Deaf Like Me by Thomas S. Spradley and James P. Spradley

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Recommended: Deaf discrimination history

Have you ever felt like there was nothing that you can do for your child? In the book, Deaf Like Me, by Thomas S. Spradley and James P. Spradley, I can the journey that Lynn’s parents had to take to get her help. This book was excellent I really liked the way that they described the ways that they tried to help Lynn to understand the world around her. In this book, I also saw how a mother and father will do anything for their child so that they can understand all that is around them. This book, is also a great asset to any family that might be unexpectedly thrown into a situation that they do not expect such as a deaf child.
The author Thomas S. Spadley is Lynn’s father. He is the one that was with them all the time and saw all that his wife Louise wanted to try for their daughter to hear. I think that he has many qualifications as a father to write this book. A father perspective is needed throughout this book, so that the reader can see the intensity of what the family is going through. Also, the reader gets a chance to see from his perspective what he sees and how he handles it. Being a Math Professor, the reader can also see that he does not have the time and exactly right as he goes from one age to another. So as the reader I was surprised to see that later on in the book that James P. Spradely, Lynn’s uncle also got involved and helped write the book.
James P. Spradely, as being the Uncle and co-author of this book, I think that also his perspective is also important in that he is an outsider in the family. His perspective is so different from what the family saw on a daily basis, since he did not live with Lynn. As the reader also, I see how he was needed to help edit the book so that all the things that where importan...

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...e start of the first things that where started for the deaf community and now we see the changes that have happened over the years. The people that should read this book are families that are just diagnosed with deafness, this is a helpful resource for them to see and also it will give them an idea of what is out there for help. I think that everyone should read this book and be able to see what the deaf community is about so they do not judge them because they are different in our society tells us all that we have to be the same. With this book the reader can see that we are sometimes different. I really think that this book put all these things into a different perspective for me and will for other families that might come across this situation themselves.

Works Cited

Spradley, T. S., & Spradley, J. P. (1978). Deaf Like Me. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University.

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