Letters to the Editor

SLS 57 Letters tn the Elinr Stichting instituut voor doven Theerestraat 42 5271 GD Sint-Michlelsgestel Nederland To the Editor of Telefoon (04105) 9119 SIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES Postgiro: 1126800 Linstok Press Inc. Bankrelatle: 9306 Mintwood Street Rabobank Silver Spring, Maryland 20901 Slnt-Michielsgestel U.S.A. rek. nr. 13.36.00.173 Dear Editor, Dr. A. van Uden was so kind to send us a copy of his letter of todays date to you, in reaction to a statement made in the Spring issue of your publication. Since Dr. Van Uden has been working with us for many, many years, we would like to say that, in our opiniion, it is unthinkable that Dr. Basilier, indeed a gentle Norwegian, who had a high esteem of our Institute and of Dr. van Uden, could have said such nonsense. The assertion is completely against the philosophy of the Instituut voor Doven (Institute for the deaf, St. Michielagestel, the Netherlands ) and of Dr. van Uden, that is, that a deaf child, using a sign in his comunicative need, should never be punished. Instead, such a manual utterance should be 'seized' by the parent, teacher or houseparent and utilized in order to offer the child the right word or sentence. This is the so-called seizing method of this Institute [cf. Dr. A. van Uden, 'A World of Language for Deaf Children ", 1977, Swets, Lisse, The Netherlands]. We cannot accept the veracity of the statement, and actually consider it a calumny. As it is we insist that this reaction be published by you in the next issue of SLS. jYours incerely, j.J . (cf ijndhoven pr., fo the a p ecd of Directors stituut voor DovenWinter 1987 Letters to the Editor U Stichting instituut voor doven Theerestraat 42 5271 GD Sint-Michielsgestel Nederland Telefoon (04105) 9119 Postgiroi 1126800 Bankrelatie: Rabobank Sint-Michiesgestel rek. nr. 13.3B.00.173 To the Editor of SIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES Linstok Press Inc. 9306 Mintwood Street Silver Spring, Maryland 20901 U.S.A. Dear Editor, In the Spring issue of SLS, page 41 is stated: "... Van Uden gives the impression of believing exactly what he claims, and demonstrates throughout the consistency of his beliefs about sign language and oral instruction -- a consistency to which the late Terje Basilier, a Norwegian psychiatrist who worked with the deaf, could testify. At a European meeting in the 1970s, Basilier asked of Van Uden, he told me, whether the reverend Doctor still advocated corporal punishment for young deaf children who persisted in signing. The answer, which profoundly saddened the gentle Norwegian, was in the affirmative. I would like to state that the above referred to conversation between Dr. Basilier and myself never took place, and that the above statement is utter nonsense. Anybody who has taken note of my many publications and hundreds of lectures that I held in the course of the years all over the world will indeed be able to confirm the consistency of my beliefs, and will at the same time admit that I cannot ever have made such a remark. I would reciate it very much if in issue of SLS. 2rs sincerely, Uden, pr. you could take up this reaction Winter 1987 SLS 57 Editorial TJhe' diforreplies I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. van Uden and Mr. van Eijndhoven for the information in their letters about the continuing practice of physically interfering with deaf children who use their hands to express their thoughts. I was mistaken, of course, in the words I used for what it was that so visibly upset Dr. Basilier--even when he related the incident in recollection. It was not the usual meaning of "corporal punishment" that he inquired about, Irealize now; it was what Mr. van Eijndhoven terms the "seizing method." Had I known previously about the seizing method, I might have related more accurately what was said in my meeting with Dr. Basilier. With both letters before me now , I can testify that it was precisely the esteemed Institute's and the Doctor's consistent policy of "seizing" and physically "utilizing' a deaf child's natural language utterance to impart "the right word or sentence" which saddened the...