f\ ^ l f Wi(liQ'»r) j-. (~ The Wew/c/ .. . /4-DV 6>6#7 THE WORLD OF SILENCE THE PROBLEM OF THE DEAF AND THE HARD OF HEARING REV. WILLIAM F. REILLY Director of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Archdiocese of San Francisco New York, N. Y. THE PAULIST PRESS 401 West 59th Street THE WORLD OF SILENCE THE PROBLEM OF THE DEAF AND THE HARD OF HEARING BY Rev. William F. Reilly Director of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Archdiocese of San Francisco New York THE PAULIST PRESS 401 West 59th Street Nihil Obstat: Lyman A. Fenn, S.S., D.D., Censor Deputatus. Imprimatur : John J. Mitty, Archbishop of San Francisco. February 2, 1940. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED IN THE U. S. A. BY THE PAULIST PRESS, NEW YORK, N. Y. Deacfdified TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Foreword 5 Understanding of and Respect for World of Silence needed. A twofold problem. PART I THE DEAF A. Deafness and What Can Be Done for the Deaf 1. Causes of Deafness 7 2. Much Can Be Done for the Deaf 9 B . The Deaf Child at School 1. Problem to Be Faced 11 2. Two Methods of Education 13 3. Claims of Pure Oralists . . . . . . .14 4. Advantages of Pure Oralism 14 5. Difficulties of Pure Oralism 15 6. Utility of Combined Method 16 7. Deliberation in Selecting Type of School . . .19 C. Catholic Schools for the Deaf 1. Any Catholic Education Aims at Complete Man . . 20 2. Important Educational Channel Closed to Deaf . .21 3. Church Recognized Need of Catholic Schools for the Deaf 21 4. Corollary: Need of Societies for Adult Deaf . . .22 PART II THE HARD OF HEARING A. Introduction 1. Two Distinct Groups 24 2. Hard of Hearing Problems Differ from Deaf . . 26 3. Understanding Hard of Hearing Important . . .28 B . Hard of Hearing Adult 1. Typical Case 28 2. Face the Facts 29 3. Hearing Aids 31 4. Lip-reading Classes: Adult Education Programs . . 35 C. Hard of Hearing Child 1. His Problem 37 2. Hard of Hearing Child at School 39 3. His Religious Education 42 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/worldofsilenceprOOreil FOREWORD In our society of today, as in that of other years, are to be found large groups of persons laboring under difficulties arising from deficiency in hearing either in whole or in part: the World of Silence. As no direct survey has yet been made sufficient to discover ALL of these people, no exact figure may be had; suffice it to say that estimates range from 95,000 to 250,000 as to the number of the Deaf and from several million to twenty million as to the number of the Hard of Hearing people in the United States. The number in both these groups may then be safely said to be at least startlingly large. An understanding of these people as human beings pos- sessing a soul as well as a body, as normal in every way ex- cept for the fact that they do not have the easy access to knowledge and social outlets which people who hear normally have is of paramount importance if one is to lead them to a full life and aid them in finding their place in society so that their influence upon any community may be for good. All through history both the deaf and the hard of hearing have suffered, not simply because of their hearing loss, but mainly because people who hear normally have generally taken a careless, uninterested attitude and have not bothered even to try to understand them and their difficulties. In former times the deaf man was a person to be looked down upon or pitied. Today, however, an entirely different attitude is being taken. It is recognized very definitely by authorities that the deaf are of normal intelligence, that they have a part to play in society, that they must not be re- ferred to as “dumb” or “deaf-and-dumb” or “mutes” or “deaf-mutes.” This heedless world of ours, intent mainly on serving self, imposes an unnecessary trial upon these 5 6 THE WORLD OF SILENCE physically handicapped ones. On leaving school as young men and women they begin to face their biggest problem in the attitude of persons who hear normally—not in their physical handicap. When they reach maturity the pressure of their handicap is materially increased. These sufferers from deafness and impaired hearing conditions must now seek employment. Like all other normal human beings, they want to be self- supporting. Therefore, when employers come to realize that these people want to and can work efficiently, that in- surance companies consider them better risks than persons who hear normally, the deaf and the hard of hearing will come into their own. They deserve at least considerate treatment as members (or possible members) of the Mystical Body of Christ. But this they never will receive until people strive really to know them, for surely “none are so deaf as those who will not hear.” Any work of the sort which seeks to make these people and their manifold problems better understood must quite naturally fall into two absolutely distinct and separate divi- sions. In the course of the work the reasons for this division will become clearer. At the outset we wish to point out that the first part will deal with THE DEAF, the second part being confined to THE HARD OF HEARING. PART I THE DEAF A. Deafness and What Can Be Done for the Deaf 1. Causes of Deafness In our childhood days we learned that we have been given life by the Creator so that we might KNOW, love and serve God here upon earth and thus earn happiness with Him forever in Heaven. This simple statement of the Catechism brings out the point that one cannot appreciate any person or anything without first knowing it or at least knowing of it. In the same manner one cannot give to the deaf the respect for which we plead unless he knows them or knows of them. It is therefore wise to stop to ask our- selves “WHO are the deaf and WHAT are they?” They are, above all, human beings like other people and so are endowed with a soul as well as a body. In the former the gifts of understanding and free will are to be found along with the capacity for attaining to eternal life, grasp- ing eternal truth and enjoying eternal love. With an origin and a destiny in God they, too, are here upon earth to know , love and serve God and so to obtain eternal happiness. In so very many things, then, the deaf are similar to persons who hear normally. The one thing which sets them apart is the simple fact that their hearing apparatus does not function as does that of persons who hear normally al- though perhaps (in many cases) it did so function. Scien- tifically speaking, a deaf child is one who was born without hearing. The majority of our deaf children, however, are not so born: some lost their hearing before school age and 7 8 THE WORLD OF SILENCE before they could establish habits of speech and a vocabu- lary and therefore are classed (for educational purposes) with those born deaf; others had their hearing until they were six years old or even older and so could establish a vocabulary and habits of speech, so that they form (edu- cationally, etc.) a distinct group and, with their background of vocabulary and