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From: James.Womack@f14.n300.z1.fidonet.org (James Womack)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Lipreading
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Date: 9 Feb 91 05:20:16 GMT
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[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

Anne, I didn't say lipreading or speechreading can't work. It is a
waste of time for most truly deaf people. English by its nature is
rarely mastered by a profoundly deaf person. Such a person from childhood
should have a mastered language so the second language can be learned.

 You get children in school who don't even know the word "cup" or much
of anything else. Here in Arizona, we keep getting high school kids
from mainstreaming programs. Their parents grew frightened when they
saw their children approaching graduation and lacked very fundamental
skills or knowledge. They send them to ASDB. Needless to say, there
isn't a great deal we can do for them by that time. However,parents
often do say they see a big change inthose kids level of confidence,
willingness-watch carefully now-willingness to go to school and see
them beginnng to pick up on some of the things they just didn;t get
academically in the public school system. Masny of those parents begin
going to the local community college to take sign language so they
can be a part of their child's life in the communicative sense that
they wer enot before. I see this over and over. In enough numbers for
me to say that this emphasis on speech while stubbornly disregarding
the child's need for a visually based non-phonetic language is costingthe
child dearly.

Itis always interesting for me to meet these kids and realize yet again
that the interaction I have with our regular deaf kids can't happen
with the mainstreamed one (except in special cases). You can't tell
a joke, you can't give basic instructions (I speak rather well as I
became deaf at age 13) and their frustration level is so low that they
give up almost readily when faced wih academic challenges.

Anne, there are lots of exceptions, I am sure. However, hearing people
and hearing minded people who insist on emphasizing speech , esecially
from the early age of the deaf child are doing that child a disservice.
Recentl research by people like Dr. Supalla and others is showing that
after the first 4-5 years, the mind seems to lose some of its unique
and accelerated ability to absorb language. In short, by failing to
provide the young child with a language that fits the need (visually
based and unburdened by intangibles such as phonetics) denies the child
a fully mastered and masterable language on which to build a knowledge
base to bring to school and build on. Strictly oral methods are robing
deaf children. I would not suggest dumping oral eductaion wholeheartedly.
Thee are deafened people whodo benefit from such instruction. Therefore
they should have access to it.

Rather recently, i have become acquainted with a strikingly beautiful
young lady at the University of Arizona. She is a lot like you. She
is prfoundly deaf, orally educated, very smart, very articulate and
a lot of other things. She is also in awe of what she is learning about
herself as a deaf person and of ASL. She seems to be almost starved
for it. She talks about what she has missed and want to make up for
and all that. Tome, it is just one more of many cases like that. I
have met so many people like this over the years that I feel it is
just demonstrated proof that deaf kids are being robbed of knowledge
and education. By the way, she is a darn good writer. She is also so
good at lipreading that I and hearing people thought she was hearing.
i got tipped off when I watched her , really watched her for the first
time. Her slightly exaggerated mouth movements tipped me off.

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