Helping Children Who Are Deaf: Family and community support for children who do not hear well
by Sandy Neimann, Devorah Greenstein and Darlena David
Published March 2004, paperback, 250 pages, illustrated; English ed. ISBN: 0-942364-44-9
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Children who are deaf need extra help learning either a spoken or sign language, so that they can develop their thinking, learn to communicate, solve problems, and explore and interact with the world.
Helping Children Who Are Deaf supports parents and other caregivers in building the communication skills of babies and young children. Packed with activities on how to foster language learning through both sign and oral approaches, this groundbreaking book explains ways to adapt activities and exercises for both a child's specific abilities and needs, and a family's unique circumstances. The book also explores how deafness affects a child's ability to learn language, as well as develop mentally and socially.
Developed in partnership with families of children who are deaf or cannot hear well, community-based disability organizations, deaf adults, teachers, health workers and other experts in over 17 countries, Helping Children Who Are Deaf is practical, accessible and appropriate across varied conditions and cultures.
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"This book will make a world of difference for so many deaf children... It is an excellent resource for teaching families, communities, and health workers how to make l anguage accessible to deaf children so that they can learn about, understand, and interact with the world around them." -Amy Wilson, Program Director International Development Certificate, Gallaudet University
"The Hesperian Foundation has done it again. The second book in the Early Assistance Series for Children with Disabilities, Helping Children Who Are Deaf , is fulfilling one's expectations of quality and practical applicability in a publication from the Hesperian Foundation. This book presents parents and caregivers of young children with hearing impairment a well-balanced and extremely practical help to understand hearing impairment in young children and what to do about it. While the book is primarily written for parents and caregivers, it is just as useful for teachers and community workers who have no prior knowledge about how to interact with and teach children with hearing impairment. The layout and illustrations supporting the carefully worded text help to convey the message of the book and make it easy to use.
The book's emphasis on deafness as a community issue is a particular strong theme that is reinforced by many useful suggestions throughout the book. Also, the key issues of communication, interaction and language are dealt with in a convincing, very positive and caring way. The use of hearing aids and even cochlear implants are discussed in a practical way.
Considering the overweight of children with hearing impairments especially in the developing countries, this book is meeting a long overdue need and I for one cannot wait to put it to use." -Birgit Dyssegaard, Educational and Clinical Psychologist, External Consultant to the Danish International Development Assistance (Danida) in Special Needs and Inclusive Education
"We would recommend this book for use in helping children who cannot hear well because it uses simple language and the examples used are the usual day-to-day activities that are used in everyday life - people can relate to them without any problem." -Uganda Society for Disabled Children