speech habits, provided all other things are equal, they can be more easily reached in the process of education. Generally, hearing is lost through one of the diseases common to childhood, e. g., scarlet fever, diphtheria, measles, mumps, etc. It remains true, then, that in the vast majority of cases deafness is not inherited and comes about through diseases which we find even in the best of families. This statement alone should serve to dispel much of the general, harsh attitude toward persons laboring to overcome the handicap of deafness. Parents of youngsters who hear normally stand anx- iously by a baby-laden crib to catch the first tiny sound of speech ; parents of children born deaf wait in vain for this consolation. We who speak do so only because we have our hearing or had it at one time, since speech is simply a repro- duction of the sounds which have reached the physical ear, been transferred along the auditory nerve to the brain to be translated into thought. Since a child born deaf does not hear but does have latent voice power (and so powers of speech) it is possible through proper training to bring him to the point where he will be taught to speak intelligibly in quite a few cases, though not in all cases. The speech of persons who still hear normally or who did hear normally until they had established speech habits with a vocabulary is natural whereas that of the educated child who was born deaf is mechanical; it is possible for us to develop modula- tions in our speech because we hear ourselves; under present THE DEAF 9 systems of education it is most difficult for the child born deaf or who lost his hearing even after speech habits were acquired even to approximate a normal speaking voice sim- ply because he does NOT hear himself. The fact that powers of speech do exist in deaf children is but one reason why the old terms “deaf-and-dumb,” “deaf-mute” and “mute” are no longer used by those who really understand. Further, the implication in the slang ex- pression “dumb” (referring to low mentality) makes its use particularly distasteful to the deaf and their teachers. 2. Much Can be Done for the Deaf Deaf children, as others, then have at hand educational means to develop or bring out their latent capacities. Edu- cation implies building upon natural gifts so that children may be trained along the road of right thinking and thus be enabled to take their place in society. Special education of the deaf had its origin within the Catholic Church. In 1768 Abbe (Father) de l’Epee in Paris, France, established the first school for the deaf in the history of the world. Since then schools for the deaf have spread throughout the world to such extent that in 1937 the Public Residential Schools for the Deaf in the United States alone spent over $7,000,000 merely for their annual support. Numbering 206 altogether, with a staff of more than 3,000 teachers, the residential and day schools (both public and private) for the deaf in the United States impart instruction to more than 20,000 deaf children. These children follow courses in schools just as do other children in the various branches of literature, English grammar, mathematics, manual training and in addition receive particular training in speech and lip-reading. From many of these schools pupils on graduation pro- ceed to Gallaudet College in Washington, D. C., for higher 10 THE WORLD OF SILENCE studies. The only College for the Deaf in the world, it is under the care of the Congress of the United States and since its establishment in 1864 has graduated more than 2,000 young men and women, granting them their degrees. Still other young deaf people seek higher education in schools for persons who hear normally, depending to a large extent upon special reading courses along with the art of reading lips. Surely such facts and figures should bear out the point that these children can be educated and do seek education. Facts such as these must help us to cross the mountain of misunderstanding regarding these fellow citizens. Very often the parents of deaf children consider their plight a hopeless one and feel that nothing can be done to train and educate them, with the result that in a false sense of shame they keep their children hidden. In the work of the education of the deaf, then, we plead that parents may bear these facts in mind and NOT keep their youngsters out of school because of a false sense of pride or shame. Such a practice is only too common and imposes on already handicapped children a further burden. For these babies parents must learn to have hopes, because there are well-founded hopes, indeed. Having lived with more than 300 deaf children daily for some time and having worked for some years now with both children and adults, this writer can truthfully say that these form the happiest group of people with whom it has been his good fortune to work. With a fine realization of their place in society and a very definite set of group impulses which band them to- gether, the deaf in ordinary circumstances adjust them- selves remarkably well to their situation. From other peo- ple they ask not for any foolish or sentimental sympathy, but rather a sympathetic understanding which will help THE DEAF 11 them to fulfill their normal and laudable ambitions in life: to establish families and support them, to earn their bread honestly, and to do their duty well, as they see it. B. The Deaf Child at School 1. Problem to be Faced On entering school the average child who hears nor- mally is equipped with a formidable vocabulary. He has a working knowledge of from 2,500 to 3,500 words. The average* deaf child, on the contrary, enters school with prac- tically no word-knowledge. During all his babyhood years he has run to his mother by instinct when his little fingers have been burned or when he has suffered any one of the minor tragedies of childhood; but he has never known that his “protector” was called “mother,” nor understood the full meaning of the hallowed term. That the thing which he bounced upon the floor is called “a ball” he has never heard, and if, indeed, he has had the companionship of some faithful dog, he has never known that it was called “a dog” or that it had a special name such as “Spot” or “Towser.” All these things the average* deaf child must learn after he has started to school, in contrast with his brother of nor- mal hearing who enters school in possession of such knowl- edge. With this very limited foundation his intellect and character must be developed. It might well be remarked in passing that those who spend their lives in teaching lan- guage to the deaf therefore deserve high praise for the extraordinary patience which they must practice; to the deaf similar praise is due for their practice of the same virtue. * One born deaf or who became so before school age and before speech habits and vocabulary had been established. 