Helping Children Who Are Deaf

Helping Children Who Are Deaf
Family and community support for children who do not hear well
by Sandy Neimann, Devorah Greenstein and Darlena David
paperback
250 pages, illustrated
English ed. ISBN: 0-942364-44-9

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.

The second book in Hesperian's Early Assistance Series, 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.

Topics include:

• how to assess hearing loss
• education for hearing-impaired children
• causes of deafness
• how to work on the social skills of a deaf child
• support for parents and caregivers
• how communities can work together to help deaf children

Related Materials

• Download the complete table of contents and sample chapters on our Free Downloads page.
• If you are interested in books regarding children and disability, we encourage you to read more about our books Helping Children Who Are Blind and Disabled Village Children.
• (Spanish ed. not yet available)

What people have to say about Helping Children Who Are Deaf:

"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 language 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

"The use of language in the pages is appropriate as it is simple to understand. The stories actually show the frustrations parents go through and the struggles they face in order to come to terms with their child's handicapping conditions."
-Ashanti School for the Deaf
Ghana

"Helping Children Who Are Deaf helps to de-mystify deafness for parents, teachers, community based rehabilitation and health workers. This lively and interactive resource book addresses complex subjects, such as audiology, language development, sign language, causes of hearing loss, educational provision, and hearing aids in a straightforward and accessible way. I particularly like the sign, speech and thought bubbles in the illustrations. The book is an important reference book for those working in contexts which have limited access to information and material resources."
-Susie Miles
EENET - Enabling Education Network
Educational Support and Inclusion, School of Education, University of Manchester

"The importance of communication is stressed sufficiently throughout the book and advice on how to communicate using different methods is clearly explained. The book is practical and useful for a variety of conditions, cultures, and contexts."
-Elina Lehtomaki, University of Jyvaskyla
Department of Special Education, Finland

"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