Deaf Parents' Perspectives on Deaf Education

For the study reported in this article, Deaf couples were interviewed at two different times regarding their views on deaf education. Questions in the first interview focused on the parents’ views of their preschool children’s education as well as their opinion of their own school experiences. Questions also covered language use at school and the importance of the Deaf culture. These parents also discussed their hope that the schools would provide their Deaf children with quality education and that the curriculum would be equivalent to what the public schools used with hearing children. Additional topics dealt with the use of speech and hearing aids in school and the use of American Sign Language at home and at school. A follow-up interview took place nine years later, and while many of the same themes were addressed, new areas of concern also emerged.