Rating: 
Summary: A Very Touching Story
Review: As the mother of a hearing impaired child, I highly recommend this book. I read it shortly after our son's diagnosis (in April of 1996) at the age of one year. Although we were just beginning this remarkable journey of raising a child with a disability, I found great comfort in the struggles and triumphs of this loving family. It was easy to identify with their need to communicate with their child. And I agree completely with their choice to use a mode of commuication which is easiest for the child. Over the past 2 1/2 years, we have come to the conclusion that we must adapt our world to meet the needs of our child, rather than expecting him to adapt to ours without the necessary tools. I applaud this family for their courageous decision!
Rating:
Summary: Very important book for parents of hearing impaired children
Review: As the mother of a hearing impaired child, I highly recommend this book. I read it shortly after our son's diagnosis (in April of 1996) at the age of one year. Although we were just beginning this remarkable journey of raising a child with a disability, I found great comfort in the struggles and triumphs of this loving family. It was easy to identify with their need to communicate with their child. And I agree completely with their choice to use a mode of commuication which is easiest for the child. Over the past 2 1/2 years, we have come to the conclusion that we must adapt our world to meet the needs of our child, rather than expecting him to adapt to ours without the necessary tools. I applaud this family for their courageous decision!
Rating:
Summary: Book Report and Opinion Analysis
Review: DEAF LIKE ME A BOOK REPORT AND OPINION ANALYSIS I would give this book four stars. The characters kept me riveted page after page. The issues the family dealt with were so real, difficult and yet had to be approached. Here is my version of this book and my opinions regarding it from my perspective.This was a book about a family struggling with many different aspects of character and life issues. The first and most important being Speech and Language. Without Speech and Language and an ability to communicate what does a person have? First I will review the story. This is about an average family who must undergo the frustrating issues of dealing with a disability. Disability from the normal patterns of everyday life. Here the person and persons affected first dealt with the dehabilitating effects of the disease Rubella during pregnancy, which is still very harsh on pregnant woman. Thank God for MMR shots - Measles Mumps and Rubella vaccines which our children have today. I could empathize with the Mrs. Spradley during this ordeal, she had to deal with this outbreak of Rubella and the normal pressures and fears of pregnancy. She conferred with supposed experts looking for divine guidance to let her know that everything was all right and yet no such intervention was forthcoming. Just the normal fears that come with pregnancy can be overwhelming. Here she had to deal with a very real possibility that something could be amiss. To her credit she pursued all avenues of logical alternatives and made a sound decision based on the many parameters of facts to which she exposed herself. She was blessed with a beautiful baby girl which her and her husband named Lynn. Everything seemed perfect with baby Lynn. She seemed to respond to her brothers attentions her mothers attentions and her fathers administrations. It wasn't until one day during a fourth of July Parade that Lynn did not respond to fire engines which were wailingly loud that the parents, particularly her mother knew that ! things were amiss...The patience, the love the frustration and the determination to have their daughter assimilate into the hearing world are what the rest of the book is about. The dedication they had to their daughter is astounding. Things that so many take for granted so hard for them to come by. Just the word "Ball, Ball, Ball" a one syllable repetitive sound repeated one zillion times and still not able to be interpreted by Lynn. Here are some hard facts that the parents had to deal with. In the argument of oralist verses sign language it seemed terribly abusive for the parents to tie the child's hands so they could not gesture and yet, as with any parent when you are so focused on an ideal you try not to see the negative side. Lynn's breakthrough in her life came as she became older. Her parents were courageous enough to want to try to help and understand her and they went against the mainstream philosophy of oral! ism and explored other avenues in which to proceed in helping their child overcome communication frustration. -2- The second page of this report is my ideas, opinions and ideas of what I felt toward this book. First I must give you a parameter of why and where my opinions come from. First I am not a parent or sibling or child of someone deaf in my family. I am however interested in the deaf and deaf culture and am a student of such. Therefore, this book was an assignment. Much to my co-students dismay, after reading this book and following Lynn's progress with speech therapy and signing and the opening of communication had Lynn been my child I still would have taken the oralist approach. I feel that I might have been more receptive to signing but I would have still tried to have my child learn to lip-read to assimilate into the hearing world. As a student of the deaf culture and knowing some deaf persons I feel that the deaf who can communicate even in the most rudimentary fashion with the hearing populace tend to be able to cross and navigate both worlds. Whereas, the deaf that have consigned themselves to muteness, either due to not being able to articulate the sounds or via choice are relegated to the deaf culture and only the deaf culture. If Lynn were my child I would have wanted her to have a choice. If she chose the deaf culture and was able to articulate sounds than that would be her choice, if she chose the deaf culture because she could not articulate the sounds because the speech was too intricate than at least I would know that I had tried everything I could possibly do to mainstream my child into a non-disabled populace. Herein lies the premise of this book... I know in my studies this is not the most popular view, but if it were my daughter or my son I would want to give them every possible opportunity to mainstream before they ended up with only sign language. However, I do realize that sign is a total language in itself and I do respect that.
