Educating Deaf Students: From Research to Practice

Even more important is the quality of information provided in this book that is critical to educators and parents of deaf children. As a deaf person and a deaf student, I wish that my parents had had this type of help available to them back in the 60's and 70's, when I was attending public school. I know they were deeply frustrated with the total lack of information concerning how to participate in my education, and why I 'learned' some things easily and well, but had problems with other things. It would be criminal for parents of deaf children today (especially hearing parents with no prior introduction to deafness), not to use this book to increase their knowledge about how their children can best be helped to learn.

The three men who wrote this book are all uniquely qualified to provide this critical information. Marschark is the prevailing voice of wisdom in educating deaf learners. His previous books have delved into the psychological and educational needs and abilities of deaf learners, and he provides fair and concise information about what is known from all fields (such as MRI studies of the brain activity in deaf learners, as well as types of communication strategies that will or will not work). Dr. Harry Lang is not only a physicist and a deaf educator, but a deaf person himself who having been through the system knows not only what it is like, but also what really needs to be done. He also provides a lot of input into the teaching of difficult subjects such as science and math. Dr. John Albertini is a professor of English whose research into intertwining of English skills into other subjects (science for example) has helped educators to use and promote English literacy throughout the entire educational experience of deaf learners. This provides a bootstrap to deaf learners to achieve literacy in other subjects... There is still a great deal of controversy concerning educating deaf and hard-of-hearing students, concerning language and the abilities of these students to learn. ...

Lest I give readers the idea that this book is written in an inaccessible manner, I want to assure them that this is not so. While it is true that writing for research journals is very different and often inaccessible to the lay person, these three authors go out of their way to make this book as easily understandable as possible. The book is research-based, not research writing. This book is an essential text for educators and librarians to buy, and it is an essential text for parents and for deaf learners themselves to read in order to help themselves...