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167 A Total Communication Family Newman’s definition of Total Communication here is different than most people perceive. Instead of using speech and sign at the time, he advocates for using the communication modality that works best with the child. Here, he illustrates a family that cares and loves their deaf child and uses it as a standard. Many of us, by now, are familiar with the comparative studies made of deaf children of deaf parents and deaf children of hearing parents . Such studies showed deaf children of deaf parents to be ahead in some aspects of academic achievement and in speechreading skills. The variable was the utilization of manual communication by deaf parents and none for all practical purposes, whatsoever by hearing parents. Now, however, we are becoming more acquainted with stories of hearing parents of deaf children who are utilizing total communication during the early critical learning years. There may have been isolated cases in the past but, make no mistake about it, the extent to which hearing parents are also signing to young deaf children is a recent phenomenon. A case in point is the family of John and Fleana Snapp. Rachel, now five years old and the youngest of their four girls, is deaf, a rubella child with an 80–85 db loss in each ear. How they started on total communication is an interesting story. The family was in Washington, D.C., attending Gallaudet College’s preschool program. John, the father, is a lieutenant colonel in the army and a sharp-eyed observer. He asked his wife to observe the intensity and quality of communication going on between a mother and her daughter at the preschool clinic. The mother turned out to be the late Judith Williams, a deaf woman, utilizing the simultaneous method in communicating with her deaf daughter, Tiffany. It did not take the Snapps long to recognize that the variable was manual communication. As unobtrusively as they could, they asked Rachel’s teacher, Connie Yanconne, to help them communicate as the deaf parents did. She obliged. John, however, soon received orders to be The Deaf American (April 1973) 168 on duty on the West Coast. Immediately, they pressed for the start of a class for 18-month- to three-year-old deaf children on the Monterey Peninsula in California. Bureaucratic machinery is well-oiled. Her request was passed from one bureaucrat to another—“Classes for the very young deaf, what do they need it for?” “Wait until they are three years old,” “Put them with other handicapped children,” “Integrate them with hearing children,” “We do not have enough deaf children—ok, if you can find me not less than six deaf children we’ll start a class for the 18-month–three-year-old deaf children.” They thought Mr. Snapp would never find that many deaf children on the Monterey Peninsula. They did not reckon with Fleana, a greatly determined woman. Like a collector with a net in pursuit of butterflies, Fleana Snapp roamed the Monterey Peninsula. Every time she caught sight of a child with a hearing aid her heart pounded and she became engulfed in animated conversation with the parent. To the consternation of the bureaucrat who challenged her, Fleana presented him with the names and addresses of six deaf children. A class was started and a year later Connie Yanconne came to California. Connie and her husband are northern Californians and the lure of greener pastures was irresistible. When Fleana asked her to accept a teaching job in Monterey, a call to the County Office of Education paved the way for her new job. Connie Yanconne is a marvelous, gifted teacher who has tried the oral method, cued speech and settled on total communication as the most suitable method to meet the individual needs of deaf children. Young but insightful beyond her years, she emphasized family involvement , a sensitivity for the communication needs of young deaf children, and she made many suggestions for learning activities in the home. In the meantime, the Snapp family, the whole bunch of them, became immersed in learning total communication. They learned the new form with its verb endings, distinguishing tense forms, signs for “he, she, they, him,” signs for words where there was none before. Rachel was encouraged to use her speech at all times and everyone used his speech when signing to her. Of course, auditory input was not overlooked and Rachel constantly wore her hearing aid. They remembered...

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