST have in order to relate the stories in "Choices" to THEIR kids' situation. (I only wish AIDED audiograms had been consistently included as well, since those are nearly as important as basic audiograms.) I dont suggest tinkering with success, but I do think somewhat more information on the failure rates for given options should have been given, since it is far too easy for us as parents to imagine OUR child as being the succesful student portrayed in each section, thus short-chaging the down-side risks of each option. Also, it might have been nice if a few more stories of deaf people who DIDNT live in Maryland at some point in their life could have been included. That's hardly a real criticsm, though, and I conclude by this book highly.

Second only to Paul Ogden's "The Silent Garden" (which treats a broader range of deafness issues than does "Choices"), this is the most balanced and readable book specifically on deaf education and communication options we (hearing parents of a profoundly deaf toddler) have yet found. There is a very good mix of professional articles and actual parental stories, recently supplemented by up-dates from the children themselves, now mostly grown. This is the only book of its kind we've seen that provides actual audiograms for most of the student/subjects, something hearing parents MUST have in order to relate the stories in "Choices" to THEIR child's situation. (I only wish AIDED audiograms had been consistently included as well, since those are nearly as important as basic audiograms). I don't suggest tinkering with success, but I do think somewhat more information on failure rates for the given options would have been helpful, since it's too easy for us as parents to imagine OUR child being the successful student portrayed in each section, thus short-changing the downside risks. Also, it might be nice if a few more stories of deaf people who DIDN'T live in Maryland at some point in their lives could be included. That's hardly a real criticism, though, and I conclude by recommending the book highly.

I think this book is a plus for unsure parents.

I'm one of the people who was published in this book, under the Cued Speech section, and I did add a supplement to it. I think this book is a MUST read by any new parent of a deaf child. It presents a clear, un-biased outline of all options available for your child, (although I'm biased and believe that the Cued Speech option is a no-brainer. :-) but its still a excellent book and well-written and edited. Kudos to Sue Schwartz!

Choices in Deafness gives a one-sided view of each communication method presented. Since this is the second edition and I haven't read the first edition, I was surprised to see that auditory-verbal was newly added to the book where it's been around for many years already. I should know because that's how I was trained in the beginning of the 80s. Really, the best part of the book was the real life stories penned by the parents and also the deaf children, and then there are "what happened to them" stories. Quite so, there is a huge realism throughout their stories, and they do reflect the reality of being a parent of a deaf child or being a deaf person living in the hearing world. One problem I have about that is there is too much reliance on the deaf individuals that actually represent the top 1% of the deaf population, giving curious readers a very skewed viewpoint. They would think that if these deaf individuals can do that, then they can be safe in assuming to hold these expectations for their deaf child. To be honest with you, as I am part of the top 1%, you are really seeing rare examples of success of deaf individuals in the hearing world. Honestly, I would like to see more stories similar to the three siblings of one family because I felt that was more of an accurate representation of the deaf children growing up. Not once I saw a story that lived in a deaf residential school and being separated from his parents for a very long time and did not do well in their lives. I would love that the parents can learn from them and be educated in a way of, "Here is an example of what not to do." I've lived for a long time and have undergone through many phases in life as a deaf individual, and along the way, I've met a countless of deaf individuals. Let me tell you the truth, the picture isn't pretty. The truth of the deaf population having an average of third to fourth grade reading, writing, and mathematics skills is painfully true, and there are countless of these people, after graduating high school, lacking basic understanding and comprehension and critical thinking skills. So thus, they are useless for the workforce unless we are talking about Walmart type of jobs. Eventually, most of them collect welfare checks and stay home. Why is this important to know? Well, it has a lot to do with the first six years of the child's life, and that's why choices have to be immediately made, or there will be disastrous results. Forget the idea of deaf culture...forget the idea of deaf identity...they are not important at all. They mean nothing at all. The first question the parent must consciously make: how can I make sure that my deaf child can have all the tools possible in order to succeed in the hearing world? How can I make my deaf child equipped and ready to have a job after s/he becomes an adult? Usually, the picture is incredibly bleak because of two issues: the lack of oral skills and the reluctantness to hire potential deaf over hearing employees. The issue is pretty significant because why would a company hire a deaf person if the hearing can make things a lot easier while offering the same benefits as the deaf? Yeah, I know, and I have seen it all: most deaf people are prevalently unhappy because they do not fit in society, can't get a job they applied for, and/or are unskilled for most jobs. Obviously, getting a cochlear implant for the deaf babies has become the norm. In the book Choices in Deafness, I was pretty disappointed with the viewpoints offered in each of the communications, and they were incredibly one sided. For example, the Bi-Bi program...are you kidding me? Putting American Sign Language (ASL) as the first language before English? You have to be joking me. Anyone can learn ASL, but English is pretty difficult to learn. Time is of the essence, especially in the beginning. Usually, Bi-Bi programs are found in deaf residential schools, but sadly, there isn't enough of light what goes on in these schools in most literature and in the internet. Three things go on in these deaf residential schools: very poor education (most students can hardly read or write after high school graduation), complete seclusion (which usually lasts for lifetime) from the hearing world, and sexual abuse (the worst hidden problem that is almost never reported and is covered up to protect the deaf community that surrounds the deaf school). The reality is this: to this date, there is paucity of research about the efficacy of Bi-Bi programs. Now, think about it...hearing people can talk, and that's the way of life, but for a deaf person who is totally mute and tries to communicate with the hearing world with his hands, that's going to be very tough unless somebody is willing to fork over a lot of money for an interpreter. About the Cued Speech, I am sure it works, and it does sound neat in principle. Here is the problem...as I've met a countless of deaf individuals and have gone to many places, I never, ever met one person who used Cued Speech. That means...it's not that widely practiced except for certain places. The story by a woman about Cued Speech made my point as she was writing about her experience of going to a college that didn't offer an interpreter with Cued Speech, so she dropped out and went to RIT. The problem in this picture is that she should have had the system to fit her needs instead of her fitting into the system regardless of her needs. So, suppose if the deaf child uses Cued Speech and wants to go to an university in Texas, do you think it's going to be easy to find a qualified interpreter of Cued Speech? It's going to be very, very difficult. The auditory-verbal approach, as I believe, is the best approach for the deaf child to be wholly successful in the hearing world for the long run, but then again, it's not for everyone. It's tough, it's hard, and it requires a lot of dedication and commitment from the parents and the deaf child. Yet the results are throughly worth it. Of course, eventually, the deaf child can learn ASL when he is of mature age. It's not hard, believe me. The oral approach, as described in Choices in Deafness, seems too similar to auditory-verbal approach. I don't think much of Total Communication because I feel Simultaneous Communication is more appropriate and more convenient. In fact, I think Simultaneous Communication is the most effective and useful communication there is. Regardless of the choosing of the communication, the most important thing is making sure that it meets the deaf child's needs to be academically successful and ready for the hearing world where s/he can get a job and be a contributing member of the society. You don't really want your deaf child to be ideally the happiest possible from only just having a great social life; that's just simply not good enough. All in all, Choices in Deafness fails to address the many important issues and doesn't offer enough of cons in each method of communication against the many pros presented.