12 THE WORLD OF SILENCE The deaf child’s lack of vocabulary presents a formid- able problem to his parents. It is above all through the teacher at school that this child is to receive the beginnings of his education, in contrast to his brother of normal hear- ing who obtains these at home. And what the teacher so very patiently builds up the parents must add to, because the deaf child, as all children, will not remain stationary in intellectual development: he will either lose what he has acquired or add to it. It is lack of co-operation on the part of those at home that so very often is responsible for the deaf child’s falling into careless habits of speech, of writing, and so on, for the home in these cases particularly can break down and destroy in an alarmingly short time what edu- cators have taken months and even years to build. Thus the home influences are of greater import in the life of a deaf child than in that of the child who hears normally. Parents of deaf children must come to the realization, then, that their youngsters CAN be educated and HAVE A RIGHT to education. The delaying of their entrance into school may seem kind at the moment but eventually both parents and children will be the losers. Difficult as it is to take a child from his home surroundings and place him in a boarding school at the age of six or seven years, still the fact remains that it is generally best for the interests of all con- cerned. A deaf child deprived of adequate education will learn soon enough in life that the parents who otherwise lav- ished so much affection upon him failed to take the proper steps to educate him. Still further, some parents will delay such steps until circumstances actually FORCE them to act; then they place the blame on the school when the child, who has lost valuable years in speech work, cannot acquire proper speech habits and is backward in other subjects. All these things are but the beginnings of the problem to be met by parents of deaf children. Thus it can be readily THE DEAF 13 seen that their decision regarding the placing of the child in school is of greater import than that to be reached by the parents of children who hear normally. 2. Two Methods of Education The parents of children who hear normally usually have to solve but two questions with regard to their children’s education: first, “Is my child ready for school?”; and sec- ondly, “Which school is the most convenient for him?” However, for the parents of a deaf child, the solution is not so simple. In their case the question of the convenient loca- tion of the school must fall into the background, to be re- placed by other and more important ones. At the very outset the parents must be aware of the fact that two major schools of thought are to be met in the field of deaf education. In one of them, called the Oral Method, the child is reached through ordinary speech, the art of lip-reading, and blackboard work, with most of the emphasis and teaching placed on the development of speech and lip-reading. This method permits of no use of the sign language of the deaf or the finger-spelling so commonly used by the deaf ; which prohibition prevails in all outside school activities as well. In the other, called the Combined Method, most of the emphasis is placed upon the teaching of language and development of the mental faculties; in this system those children who can profit educationally by speech and lip-reading are grouped in special classes for this purpose while those who cannot so profit are grouped in other classes in which the teacher uses the manual alpha- bet of the deaf so as to reach the child’s mind and there- fore give the training proper for that individual child; then, when these two means fail to accomplish the purpose, spe- cial (smaller) classes employ the sign language of the deaf 14 THE WORLD OF SILENCE or any other sign method which will do so. Outside of the classroom Combined Method Schools make use of both the manual alphabet and the sign language of the deaf, e. g., in recreation periods, with large group gatherings, and particu- larly in religious work. Certainly it is wise for parents to weigh the claims of these two methods before any particular school is chosen. 3. Claims of the Pure Oralists Those who favor the Pure Oral Method in deaf educa- tion, to the absolute exclusion of the use of signs or finger- spelling, aim at making the deaf child and adult appear as normal persons (from the viewpoint of speech). Along with this there is ever present the thought that the deaf per- son’s scope of communication will be widened amongst peo- ple who hear normally, and amongst those who do not know the sign language of the deaf. In addition this method seeks to instill in the mind of the deaf child a better understanding (and therefore greater use) of spoken language. It is the feeling of those who adhere strictly to the Pure Oral Method that a deaf child, like all children, will seek lines of least resistance. The sign language is easy for him, whereas the acquisition of speech habits and of the art of lip- reading is difficult. Because of this fact, they maintain that the use of signs must be kept out of his school life if one expects him to acquire speech habits and the art of reading lips. It is the view of many of them that any use of signs is destructive of all their efforts in speech, lip- reading work, and in language-building. 4. Advantages of Pure Oralism Much can and should be said in favor of Oralism in the field of deaf education. It is the most natural thing in the THE DEAF 15 world for parents to wish their children to appear normal in the matter of speech. When this can be accomplished it means that the deaf child is not so completely cut off from his family, can move more easily in the same social circles, and can obtain employment much more easily. It does open the way to widened horizons in their recreational life and may well lead the child to better use of the spoken word. And when any child can be reached by this method and properly educated with a view to his future life in the world, most certainly such a method should be used. 5. Difficulties of Pure Oralism However, while recognizing the ideals expressed above, one must bear in mind that practical obstacles present them- selves here just as in other ideals in our lives. It is one thing to dream of an ideal ; it is quite another thing to make that ideal practical. Thus, while admitting that the Pure Oral Method may be of advantage to some of the deaf, we should do well to see what difficulties may be met with in that method. At the outset we must state that one cannot endorse the product of a Pure Oral School without ascertaining whether or not the child was born deaf, how long he has been so, the degree of his loss of hearing, and the amount of indi- vidual training which he has received. A pupil with rela- tives, friends or others interested in him and financially able to employ a private tutor, as in the case of the famous deaf- blind girl, Helen Kellar, is often unjustly compared to one who must receive his training on a “wholesale” scale. Again, the pupil with parents and others who show an aptitude for supplementing the work of the teacher is often compared to one who receives little or no help at home. The inevitable result is a false judgment as to the merit or lack of merit of either method. 