Reviewed by :M. A. Winzer
Faculty of Education, The University of
Lethbridge. 20 May 1997
There are many apprenticeships available for professions and careers. But
none exist for that most difficult job, parenting. Few study the art--or
craft--and there are no courses to teach really practical methods of child-rearing, or to teach parents how to weather the crises, frustrated
ambitions, and periods of high stress that are common to most families.
When a child has a disability, parents face other pressures that add to the usual
stresses and strains. While stress is more severe and pervasive when a child
has a significant disability, there are also many additional demands on parents
of children with milder disabilities. Here the family may find itself on a roller
coaster of expectations, with hopes for the future alternately dashed and
raised as the child progresses or falls back. In her new book, Not Deaf
Enough: Raising a child who is hard of hearing, Patricia Candlish joins the two
themes--parenting and a child with a mild disability. In doing so, she provides
a poignant, insightful, and often funny account of raising Reid, her fourth child.
While relating her own experiences, and those of her family, Ms. Candlish
also gives the reader a wealth of information about hearing impairments. For
parents, the birth of a child brings joy and excitement. The birth ends the
period of expectations about the child and brings new challenges and responsibilities for parents as they adjust to the new family member. When
the child has a disability, or the parents suspect a disability is present, parental
aspirations are shattered. The Candlish family passed through this experience--and more. Although they suspected from the outset that Reid
had hearing problems, he was close to two years of age before amplification
was fitted.
Once a diagnosis was confirmed, Ms. Candlish relates the
reactions of siblings and the extended family. She shows how sibling relationships take on special significance when one sibling is disabled, and
how the grandparents share the same shattered aspirations as the parents.
She also illustrates how parents' discovery of their child's disability brings
them into the orbit of a number of professional disciplines.
Learning about the exceptionality is only the first of lifelong series of interactions; many families
are plunged into the world of infant stimulation, early intervention, preschools,
respite services, medical intervention, and so on. Then there are the new roles
that accompany a child with an exceptional condition--educator, lobbyist,
advocate, therapist and, of course, chauffeur. In addition, the need for special
equipment, special medical care, and special programs can bring constant
concern and frustration.
This first section of Not Deaf Enough illustrates clearly the frustrations and stresses, along with the joys, of raising a child with
a mild disability.
The second main section is more technical but covers a
spectrum from audiological assessment through to creating an effective listening environment. Further chapters examine the thorny issues of
communication modes, behaviour and discipline, and parents as teachers and
advocates.
Transition is the subject of the final section. Not Deaf Enough
should be recommended reading not only for parents of children with mild
disabilities, but for all those intervening with such children. The clarity of the
perspectives on parents' hopes and needs from professional is one of the
strongest aspects of this informative and meaningful book. The technical
information is clear and simple, without being simplistic. And the encouragement for other parents, as with as the ideas for
interveners, are stimulating and welcome.
So, that is the excellent review she wrote. She went to Kuala Lumpur
for the summer, and took my book with her to put in a library of a
school for deaf children .where it has been appreciated.
