Chapter 26 :)

Why Don't Some Deaf People like to Read?                                                             

     Chapter 26 was a longer chapter that was full of interesting, useful, and sensitive information. This chapter provides so much information on how Deaf-oral education and Deaf literacy education. There was lots of information about past unsuccessful methods for teaching English to ASL users, but I am really interested in the methods used currently to teach Deaf people English. 
In the opening of the chapter there were a number of reasons listed that suggested why some Deaf people don't like to read. A couple of the reasons that really stuck out to me were that: there was a "language deprivation during the earliest years" of the person's life. This concept has been brought up multiple times in this book. I just can't imagine how difficult it would be to try to essentially be forced to learn two new languages (ASL and English) later in life after not being previously being exposed to any formal language. Another reason that stuck out to me was the idea that there is "low expectations for deaf students" in schools. This is really sad to me that the education system could have low expectations for a student! In my opinion I think that Deaf people are just as intelligent as anyone, they just learn differently. I mean of course spelling will be more difficult because you can’t encourage Deaf students to sound words out that they have never heard.   
    There were two common misconceptions about deaf people that this chapter outlined: the “silent book worm”, and “the illiterate dork.” I agree with the authors on this in the aspect that, the silent book worm misconception came from people thinking that the deaf couldn’t enjoy music, radio, television, or chats so they much love to read became adapted. The latter of the two misconceptions is much more ignorant and disappointing. I think I think this chapter presents the concept perfectly when it says “literacy skills are not a true gauge of intelligence.” I think this misconception came from hearing people seeing that some deaf people don’t like to read so they made the stereotype that Deaf people can’t read.
The “battle” of literacy versus speech-therapy is a little sad to me. I am a future speech-language pathologist so of course I think that speech- therapy can provide people with great benefits. After reading this chapter and considering the pros and cons of each I think literacy should come before or accompany speech therapy. I feel this way because reading will help Deaf people for their rest of their lives. Literacy will help Deaf people stay better informed, and possibly feel more comfortable writing and spelling. I have read that even if speech-language therapy is effective for Deaf individuals, they often never voice.
The story in chapter 26 about the Deaf man who struggled with reading was very eye opening for me. It breaks my heart that the hearing teachers looked down on their students. Deaf of hearing any educational professional should respect their students and encourage them. His suggestions for what may have helped him learn English better were so simple, it is disappointing that his teachers gave not positive feedback to their students, and especially accept the students ASL. I can not imagine having a teacher that did not accept my native language; it is a part of who I am. This story is another reminder of the importance of good quality and good hearted teachers.
    Something I read in this chapter that I had never known before is that in the past, Deaf students were sent to the library as punishment!! This seems so crazy to me because if you punish a child in the library then how can you expect them to ever go to that place for knowledge or see books as being interesting? Another new concept mentioned in this chapter is that “many deaf viewers watch, but don’t understand TV captioning. But then again it goes so fast, and is English structure how could we?