I Fill This Small Space: The Writings of a Deaf Activist

On the John Tracy Clinic

93 On the John Tracy Clinic There is no preschool program in this country that is as world famous as the John Tracy Clinic. The correspondence of this clinic sometimes reaches a staggering 1,700 letters per month and there is no question but that some service has been contributed to parents of deaf children. Because of the clinic some of the parents have come to know each other, which is helpful. There is less of the sense of aloneness and helplessness and parents are given something to hang on to between the time they find out the child is deaf and the time they can get him into a school. Sometimes it is more difficult to be a hearing parent of a deaf child than it is to be the deaf child. The John Tracy Clinic, named after her deaf son, was an outgrowth of Mrs. Spencer Tracy’s feelings about her own child. Dr. Edgar Lowell, its administrator, is a scholarly, erudite, affable person highly spoken of by deaf adults who have come to know him. Both Mrs. Tracy and Dr. Lowell were instrumental in the establishment of the invaluable Leadership Training Program in the Area of the Deaf at San Fernando Valley State College. While the John Tracy Clinic has made life easier for some parents and their deaf children, this has not been the case for others. Because deaf children are individuals with varying needs and varying stages of readiness , because communication itself is a complicated process, because the children are placed in a situation that lacks flexibility of approach, the needs of many of them have remained unmet. In fact, the high hopes and expectations of some parents have given way to frustration and a sense of failure when they found they were unable to communicate effectively with their children using the Tracy approach. In terms of the larger picture, where fuller educational, psychological and social developments are concerned, there is nagging evidence that only minimal needs have been met. Keeping in mind that the preschool years are critical in child development, one needs only to evaluate the The Deaf American (April 1970) 94 language and reading abilities of the older deaf. Also, an examination of the type, degree and quality of communication taking place between parent and deaf child will reveal one of the many reasons for the mediocre educational status of the deaf. Needless to say, the minds of all civilized people are reached by communication in one form or another. When one of the five senses is no longer functioning substitutes are sought to fill the void. The deaf themselves have found that manual communication is the greatest substitute available. Unfortunately, manual communication has come to be, in the minds of many hearing people, a threat to the development of speech and speechreading skills. In the absence of one iota of proof, such a fear remains but a theoretical assumption. Itiscriticalthatwedifferentiatebetweenthecommunicationitself and one aspect of it—speech and speechreading. Deaf children should have to the extent possible the same easy and spontaneous flow of communication that hearing children have. They should be reassured at bedtime without always having to struggle to identify and then to comprehend what is said. They should be able to recognize incidental communication going on at varying distances, at different angles and under changing conditions of light and shadow. To be deaf is frustrating enough without having to add artificial restraints on communication. Without such restraints communication becomes vibrant and meaningful. In view of the fact that the influential Tracy Clinic’s methods are emulated in other preschool clinics throughout the country, one can imagine the positive, far-reaching consequences that will result if the John Tracy Clinic would attempt to utilize a more flexible approach and become innovative and experimental in order to reach the minds of deaf children. To take such a step would call for action that in some circles might be termed heresy. First of all, an effort should be made to move away from any attempt to make a hearing child out of a deaf child for that is what an overemphasis on speech and speechreading does. The earlier the child learns to accept his deafness and the limitations imposed by it the better it will be for his mental health and emotional well being. Acceptance of their child’s deafness should also be part of parent education and they should learn to accept and use manual methods of communication...