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A review by oliviakt07
Deaf Like Me by James P. Spradley, Thomas S. Spradley
4.0
When I first saw this book as required reading for my Deaf Interpretive Services (DIS) and American Sign Language (ASL) classes I was taken aback a bit due to the date the book was released. Over thirty-five years later, how could this dated account provide any insight to the modern Deaf experience of our future students and clients?
In short, it can offer more than plenty. In short, you need the origin to understand, explain, and reshape the future for the better.
Thomas and Louise Spradley, like man before and since, are parents who desire a connection with their children. Their love and admiration is not unfamiliar as a child, or as someone who has children similar to nieces and nephews in one's own life. We can feel for their sense of loss and uncertainty as they discover that life is not always a cookie cutter image, and thoughts and plans must change and evolve over time.
But like the paraphrased saying goes, "Hearing loss to Deaf gain"!
Although those who experienced, know of, or have studied the devoutness and strictness of the oralism and speech approach (and apprehension of any manual language) will be fuming at times 'watching' Tom and Louise subject Lynn to these environments, we must remember that even today it is often the first form of reassurance for new parents. Many come to see what matters more for their child and family (the act of COMMUNICATION), and luckily Tom and Louise see that in how Lynn blossoms brightly by the end of the last two chapters compared to the hurdles in the previous eighteen.
Everyone has the right to their prefered communication method, and it should be their choice and their choice alone after exposure to various methods. Lynn was incredibly fortunate to have parents who were able to be human, and learn and grow from the experience too.
While there will be more added to this review, I will end with how glad I am that I did read this book now (Spring 2020) and that it's encouraging message continues to show parents, children, and educators that to be understood and appreciated does not depend on your ability to speak. Your intelligence does not depend on your auditory vocabulary and skills. Your heart is only limited to the ways you can express it, and may you be limitless in how you express any and all of it.
In short, it can offer more than plenty. In short, you need the origin to understand, explain, and reshape the future for the better.
Thomas and Louise Spradley, like man before and since, are parents who desire a connection with their children. Their love and admiration is not unfamiliar as a child, or as someone who has children similar to nieces and nephews in one's own life. We can feel for their sense of loss and uncertainty as they discover that life is not always a cookie cutter image, and thoughts and plans must change and evolve over time.
But like the paraphrased saying goes, "Hearing loss to Deaf gain"!
Although those who experienced, know of, or have studied the devoutness and strictness of the oralism and speech approach (and apprehension of any manual language) will be fuming at times 'watching' Tom and Louise subject Lynn to these environments, we must remember that even today it is often the first form of reassurance for new parents. Many come to see what matters more for their child and family (the act of COMMUNICATION), and luckily Tom and Louise see that in how Lynn blossoms brightly by the end of the last two chapters compared to the hurdles in the previous eighteen.
Everyone has the right to their prefered communication method, and it should be their choice and their choice alone after exposure to various methods. Lynn was incredibly fortunate to have parents who were able to be human, and learn and grow from the experience too.
While there will be more added to this review, I will end with how glad I am that I did read this book now (Spring 2020) and that it's encouraging message continues to show parents, children, and educators that to be understood and appreciated does not depend on your ability to speak. Your intelligence does not depend on your auditory vocabulary and skills. Your heart is only limited to the ways you can express it, and may you be limitless in how you express any and all of it.