Choices in Deafness: A Parents' Guide to Communication Options

Rating:
Summary: Choices in Deafness
Review: As a mom with a one year old newly diagnosed as severely deaf, I found this book very helpful. After going online and learning of all the controversy surrounding deaf issues,it was refreshing to find a book that gave equal time to differing views. This book led me to making the choice that is right for our child and our family. I loved that it gave professional veiwpoints for each language-learning option, as well as the story of a family that chose each of the various options.

Rating:
Summary: Choices in Deafness
Review: As a mom with a one year old newly diagnosed as severely deaf, I found this book very helpful. After going online and learning of all the controversy surrounding deaf issues,it was refreshing to find a book that gave equal time to differing views. This book led me to making the choice that is right for our child and our family. I loved that it gave professional veiwpoints for each language-learning option, as well as the story of a family that chose each of the various options.

Rating:
Summary: review of 1st edition
Review: Disclaimer: I have only looked at the first edition of this book. The fact that this one has follow-ups on the kids in the first edition sounds really interesting. I am the parent of a deaf three-year-old. My only criticism of the first edition is that it makes all of the educational choices sound great. While it's nice to hear success stories, it doesn't really help with the decision-making process. What we parents need is crystal balls that will let us see the future for our individual children! But short of such technology, this book helps one see the positive aspects of the various approaches.

Rating:
Summary: review of 1st edition
Review: Disclaimer: I have only looked at the first edition of this book. The fact that this one has follow-ups on the kids in the first edition sounds really interesting. I am the parent of a deaf three-year-old. My only criticism of the first edition is that it makes all of the educational choices sound great. While it's nice to hear success stories, it doesn't really help with the decision-making process. What we parents need is crystal balls that will let us see the future for our individual children! But short of such technology, this book helps one see the positive aspects of the various approaches.

Rating:
Summary: Shane Feldman's my favorite chapter
Review: I think this book is a plus for unsure parents.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I'm one of the people who was published in this book, under the Cued Speech section, and I did add a supplement to it. I think this book is a MUST read by any new parent of a deaf child. It presents a clear, un-biased outline of all options available for your child, (although I'm biased and believe that the Cued Speech option is a no-brainer. :-) but its still a excellent book and well-written and edited. Kudos to Sue Schwartz!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I'm one of the people who was published in this book, under the Cued Speech section, and I did add a supplement to it. I think this book is a MUST read by any new parent of a deaf child. It presents a clear, un-biased outline of all options available for your child, (although I'm biased and believe that the Cued Speech option is a no-brainer. :-) but its still a excellent book and well-written and edited. Kudos to Sue Schwartz!

Rating:
Summary: Objective, accurate, readable, thank you, Susan Schwartz!
Review: Second only to Paul Ogden's "Silent Garden" (which treats of a broader range of issues than does "Choices") this is the most balanced and readable book specifically dealing with deaf education and communications options that we (hearing parents of profoundly deaf toddler) have yet found. There is a very good mix of professional articles and actual parental stories, recently supplemented by updates from the children themselves, now mostly grown. This is the only book of its kind that we have seen that provides actual audiograms for most stundets/subjects, something hearing parents MUST have in order to relate the stories in "Choices" to THEIR kids' situation. (I only wish AIDED audiograms had been consistently included as well, since those are nearly as important as basic audiograms.) I dont suggest tinkering with success, but I do think somewhat more information on the failure rates for given options should have been given, since it is far too easy for us as parents to imagine OUR child as being the succesful student portrayed in each section, thus short-chaging the down-side risks of each option. Also, it might have been nice if a few more stories of deaf people who DIDNT live in Maryland at some point in their life could have been included. That's hardly a real criticsm, though, and I conclude by this book highly.

Rating:
Summary: Objective, accurate, readable, thank you Susan Schwartz!
Review: Second only to Paul Ogden's "The Silent Garden" (which treats a broader range of deafness issues than does "Choices"), this is the most balanced and readable book specifically on deaf education and communication options we (hearing parents of a profoundly deaf toddler) have yet found. There is a very good mix of professional articles and actual parental stories, recently supplemented by up-dates from the children themselves, now mostly grown. This is the only book of its kind we've seen that provides actual audiograms for most of the student/subjects, something hearing parents MUST have in order to relate the stories in "Choices" to THEIR child's situation. (I only wish AIDED audiograms had been consistently included as well, since those are nearly as important as basic audiograms). I don't suggest tinkering with success, but I do think somewhat more information on failure rates for the given options would have been helpful, since it's too easy for us as parents to imagine OUR child being the successful student portrayed in each section, thus short-changing the downside risks. Also, it might be nice if a few more stories of deaf people who DIDN'T live in Maryland at some point in their lives could be included. That's hardly a real criticism, though, and I conclude by recommending the book highly.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: This book is invaluable for any parent choosing a communication option for their child. The author takes an unbiased look at the following communication options: Auditory-Verbal, Bilingual-Bicultural, Cued Speech, Oral, and Total Communication. Each option contains an outline of the option, and stories of three or four children who are using this option. The stories are written by the children's parents which helps give us an insight into how they chose the option that was right for their child. For those children who were covered in the first edition of this book, this second edition includes a "Where I Am Today" written by the now grown children.