16 THE WORLD OF SILENCE There can be little doubt that a child placed in a Pure Oral School immediately finds himself in surroundings which offer a sharp contrast to his previous years of life. At home, when he wanted anything, he had no choice but to make use of some sort of signs, usually natural ones; here at school he is to live and move with people who will stop him every time he makes an effort to express himself through the use of even a natural sign. At once he is put on his guard. Then, no matter how fine his teachers and his parents may believe his speech to be, the sad truth remains that it is not normal and will NOT be normal; those in deaf work, know- ing the obstacles to be overcome, may marvel at it but those who rarely hear a deaf person talk will find it unpleasant in many cases to watch the severe facial efforts and to listen to the acquired speech of the average graduate of a school for the deaf who has been taught speech. True, there are some who succeed remarkably well in these matters; the exception, however, proves the rule. The fact must be faced: the deaf ARE deaf; they cannot and must not be expected to accomplish what we who hear normally can accomplish in the way of speech. Likewise it is unfortunate- ly true that many deaf children leave Pure Oral schools to find that, while people who hear normally will avoid them at times because of the unpleasantness referred to above, they are not at home even in deaf circles since they have no means of conversing with the majority of the adult deaf who have been raised with a knowledge of the sign language. Sacrificed very often to the desires of parents who wanted them to appear normal (in speech) and who therefore re- mained blind to the difficulties, these young people are often left standing alone. Group work is particularly difficult with the graduates of these schools. Even the most eager and enthusiastic devotees of the method admit that the best of lip-readers THE DEAF 17 cannot follow a lecture or sermon coherently solely by the art of reading lips: distance away from the speaker, the contortions of some speakers’ faces, poor lip movement on the part of the speaker, tired eyes, glaring lights or lights that give little or no reflection upon the lips—all of these things must be taken into consideration. Last, but not least, if a deaf child cannot obtain his education through this Pure Oral Method he is eliminated from the schools which employ it. If there were no schools using the Combined Method then such a youngster would travel through life uneducated, despite the fact that all thinking leaders will admit that inability to use the Pure Oral Method is not of itself a reflection on the child’s intel- lectual ability! 6. Utility of the Combined Method Those who favor the Combined Method make it a pri- mary point to adapt the method to the child and not the child to the method. The majority of the deaf children in the United States today are educated in schools using this method. It does not, contrary to what many believe, out- law speech and lip-reading; rather, wherever it is possible to develop a child’s mind properly and so educate him by these means the Combined Method employs them. Its pri- mary aim is to develop a vocabulary, language. Those who frown upon this method do indeed maintain that the use of the manual alphabet and of the signs (the latter, outside of the classroom) destroys language which the teacher has so laboriously tried to build up; language is but an avenue toward complete education and that cannot be had if the mind is not being developed. Consequently “language” must not be used in too restricted a sense; it is more than speech, indeed. This Combined Method, seeking to build 18 THE WORLD OF SILENCE up the vocabulary of the child, will not let the practical be replaced by the ideal when the latter is unattainable. Consequently it falls back upon the finger-spelling of the deaf to convey certain ideas and so develop the mind when the Oral Method fails to do so. One might almost call it the Oral Method with a safety valve or governor to keep it within bounds. It is true that this Method permits also the use of the sign language of the deaf (developed by Abbe de 1’Epee as the earliest beginnings of large scale education of the deaf) outside of the classroom, e. g., at lectures, sermons, church work, recreations and all sorts of group work. The sign language is merely a means of communication, some- what as the telephone and telegraph are means of com- munication. By highly descriptive motions of the hands it expresses ideas and is often called ideographic. It also bears the high-sounding title of “Dactylology” (description by fingers). In former times the deaf were taught this sign language which was built upon a system of very natural signs or com- binations of signs—so natural, indeed, that it was used inter- nationally. Today it is not taught in the classroom of any modern school for the deaf ; they are left to acquire it by themselves, somewhat as we acquire our speech. As a result, a certain amount of deterioration has crept in, due to care- less signing by the children. Its international usefulness has consequently suffered to some extent. In this language, as in speech, certain colloquialisms at times are also mani- fest. Its supplementary partner, the finger-spelling of the deaf, is of later development than the time of Father de l’Epee; the alphabet is formed by different positions of the hand (right or left makes no difference) and it runs, as does our own, from “a” to “z.” The advantages of the sign language may be seen in THE DEAF 19 many ways. It can be readily understood by large groups of people and serves as a very fine medium for making the abstract ideas in religion, for example, quite concrete since it paints very vivid pictures. Nor can the thought be seri- ously entertained that signs of themselves are disagreeable for we find them a very natural means of expression. We who hear without difficulty use them constantly in our daily intercourse, e. g., the policeman directing traffic does not depend merely on a whistle and an electric signal but rather gestures with his arms and hands as well, and we ourselves will point a finger or wave a hand to attract attention. The deaf depend still more upon signs, which might almost be called their “Mother Tongue.” Today certain groups endeavor to cast discredit upon the sign language. But it is the belief of many more that this must be kept mainly because of the powerful influence which it exerts in the moral and social outlook of the deaf as well as because of the great value which it has in the communication of the deaf amongst themselves. There is definitely a place, then, for this sign language which should not be ruthlessly condemned without a fair hearing by an unprejudiced mind. 7. Deliberation in Selecting School Parents of deaf children, therefore, should view the