MOTHER OF A DEAF CHILD ***

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WHAT THE MOTHER OF A DEAF CHILD OUGHT TO KNOW

BY

JOHN DUTTON WRIGHT

FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL OF THE WRIGHT ORAL SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, NEW YORK CITY; COLLABORATOR OF "THE LARYNGO- SCOPE" AND THE "VOLTA REVIEW"; DIRECTOR OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION TO PROMOTE THE TEACHING OF SPEECH TO THE DEAF; AUTHOR OF "EDUCA- TIONAL NEEDS OF THE DEAF," FOR THE GUIDANCE OF PHYSICIANS

[Illustration: Logo]

NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS

_Copyright, 1915, by_

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

_All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages_

_March, 1915_

TO MY WIFE

AT WHOSE SUGGESTION THIS LITTLE BOOK WAS WRITTEN IN ORDER THAT MOTHERS MAY DO ALL IN THEIR POWER FOR THEIR DEAF CHILDREN

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE PREFACE ix-xix

I. FACING THE FACTS 1

II. HOW SHALL THE MOTHER BEGIN HER PART OF THE WORK? 5

III. HOW SHALL THE MOTHER GET INTO COMMUNICATION WITH HER DEAF CHILD? 13

IV. WHAT ABOUT THE BABY'S SPEECH? 20

V. DEVELOPING THE MENTAL FACULTIES 22

VI. DEVELOPING THE LUNGS 30

VII. THE CULTIVATION OF CREATIVE IMAGINATION 32

VIII. FURTHER TESTS OF HEARING 34

IX. THE DEVELOPMENT OF RESIDUAL HEARING 38

X. DEVELOPING THE POWER OF LIP-READING 43

XI. FORMING CHARACTER 47

XII. CULTIVATING THE SOCIAL INSTINCT 50

XIII. SOMETHING ABOUT SCHOOLS AND METHODS 53

XIV. THE PRESERVATION OF SPEECH. WHEN DEAFNESS RESULTS FROM ACCIDENT OR ILLNESS AFTER INFANCY 58

XV. TEACHING LIP-READING 61

XVI. SCHOOL AGE 63

XVII. ORGANIZED EFFORTS BY PARENTS TO OBTAIN BETTER EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS 65

XVIII. A PERSONAL MATTER FOR EACH PARENT 68

XIX. DAY SCHOOLS 72

XX. THE DEAF CHILD AT FIVE YEARS OF AGE 73

XXI. SCHOOLS FOR THE HEARING AND PRIVATE GOVERNESSES 75

XXII. IMPORTANCE OF THE BEGINNING 80

XXIII. AVOID THE YOUNG AND INEXPERIENCED TEACHER 82

XXIV. ON ENTERING SCHOOL 83

XXV. DURING THE SCHOOL PERIOD 98

XXVI. DURING VACATION 101

XXVII. SOME NOTS 107

PREFACE

The mother of a little deaf child once wrote as follows:

"As a mother of a deaf child, and one whose experience has been unusual only in that it has been more fortunate than that of the average mother so situated, I want to place before you (the teachers of the deaf) a plea for the education of the parents of little deaf children.

"While you are laboring for the education of the deaf, and for their sakes are training teachers to carry on the work, there are, in almost every home that shelters a little deaf child, blunders being made that will retard his development and hinder your work for years to come--blunders that a little timely advice might prevent. We parents are not willfully ignorant, not always stupidly so; but that we are in most cases densely so, there can be no doubt.

"Can you for the moment put yourselves into our place? Suppose you are just the ordinary American parents, perhaps living far from the center of things. You know in a hazy way that there are deaf and blind and other afflicted people--perhaps you have seen some of them.

"Now, into your home comes disease or a sudden awakening to the meaning of existing conditions, and you find that _your_ child is _deaf_.

"At first your thought is of physicians; they fail you. Advice from friends and advertisements from quacks pour in upon you; still you find no comfort and no help.

"You stop talking to the child. What is the use? He cannot hear you! You pity him--oh, infinitely! And your pity takes the form of indulgence. You love him and you long to understand him; but you cannot interpret him and he feels the change, the helplessness in your attitude toward him. You try one thing after another, floundering desperately in your effort to discover what radical step must be taken to meet this emergency. After a time you seize upon the idea that seems to you the best. Probably it is to wait until he is six or seven and then put him into an institution. But while you wait for school age to arrive, you lose that close touch with the soul of your child which may be established only in these early years, for you have no adequate means of communication with him--no way to win his confidence. Soon the child has passed this stage, and no school can ever give him what you might and would have given had you known how.

"You who are trained teachers of the deaf can hardly realize the need of advice about matters perfectly obvious to YOU; but the need exists.