VOICES OF HOPE
Collated by Estelle Gerrett, LSLS Cert AVT
Through frank personal accounts, thirteen families share the challenges and joy of teaching their profoundly deaf children to listen (with cochlear implants) and to speak. Each journey is different, reflecting the diversity of deafness, and the families’ different cultures and aspirations for their children. The families describe what it was like at the start, when they did not know what the future held for their children or what might be possible, and how far they have come since those fraught early days.
As a resource for newly diagnosed families, and the professionals who support them, this book is both inspiring and reassuring, whilst being open and honest about the obstacles faced along the way.
“…a book that talks of passion, determination, and raw courage.”
~ Anna Ackerman, former CEO, The Hearing House
“Many people still have low expectations of what deaf children can achieve and many do not know that a profoundly deaf child can learn to talk as well as a hearing child. The stories in this book show what is possible and why we can and should have much higher expectations for deaf children and young people around the world.”
~ Anita Grover, CEO, Auditory Verbal UK
Collated by Estelle Gerrett, an Auditory Verbal therapist with thirty years’ experience of working with profoundly deaf children, including her own son, ‘Voices of Hope’ features personal accounts from a range of families who have faced different diagnoses and different social and cultural challenges. One thing all the families have in common is that they have worked – sometimes against enormous odds – to give their deaf children the best listening and spoken language outcome they could achieve through the communication mode of Auditory Verbal therapy.
The book acknowledges that sign language is also a full and rich language of its own, and that choosing a communication approach for their deaf child(ren) is an intensely personal decision for each and every family, not to be judged by others. But for those families who wish to follow a listening and spoken language approach, this book is a beacon of hope, showing how – with a lot of hard work from all involved – their deaf children can be part of the hearing, speaking world.
A personal introduction from Estelle Gerrett
Hi,
I have had the privilege of collating this book of stories written by some of the families I have worked with during my career. I have tried to choose a range of families who have faced different diagnoses and different social and cultural challenges, but all have worked to give their children the best spoken outcome they could achieve through the communication mode of Auditory Verbal Therapy.
My name is Estelle, and I am an Auditory Verbal Therapist and mother to three children, now adults. I am passionate about promoting listening and speaking for deaf children to enable them to be full members of a hearing community. My eldest son contracted meningitis at the age of one and was left profoundly deaf. This was a life-changing moment for our family – a moment similar to that faced by all the families in this book.
I embarked on this project because I wanted to have a resource for newly diagnosed families that was both inspiring and reassuring whilst being open and frank about the challenges faced along the way. The stories represent families from The Hearing House, New Zealand and Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK) in the United Kingdom, as these are the two centres I have worked in.
Most parents who have deaf children are hearing and speaking, and usually crave a spoken outcome for their children. Most have never experienced deafness in their family, and many imagine that the only way to communicate with a deaf person is through sign language. If sign is the family’s choice, then it is a full and rich language of its own, but if a spoken language is the family’s desire, then learning to listen at an early age will be vital as the foundation for learning to speak.
These thirteen stories present just a small cameo of experiences, which I hope will help readers to understand a little more about Auditory Verbal Therapy and, if they choose to follow this path, to give them hope that their deaf child can be part of the hearing, speaking world.
Estelle Gerrett, LSLS Cert AVT, M.Ed HI, B.Ed (Hons) CAES