Rating: 
Summary: Honest example of raising a deaf child in the hearing world
Review: Deaf Like Me is a story of 2 young parents struggling to raise their deaf daughter, Lynn, in a hearing world. Written by Thomas Spradley, Lynn's father, the book begins before Lynn was born with her mother's fear of rubella. The book takes you through the fear and waiting for the pregnancy and the eventual realization of Lynn's deafness. The story is written in a simple, straightforward manner, yet conveys the emotions of the new parents. The descriptions Thomas gives are often lacking in vibrancy and inventive vocabulary, but at the same time he conveys honest, true-to-life emotion.
The first 80% of the book is focused on the Spradley's attempts to raise Lynn to succeed in the hearing world. Thomas agonizingly describes the auditory training and constant schooling that he and his wife give Lynn, only to have her barely speaking 4 words at the age of 5. The constant movement of the family portrays varying experiences that Lynn and her parents go through as they try to teach her lip-reading and speech. It is not until the last 2 chapters that the Spradleys finally realize that communication with their daughter is more important than their dreams for her success as a `normal' hearing person and begin teaching her sign. These last two chapters show Lynn's character developing its own independent personality. Lynn also begins to explore a new deaf culture that neither her nor her parents have any experience.
My fault with the book as that I feel it ends just as the story becomes interesting. The eighteen chapters of oralism, which are shocking and disturbing, are painful lesson in futility. An impatient reader would most certainly give up on the book after the seemingly thousands of failed attempts at oralism. The dedicated reader however, is rewarded with touching moments of a family that finds its `normalcy' through the common language of sign.
Rating:
Summary: Honest example of raising a deaf child in the hearing world
Review: Deaf Like Me is a story of 2 young parents struggling to raise their deaf daughter, Lynn, in a hearing world. Written by Thomas Spradley, Lynn's father, the book begins before Lynn was born with her mother's fear of rubella. The book takes you through the fear and waiting for the pregnancy and the eventual realization of Lynn's deafness. The story is written in a simple, straightforward manner, yet conveys the emotions of the new parents. The descriptions Thomas gives are often lacking in vibrancy and inventive vocabulary, but at the same time he conveys honest, true-to-life emotion.
The first 80% of the book is focused on the Spradley's attempts to raise Lynn to succeed in the hearing world. Thomas agonizingly describes the auditory training and constant schooling that he and his wife give Lynn, only to have her barely speaking 4 words at the age of 5. The constant movement of the family portrays varying experiences that Lynn and her parents go through as they try to teach her lip-reading and speech. It is not until the last 2 chapters that the Spradleys finally realize that communication with their daughter is more important than their dreams for her success as a 'normal' hearing person and begin teaching her sign. These last two chapters show Lynn's character developing its own independent personality. Lynn also begins to explore a new deaf culture that neither her nor her parents have any experience.