ad- vantages of each method and consider the needs of the chil- dren before they place them under either one. Both methods have their place and both do supply a need. When parents place these children in school they must have in mind the real education of the children; they should not misdirect this education because of any whims of their own. Their youngsters are under heavy enough strain which should not be needlessly increased. If they have in 20 THE WORLD OF SILENCE mind the good of the child, his preparation for life in society after his school years and not their own pride or inconvenience—if they remember that these little ones do belong to the world of silence, no matter what parents may prefer, they will be more willing to understand what is best for the proper development of the child. Added to the question of the method to be followed, parents must consider whether the child would benefit more from one type or other of four different forms of schools: public-residential, private-residential, city day-schools or private day-schools. Thus the location of centers of some sort to direct and guide the parents of deaf children is something which deserves serious consideration from authorities. C. Catholic Schools for the Deaf 1. Any Catholic Education Aims at the Complete Man The Church spends millions of dollars every year at the expense of our Catholic people to erect and maintain our parochial school system which entails very often a double tax since we must support both the public and the parochial schools. The Church does this because she believes that, along with the background of a practical Catholic home, the Catholic child needs a school system which daily re- minds him of his eternal and immortal destiny, a system which gives primary place to things of primary importance and at the same time prepares the child for this material life. We do these things for children who hear normally and who therefore can be reached by any number of priests, re- ligious and lay people. Ordinary children can be moved by the tones of the organ, the voices of the choir, especially on THE DEAF 21 our great feasts, and the soft, slow, solemn chant of our Requiem Mass. They acquire knowledge from the stern or soft pleading tones of parents, other relatives and teach- ers as to just what is right and what is wrong. Everywhere they turn they gain some new knowledge through the God- given gift of hearing. 2. Important Channel for Complete Education Closed to Deaf Since to the deaf child all such avenues of acquiring knowledge are closed he must make up for this tremendous loss in some way. There must be compensation and ade- quate compensation for it. Environment along with example is the most important of all compensation means for these children. They can be reached only by very few priests, religious and other teachers especially trained for this work; their parents often have no way of exerting the influence so necessary in their lives. The question of a complete educa- tion for these little ones becomes very special. 3. Church Therefore Recognized Need of Catholic Schools for the Deaf This idea became so fixed in the mind of Abbe de l’Epee that in 1768 he established the first school for the deaf in the history of the world. Before his day there were persons who attempted to impart religious instruction to individual deaf children, e. g., St. Francis de Sales (declared the patron of the deaf by Pope Pius X), Venerable Bede and many others. It was the work of this simple French priest, how- ever, which began the education of the deaf, as we have it today. Though the work did begin in the Church the rather disappointing truth today is that the religious education of 22 THE WORLD OF SILENCE the deaf is neglected. Throughout this country at the present writing there are but twelve Catholic residential schools for the deaf, no Catholic day-schools and no Catho- lic school for them west of St. Louis, Mo. Even the Catho- lic schools which do exist for them are rarely properly equipped all the way through to care for both boys and girls. Marriages between Catholics consequently are not common or, at most, marriages between Catholics who both have a good solid Catholic background are seldom found. Rather sad is the fact that our few Catholic schools for the deaf are located comparatively close to one another with vast areas left with none. As a result we have not given the deaf the opportunities for knowing their religious obligations and acquiring an appreciation of spiritual values. 4. Corollary: Need of Societies for the Adult Deaf When these young people leave their schools they quite naturally seek companionship amongst the deaf to form both local and national associations. And just as the Church maintains in parish halls and parochial school buildings places in which her children who hear normally may gather for socials and instructions, etc., so should She maintain them for Her deaf. Centers for adults have been established in several dioceses of this country but they are very few. We can never hope to hold our Catholic deaf to- gether unless we can give to them opportunities for social life in union with the Church such as most of us have in our day. Organizations for young folk are found everywhere, both locally and nationally. And if they are found to be so very useful with persons who can obtain so much through their hearing they are of still greater need when that avenue is closed. Non-sectarian social clubs of various sorts exist for the THE DEAF 23 deaf; many of them are affiliated with the National Asso- ciation of the Deaf which maintains its headquarters at 19 West 21st Street in New York City. State groups, such as the California Association of the Deaf whose headquar- ters are in Los Angeles (% 5362 Westhaven Street), play a very important role in the life and work of these people. Such associations endeavor to improve the condition of the deaf by fostering proper legislation, school work and social activities through various committees; in addition, they aim at bringing the general public to a better understand- ing of the deaf and seek to expose all frauds which might reflect upon the deaf in general or hurt them individually. But it must be confessed that to date the Church has de- veloped no such vigorous clubs of her own. PART II THE HARD OF HEARING A. Introduction 1. Two Distinct Groups In this second part we are concerned with the hard of hearing people, who comprise a group much larger than the deaf and who must be carefully distinguished from them. For most definitely the “hard of hearing” are NOT the “deaf.” Very often persons who hear normally lean toward the belief that the term “hard of hearing” used, for example, in connection with our Archdiocesan Organizations for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing, simply replaces the old terms “dumb” or “mute.” By no means! These are two abso- lutely distinct groups of people with distinct problems and often with distinct psychologies: the deaf on the one hand and the hard of hearing on the other. From