To the Editor

TO THE EDITOR This letter is written in response to the June editorial in the Annals regarding the "continuing need to employ deaf people as teachers and administrators in schools for deaf children." We believe this need begins at the teacher-training level as we have seen numerous benefits gained by hearing trainees who are enrolled with deaf trainees. Adult deaf students give their hearing classmates opportunities to interact with deaf adults at a peer level. Consequently, by the time these hearing students enter their practicum courses we observe them to be more comfortable working in deafness, as well as having higher expectations of deaf children, more realistic attitudes toward deafness, knowledge of the adult deaf community, and better communication skills. Deaf adults in teacher-education programs provide invaluable technical expertise, as well, specifically in the areas of sign language instruction and courses in language and reading methodology . For example, deaf trainees run our sign language labs where they tutor their peers in conversational signing skills and help faculty evaluate students' signing skills. In language and reading methods courses, deaf trainees provide ASL equivalents to English idioms and syntactic constructions thereby helping their hearing classmates develop useful teaching strategies. In turn, hearing trainees who learn tutoring and notetaking skills as part of their program are able to provide these kinds of services to deaf students on campus. Benefits even extend outside classes in hearing impairment. For example, we observed deaf and hearing students studying and socializing together, offering a unique kind of mutual support . Hearing trainees and deaf trainees work together in the Student Association of the Hearing Impaired. As a result, capable deaf students have opportunities to assume leadership roles during their teacher-training program. We believe that graduating more capable deaf adults in teacher-training programs will upgrade the quality of education for hearing-impaired children. In light of the Kentucky State Commission 's recent survey identifying hundreds of hearing-impaired and deaf children throughout the state who have been inappropriately placed in classes for the retarded and the learning disabled , the hiring of capable deaf adults in these public school day programs will be a constructive approach toward meeting the employment needs of deaf adults as well as the educational needs of deaf children. ]ean F. Andrews ]on C. Green Lee L. Waters Department of Special Education Eastern Kentucky University Reviews The Multiply Handicapped Hearing-Impaired Child, George T. Mencher & Sanford E. Gerber, 480 pp., Grune & Stratton, 111 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, 1983. The Multiply Handicapped Hearing-Impaired Child consists of several papers about the early identification, intervention techniques, and testing problems encountered when identifying hearing loss in multiply handicapped students. Most of the papers are written by professionals in the field of speech and/or audiology/otology . The papers are well written, factual, and offer consistently strong arguments for early identification and intervention. A few of the papers discuss broader topics, such as behavioral concerns, educational programs, and developmental issues. This book is most appropriate for those involved in early identification/diagnosis or speech and audiology. However, little emphasis is placed on topics that would more specifically assist other professionals such as teachers, dorm counselors and therapists. I emphasize this point since the title of the book, The Multiply Handicapped Hearing-Impaired Child, is somewhat misleading. It implies a broader range of topics and authors than actually presented. Otherwise, the book is an excellent collection of papers that should enhance the growing publications on multiply handicapped hearing-impaired children . John Snarlin Assistant Principal Maryland School for the Deaf Columbia, MD 21044 A.A.D. /March 1985 3 ...