My fault with the book as that I feel it ends just as the story becomes interesting. The eighteen chapters of oralism, which are shocking and disturbing, are painful lesson in futility. An impatient reader would most certainly give up on the book after the seemingly thousands of failed attempts at oralism. The dedicated reader however, is rewarded with touching moments of a family that finds its 'normalcy' through the common language of sign.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Touching Story
Review: I loved this book! I couldn't put it down! It was very detailed, but not too detailed. Deaf Like Me is such a great book because it's true! It makes you laugh, and cry. Sometimes you feel like jumping into the book to comfort this man, who went through such an emosional experience!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book, But May Be Overrated
Review: Many people find this book THE book to read in regards to a deaf child's experience (of course, that includes her family as well). And this book is very good at showing you what a hearing family goes through when a deaf child is born into it. It tells of the "typical" struggle between raising their child strictly oral or letting them sign, too. Many doctors and therapists tell hearing parents that to allow their deaf child to sign would be to hinder their ability to speak, lipread, or progress intellectually. All of this is hogwash, but, nevertheless, that is what this book is about. What should we do with our child? If you're looking for that kind of informative read, this book is sure to please. For me, it was just another book about the same old issue and I found myself skimming often just to get to something original. As harsh as that may sound, that's just this deafie's opinion. :v)
Rating:
Summary: A personal story, artfully told, with lessons for all.
Review: Over 90% of deaf children born in the U.S. have hearing parents, and perhaps the first thing those parents learn is that the single word "deaf" is unable to convey the wide range of hearing losses lumped under "deaf", and with it the consequently wide range of options which deaf people have for dealing with life. Since each deaf story is so unique, though, it is all the more wonderful that the Spradley family was able to tell the highly individualistic story of their deaf daughter Lynn (now a young adult) in such a way that it holds the interest of, and teaches invaluable lessons to, the families of other deaf children, regardless of their particular situation. Curious how one family can learn things about itself by reading the story of another family, but that's what happened with us. This "humane" book is also a welcome break from the reams of technical reading which most hearing parents must plow through as part of helping their deaf children. I recommend it warmly.
Rating:
Summary: A personal story, artfully told, with lessons for all.
Review: Over 90% of deaf children in the US have hearing parents, and perhaps the first thing those parents learn is that the single word "deaf" is unable to convey the wide range of hearing losses lumped under the term "deaf", and with that, the consequently wide range of options that Deaf people have for dealing with life. Since each Deaf story is so uniquie, though, it is all the more wonderful that the Spradley family was able to tell the highly individualistic story of their deaf daughter Lynn (now a young adult) in such way that it holds the interest of, and teaches valuable lessons to, the families of other deaf chidlren, regardless of their particular situation. Curious how one family can learn things about itself while reading the story of another family, but that's what happened with us. This more "humane" book is also welcome break from the reams of more techical reading that most hearing parents must plow through as part of helping their deaf children. I recommend this book warmly.
Rating:
Summary: A Landmark Book
Review: Tell-alls by parents of disabled kids is a genre now, but when Deaf Like Me first was published, it was an unusual book for the market. The story is of the Spradley family, and daughter Lynn, who is one of many children born Deaf in the US in the late sixties and early seventies, the result of an epidemic of Rubella (German Measles). At the time Lynn's deafness was diagnosed, the common wisdom among hearing professionals was that children born deaf should not be exposed to any kind of sign language, and instead should receive intensive tutoring, even as infants, in speaking and speechreading. Although the tide would turn soon, the Spradleys had no way of anticipating that; they embarked on an odyssey of trying to teach Lynn to speak, and with a hearing aid, and by watching intently, to appear to listen as a hearing child. After many years of pouring words into Lynn, with the promise from the experts that one day Lynn would finally pour the words back out, the Spradleys are frustrated with not being able to talk to their daughter. Lynn is several years old, and becoming a discipline problem. Then one day, the Spradleys meet a five year old, signing Deaf child, a child who not only communicates with her parents, but makes jokes. The Spradleys are forced to reconsider years of expert advice balanced against one little girl who can talk to her parents, where their daughter cannot. How the Spradleys learn to stand on their own, and disregard the experts, even in the face of some heavy censure, is the story of heroism. This is a book to own, because you will want to return to it again and again.
| 