the viewpoint of those who are close to the two- fold problem the differentiation between persons laboring under various types of hearing deficiency becomes at times a knotty problem. Fine distinctions must be made espe- cially from the educational point of view. There is not today any generally used term agreed upon by all inter- ested groups. The American Society for the Hard of Hearing and the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf have national headquarters at 1537 37th Street NW. in Washington, D. C. Both these groups adhere to the terms which have been in use for years, namely: the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing. 24 THE HARD OF HEARING 25 In 1936 the Conference of Executives of American Schools for the Deaf, meeting at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, appointed a Committee on Nomen- clature which in its report was to make recommendations as to the proper terms to be employed. On June 23, 1937, the report of this Committee was adopted, giving the follow- ing terminology: “(1) THE DEAF: Those in whom the sense of hear- ing is non-functional for the ordinary purposes of life. “This general group is made up of two distinct classes based entirely on the time of the loss of hearing. “(a) The congenitally deaf—those who were born deaf. “(b) The adventitiously deaf—those who were born with normal hearing but in whom the sense of hearing be- came non-functional later through illness or accident. “(2) THE HARD OF HEARING: Those in whom the sense of hearing, although defective, is functional with or without a hearing aid.” Rather generally accepted is the following set of dis- tinctions to which many sound authorities object. The Conference of Executives, for example, outlaws the term “deafened” as “not needed . . . superfluous and confusing.” “(1) THE DEAF: All congenitally deaf persons who have no usable residual hearing and never did have. “(2) THE DEAFENED: Those who had usable or perfect hearing at one time (either for all of their education or for a large part of it) but who no longer possess usable residual hearing. “(3) THE HARD OF HEARING: Those who have defective hearing but retain some usable hearing with or without a hearing aid.” The New England Lip Reading Teachers’ Association has stated that it “will continue to use the terminology (sic) given in the Report of the Committee on the Deaf and the 26 THE WORLD OF SILENCE Hard of Hearing, Committee on Special Classes of the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection until such time as an adequate term is developed and used to designate those therein called the HARD OF HEAR- ING.” This writer does not pretend to settle a controversy existing between well-known authorities. For the purpose of this work, the long-used terms “Deaf” and “Hard of Hearing” will suffice, as we try to be careful in making proper distinctions. We ardently hope that general agree- ment may soon be reached regarding the proper terms to be used, so that confusion may be avoided. 2. Problems of Hard of Hearing Differ from Those of Deaf A hard of hearing person once knew what it was to hear without difficulty in the majority of cases and he can still be helped (in many cases) by electrical hearing aids which amplify sound for the individual or he can hear when one speaks in a proper tone of voice or in various other sets of circumstances. Those people now without hearing but who did have usable hearing until about six years of age or later (“adventitiously deaf,” according to some but “deafened,” according to others) are like the hard of hearing in that they did hear at one time; they differ from the hard of hearing in that they can no longer hear under any circum- stances. The fact that these two groups of people heard at one time and had opportunities for acquiring speech habits and a vocabulary is an important point which sets them apart from those born deaf and those who lost their hearing in their pre-school days. The first two groups have speech habits, at least a fair vocabulary and very often an ability to read lips such as the children of the third group rarely have. THE HARD OF HEARING 27 Again, hard of hearing people once moved freely and easily (in many cases) with persons who hear normally. They knew what it was to attend lectures, operas, the “talkies,” meetings, church functions, etc., without diffi- culty. After they had lost their hearing (in varying de- grees) all such avenues of knowledge and comfort were closed to them until they could readjust themselves and overcome the feeling of annoyance and embarrassment. Where once they appeared as normal, they then had to face many trying moments because of their loss of hearing. Hard of hearing people, therefore, must readjust their whole lives, pass through a period of rehabilitation, find themselves all over again. They are sensitive as to their disability, in great contrast to those who were born deaf or who lost their hearing in pre-school days; these latter ordi- narily take their condition for granted. In some seven cases out of ten these hard of hearing people must face these new difficulties all alone because those around them do not appreciate how great their problem is. Lack of under- standing on the part of their loved ones in the family circle tends to make them introspective, leading them to think only of themselves and so to make their burden a greater one. The American Society for the Hard of Hearing (a na- tional organization with local chapters in large centers) fur- nishes to the hard of hearing people important aid in the problems presented particularly during this period of rehabili- tation. By promoting legislation, by sound advice, by special classes in speech, voice and lip-reading in their club rooms and in school systems for both children and adults, this Soci- ety accomplishes an untold amount of good in the matters of prevention of hard of hearing conditions and their correc- tion. The social programs in their club rooms and the vari- ous types of committee work on special phases of the prob- 28 THE WORLD OF SILENCE lems have played an important role in the proper readjust- ment of many lives. 