Products & Gadgets for the Hearing Impaired

Not Deaf Enough Raising a Child Who Is Hard of Hearing With Hugs and Humor

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars This is a MUST READ for parents of hard of hearing children
This no-nonsense book is filled with practical, useful information. I highly recommend this book to all parents of hard of hearing children.

As the parent of two hard of hearing children, I have read my share of books about deafness. This is one of the best.

Amazon says the book is out of print, but I checked with the publisher …and they say they have just reprinted it and it should be available soon.

5 Stars Practical, Focused Help for Children with Hearing Problems
“Not Deaf Enough” (the title is devastating in itself,can be read on at least two levels. The first is obvious. The author, mother of a child with hearing deficiencies, gives the reader an account and the benefit of her and her famly’s experiences with the system proved deficient. The advice is practical and focussed and comes from an intelligent, tenacious, loving, resourceful and articulate woman. Candlish pulls no punches and does not pussyfoot around the problem. If you are fortunate enough not to have had a major challnege of this sort in your family, then read the book from the perspective of someone who felt that the outside world should get a return on her and her family’s investment. With any luck, this book will inspire others to give help and support to others less fortunate. There should be more books written such as this written so clearly. A third level, of course, is that the book is also a character sketch of someone who is playing the hand that she has been dealt without whining and without asking for a new deal.

5 Stars A great reference and learning tool about hearing problems.
I have just finished reading this book. I have read it cover to cover twice and I will return to it from time to time when I’m working with hearing impaired clients. I have placed it on the shelf with my nursing journals and texts for future reference. I strongly recommend that Health care and education professionals read this book as it is a great reference and learning tool for anyone who works with hearing impaired clients. I would like to see it be required reading for nurses and teachers before graduation. Patricia Ann Morgan Candlish is not only the author of this book but has lived with a child who is “not deaf enough”. She tells her story of how it is and was to raise a hard of hearing child. She discusses her personal diffculties in obtaining a diagnosis and her future roadblocks in achieving satisfactory therapy in rural Ontario post diagnosis. This book describes numerous personal experiences from a parents’ point of view and would be a wonderful asset to any home or school library. The author portrays in detail, and with humour,I might add the challenges of day to day living with a hard of hearing child. The book is well laid out; each chapter is full of material starting with the stages of grief, incliding denial and anger at being blessed with a “not so perfect baby.” As the book progresses she describes the formal and informal testing, the anatomy of the ear, hearing aids, financial stresses and sign languages versus speech reading. She describes the symptoms of hearing loss and indicators for hearing testing from the US National Institute of Health. It goes on to depict the management of temper tantrums, difficulty with education, schools, and basically how to deal with health care and educational professionals. Updated information is also available on teaching aids such as toys, books phones and computers. I would recommend this reading material not only for those working with a child who is hearing impaired, but for those working with the hard of hearing of any age. The information in this book is invaluable to all professionals of heal care and education.

5 Stars PAM’s Sister who is a Teacher Reviews Not Deaf Enough
A very worthwhile book. I had a chance to reread your book this summer and I found myself learning even more the second time around.(Actually the third time if you count the manuscript.) I always knew your life was not easy but I didn’t know just how difficult it has been. You have not only coped beautifully but managed to produce a very worthwhile work out of all your difficulties that will benefit others. Congratulations. I’m lucky to be your older sister. Your book is so easy to read, even the technical parts. I think it should be required reading for everyone in the education field. I loved the way you interspersed it with pictures. I have always been amazed at how you taught Reid to talk. You done great SIS!

Buy/More Info

Deaf Like Me

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars drf321
Very touching story of parents realizing that it is ok to have a deaf daughter and that she is no less of a person than her older brother. Many of the misconceptions are brought out in the story of their wanting nothing but the best for their daughter. Highly recommend this book for anybody that has a hearing impaired child or know of parents who are struggling with this in their family.

5 Stars Deaf Like Me - A Must Read For Parents of Deaf Children
This book, the true-life story of parents who struggle to do the best they can for their deaf child, is one of the most concise and important books ever written on this subject.

The book doesn’t tell hearing parents what decisions they should make for their deaf child, but instead tells this family’s story in an easy to read and engaging first-person narrative, written from the point of view of the child’s father.

Lynn Spradley’s revelation at the dinner table, after her parents teach her the first signs they’ve learned at a night school class, is heart breaking and revealing. ‘Name me?’ she demands to know. What is my name? Without sign language, there was no way to bridge the gap between parent and child, and she was five years old before she knew her own name.

3 Stars Good Book, But May Be Overrated
Many people find this book THE book to read in regards to a deaf child’s experience (of course, that includes her family as well). And this book is very good at showing you what a hearing family goes through when a deaf child is born into it. It tells of the “typical” struggle between raising their child strictly oral or letting them sign, too.

Many doctors and therapists tell hearing parents that to allow their deaf child to sign would be to hinder their ability to speak, lipread, or progress intellectually. All of this is hogwash, but, nevertheless, that is what this book is about. What should we do with our child?

If you’re looking for that kind of informative read, this book is sure to please. For me, it was just another book about the same old issue and I found myself skimming often just to get to something original. As harsh as that may sound, that’s just this deafie’s opinion. :v)

5 Stars Great Read
This book was required reading for my ASL class. I had heard from my classmates that it was an interesting book. As I found out for myself, it was wonderful. The lies that the “mainstream” told to the Spradleys is still evident today where kids are forced to speak, wear cochlear implants and hearing aids and deny their native language. Being able to tell your child that you love them and have them understand is paramount and by denying a deaf child their native language, they can’t “hear” you say that you love them…they have to see it.

5 Stars A universal story told in particulars–strongly recommended
“Deaf Like Me” is one of my favorite books of all time in any genre, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who comes across this page.

The book is a richly detailed autobiography of one family’s struggles to grow up with deafness in mid-1960s America. As such, it provides a terrific introduction into a key moment in the history of deaf education when deaf children were still suffering from a wrong-headed emphasis on lip reading and vocalization, rather than sign language. Members of the deaf community have long heralded the book for this reason.

But “Deaf Like Me” isn’t a book just for deaf people and others interested in deaf culture. To the contrary, I think, it’s a book for anyone who grew up in 1960s America, and possibly for anyone who has struggled to communicate with loved ones ever.

That’s because there are so many parallels between this little family’s struggles to learn how to communicate with one another against a background of changing norms and great uncertainty, and the difficulties that many American families went through in the 1960s to speak with and understand one another on issues ranging from civil rights to the Vietnam war. Such struggles afflict most generations everywhere.

None of this is to suggest that I think the authors of “Deaf Like Me” intended to write a metaphorical treatise on 1960s America much less humanity. To the contrary, I believe the authors’ sole focus was on the Spalding family’s particular struggles. One of the authors was a trained anthropologist, and that comes through in the book’s unerring attention to details as opposed to generalizations. It’s these details in large part that bring the book to life.

Nonetheless, as a hearing person with no deaf family members, I found myself identifying with this book a lot. I suffered as the little girl Lynn and her parents suffered. And I rejoiced in their discovery that everyone in the family can express themselves and be understood if only they learn to “hear” one another in the different ways that each of us has to communicate.

Strongly recommended.

Buy/More Info