Auditory Processing and Language: Clinical and Research Perspectives (review)

Comments, Questions, and Answers by Alan B. Crammatte The Comments, Questions, and Answers department is published as a service to professional readers and parents of deaf children. It is an attempt to provide practical information on the basic aspects of deafness, particularly in relation to education. Although all questions submitted cannot be used, those considered to be of greatest interest to readers will be published. Answers are prepared by competent authorities. Material submitted must contain the writer's name and address. Address questions and comments to: Alan B. Crammatte, 897 Windsong Drive, Arnold, MD 21012. COMMENT—Older than its state, the Washington State School for the Deaf will celebrate its centennial August 8-10, 1986. The school was established before the Washington Territory became a state. Interested persons can secure details of the celebration from Archie Stack, 6813 NE 279th St., Battle Ground, WA 98604. COMMENT—A pocket guide for concerned parents was outlined by Roberta Thomas, director of Action Alliance of Parents of the Deaf, Philadelphia, in a speech she made to the Michigan State Conference on Deafness this fall. An excerpt from her speech follows: "With all these difficult issues at our crossroads , I believe deeply that we need not despair. There is a wealth of research and some experience that point the way. The question is how? What can parents do? A few suggestions: First, join with other parents. Then help these parents depathologize deafness for themselves and destroy that double standard so that together you can become a significant force. You need to be essentially in agreement or any program director will be able to say, 'We can't satisfy everyone!' You also will need each other for moral support. Second, strategize. Have plans of action that include a sensitive understanding that those who direct our children's education are well meaning and concerned—simply unknowing, not evil. Third, be positive. Make a list of what your child's program should include and why, rather than a list of complaints. Even if your are angry, being assertive is far more useful than being aggressive . Fourth, be persistent. Get published in newspapers . Talk to civic groups. Talk everywhere and often so that your views become so common that they don't seem radical any more. Fifth, join with deaf adults. This is very important . You may not always agree, but you need each other and will empower each other. Sixth, find professionals who will help you. Many professionals feel caught by the system and will welcome support of parents who can't be fired if they object to the children's program. Seventh, visit a great many school programs, particularly first rate programs for hearing children and, if you can travel, some of the really good programs for deaf children. You need a model for what to suggest. There are also indirect ways of working for change. In Philadelphia , Project HOPE trains deaf adults and hearing parents as teams to bring peer support and accurate information to parents of deaf children by personal home visits. Project HOPE has had a major impact on community and educator thinking , creating an atmosphere for change that two years ago seemed impossible. Educational programs which initially looked at the project with hostility now call Project HOPE asking for teams to visit their families. If you are determined to be an advocate, my last suggestion is to develop as thick a hide as possible. Try not to cry in the principal's office; wait until you get home and can call another parent who can assure you that you are neither neurotic, nor a trouble maker, nor an ungrateful monster. Even if we approach working for change positively and non-accusingly , we tread on toes and make people mad. We make them furious, in fact, and this anger is often given expression in accusations to us just where we are the most vulnerable. Assertiveness doesn't make anyone love you or think you are nice, and that isn't easy to live with." Reviews Auditory Processing and Language: Clinical and Research Perspectives, Philip Levinson and Christine Sloan (Eds.). 226 pp., hardcover, Grune & Srratton, Inc., Ill Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10003, 1980...