3. Understanding Them is Important Since their problems are so very different from those of the deaf, it naturally follows that their problems demand special, sympathetic, intelligent understanding if they are to be solved. The sympathy for which we plead here is not the sort that might be pitying or obtrusive but, rather, that contained in the real meaning of the word, i. e., a sympathy which carries with it the desire to show them the way to proper readjustment because the helping person “suffers with” the one in difficulty. The question of proper advice and help in the accom- plishment of rehabilitation for a hard of hearing person will take on different aspects dependent upon the age at which one suffers a degree of loss of hearing. Consequently the solution will be different for a hard of hearing adult than it will be for a hard of hearing child. B. The Hard of Hearing Adult 1. A Typical Case Let us present a typical case of a hard of hearing adult. We have in mind now an individual who at one time held a responsible position in the world of people who, like herself, heard normally. She retired one evening and set the alarm clock for the regular hour of awakening. Morning came and no alarm was heard ; no alarm has been heard since and very likely it will never be heard again. For, on awakening late, she learned to her consternation that her hearing was lost to a fairly large degree. That was some ten years ago; today she can hear only with the use of hearing aid equipment. THE HARD OF HEARING 29 Here was a person who enjoyed operas, lectures, movies, held conversations with ease and performed her tasks in the world of sound and of hearing. From that eventful day she has had to live in the world of silence. Facing the fact, she readily understood that the profession which had been hers and for which she had trained herself so thoroughly had to be discontinued (because of certain regulations). As in most cases, this individual went through several harrowing years trying still to appear normal. At last realizing the futility of this, she accepted the situation at its full value, trained herself for a different type of work and is now very happily engaged in helping people who labor under similar difficulties. Definitely during the period of readjustment there were many trying moments, even days, months, and years. With proper readjustment due to splendid advice and encouragement from one who sensed the situation thor- oughly, her rehabilitation is quite complete. 2. Face the Facts Those who know of and are interested in hard of hearing persons must help to show them the way out of their diffi- culty. One of the primary points to be considered in this connection is the necessity of admitting the fact that a person is hard of hearing. The surmounting of this diffi- culty is most important! A doctor who is unable to dis- cover the source of his patient’s physical difficulty cannot properly prescribe for him. The difficulty must be recog- nized before it can be overcome. Therefore, if you or your loved ones are hard of hearing, be ready to admit it. Some of the hard of hearing and (to a larger extent) their rela- tives go about with the impression that they can hide the deficiency whereas they cannot. People will be “kind” enough to let them think sometimes that they have success- 30 THE WORLD OF SILENCE fully hidden it, but the fact remains that they are hard of hearing and those whom they meet know it. The picture here is twofold: whereas the hard of hear- ing themselves feel that their relatives who hear normally are sometimes being unkind to them, it is likewise true that hard of hearing people themselves are unkind to their rela- tives. In many cases they could make matters easier for others as well as for themselves by admitting the truth and acting properly to handle the situation. We personally have known of families whose homes and homelife have been destroyed because the hard of hearing members thereof have not been wise enough or kind enough to admit their deficiency, e. g., by wearing a hearing aid. The inevitable result has been that they have spoiled the lives of others as well as their own. Once the fact is admitted, as in all reasonableness it MUST be, then remedies can be applied which will help the person to face his problem in the right state of mind. He must reach the conviction that a hard of hearing person is not alone; there are millions of other people like himself in the United States, people who in many cases are making the best of very difficult situations. If it is true that “misery likes company,” the hard of hearing person has plenty of company. In other words the situation is by no means as hopeless as at first it would appear; such a person will “get his feet on the ground” by calmly accepting his disability as one common to many besides himself. Thus he will gain a far saner outlook than if he were to bemoan his fate as though he and he alone were thus stricken. He can learn that silence in numberless cases has its advan- tages. We recall having heard a prominent writer for magazines and newspapers in this country, who was hard of hearing himself, remark that hard of hearing people (to- gether with the deaf) were about the only “normal” people THE HARD OF HEARING 31 living; those who hear normally must listen to everything whether they like it or not, whereas the hard of hearing can select the persons to whom they wish to listen by turning on or off the small microphone attached to their hearing aids. 3. Hearing Aids This brings us to the question of hearing aids. Recently in a national radio broadcast an announcer remarked that he did not know what a “hearing aid” was. Strange, in this day and age! True, there was a time when “seeing aids” (eyeglasses) were very little known and when people were ashamed to be seen wearing them. Now one seldom thinks a second time when he is told that he must wear glasses. We in the work hope and pray for the day when the hard of hearing and those who hear normally will set aside the prejudices existing against the wearing of hearing aids. Many of the members of the American Society for the Hard of Hearing are pioneering in their efforts to bring this ideal into reality and are so blazing a new trail. As a re- sult the day will come when the hard of hearing will look back at us of today and wonder how we could have been so narrow in our outlook, so misunderstanding, and so cruel as to make persons wearing hearing aids feel that they were thereby rendered peculiar, odd, inferior. A hearing aid is simply what the term implies: in cer- tain types of deafness a small instrument operated by a battery or other means of obtaining electrical current helps the hard of hearing person. There are the portable types which can be worn in the ordinary everyday routine of life; there are the stationary types which may take the form of telephone amplifiers or group sets for use in public places, e. g., churches, confessionals, theaters, lecture halls, class- rooms and offices. These are by no means to be confused 32 THE WORLD OF SILENCE with public address systems ; hearing aids amplify the sound and make it clearer only for the individuals who wear the attachment. A very important point which deserves attention is the price of hearing aids. Without doubt the finer types do cost a considerable amount of money with the result that they are not within easy reach of all people who need them. Large research laboratories established to improve the equip- ment add, of course, to selling prices. A limited market which is made still smaller because of the reluctance of the hard of hearing to wear the instruments is another factor; the time required for completing a sale takes a goodly por- tion of the salesman’s day, so that again sales are lessened. The demand for repairs without cost likewise adds to the sale price. For all these reasons a reliable hearing aid today costs generally in excess of $100.00. The individual hearing aid consists of a battery, a microphone, an amplifier with the necessary connecting wires, and the outlet itself which is attached to the ear in one of several ways. Over sixty different types of these are to be found on the market. Each type or make has its peculiar virtues which appeal differently to different people; hence it is usually not found advisable to recommend one over the other; personal preference must be respected. The main concern of a hard of hearing person is to get HEAR- ING and it is up to him to select an instrument which will give him the most satisfaction. To purchase merely to show gratitude for the efforts of a salesman or for the efforts of someone else, to buy in a sort of hit-and-miss fashion without finding out just what any one instrument will do is the height of folly. To purchase a very cheap instrument simply because of its low price without regard to its virtues might lead to distrust of ALL hearing aids and that, too, would be foolish. Any reliable hearing aid salesman will THE HARD OF HEARING 33 take this attitude and responsible firms discountenance any “ ‘high-powered” salesmanship methods. For many, indeed, individual hearing aids adequately serve their needs. But in public places such as halls, churches, etc., such equipment is ordinarily of little use. As a member of the Hearing Aid Committee of the San Francisco Society for the Hard of Hearing, it has been the writer’s good fortune to witness personally the amount of good accomplished by this organization in having GROUP equipment installed in theaters especially. Personal expe- rience through the years in this sort of work has shown the utility of group hearing aids in churches. Group hearing aid equipment is of course still more expensive than individual hearing aids, and the question of expense becomes a problem for church work since funds are not so readily available for what many consider to be “extras.” In addition, so few of the hard of hearing make use of the equipment due to bashfulness and so on, that pastors are very easily led to believe that they should not expend large sums of money for relatively few people when other needs in parishes are more pressing. The hard of hearing people themselves could do great good by making use of group equipment when it is furnished for them; in this way they could bear direct testimony to the truth ex- pressed by authorities as to the real need for such installa- tions. Definitely it is to be hoped that, with the demand increasing daily, the manufacturers of hearing aids will find a way clear to lower the purchase price of their products without detriment to quality. Only then will more people benefit by them. These group hearing aids are but magnified “individual” aids. They consist of a microphone, an amplifier, lines lead- ing to the outlet boxes in each row of seats, and then the outlet attachment w7hich brings the amplified sound directly 34 THE WORLD OF SILENCE to the individual using the receiver. The whole set is at- tached, of course, to the electrical current of the building. By means of the equipment the priest from the pulpit may use his ordinary tone of voice and still be heard by a per- son who could not hear him without this mechanical aid even if the priest were to shout. It is the hope and dream of those acquainted with the problems involved that the day may come when those building churches will take into consideration the installing of group hearing aid equipment along with “seeing aid” equipment (proper lighting, etc.). In recent years several pastors have done just this in vari- ous parts of the country, for without such equipment large numbers of their people would miss the tremendous advan- tages so easily accessible to persons who hear normally. In the past few years we have been able to provide equipment for our hard of hearing people for the Three Hours’ Devo- tion on Good Friday, for the first time in the history of the Church in the West. Monthly meetings with use of the same equipment help to solve the problem at least partially. Likewise these hearing aids are very useful in the con- fessional so that these people may be spared many anxious and embarrassing moments. The priest can speak in a whisper into the microphone and still be heard by a hard of hearing penitent. This, too, is gradually becoming more popular. The operation of such instruments is a very simple matter and their installation, much more simple. When the proper amount of patience is exercised by both priest and penitent and when the latter is prudent enough not to be embarrassed or hurt if the priest suggests the lowering of the voice (since a hard of hearing person cannot know when his voice is too loud), both confessor and penitent are more at ease and can accomplish better results. THE HARD OF HEARING 35 4. Lip-reading Classes in Adult Education Programs Were we to leave the impression that hearing aids offer the only assistance available to the hard of hearing, we should be guilty of grave injustice. In addition to mingling with persons like himself so that he may learn how to solve his problems, the hard of hearing person has at his com- mand another source of aid which has tremendous value, namely: lip-reading. This is the art of understanding the spoken word by interpreting the movements of the speaker’s lips, tongue and jaw. It has, of course, its difficulties and some persons are more adept than others in mastering it. Quite fre- quently the combination of lip-reading and a hearing aid is very helpful. Amongst the difficulties to be met in lip-reading we may well mention that some people form their words poorly, others have lips which are none too mobile or facile, and others will not bother to keep their heads still, so that lip- readers may follow their speech more easily. Then, too, concentration on the lip-reader’s part is very necessary. In addition, certain letters and words look exactly the same on the lips, e.g., “m,” “b” and “p,” or “t” and “d”; “pie,” “buy,” “by” and “my,” or “few” and “view.” Conse- quently training in lip-reading includes training of the mind which must supply the correct word when it cannot be distinctly read on the lips. The writer recalls a personal experience in a lip-reading class of which he was a member. The teacher had spoken, apparently saying: “I like to eat boy in Hawaii”; a well- trained lip-reader knew at once that the teacher had ac- tually said: “I like to eat poi in Hawaii.” Errors of this sort, which are easily made, give rise to many amusing inci- 36 THE WORLD OF SILENCE dents and the well-adjusted hard of hearing person enjoys them immensely. In the confessional a well-adjusted hard of hearing per- son will not hesitate to ask the priest to turn on the light so that the confessor’s lips may be read. And the priest who knows of this art either will close his eyes and face the penitent directly, keeping shadows off his lips, or will sit in a normally erect position, allowing the penitent to read his lips from the side. It is well to remember that, in addressing a lip-reader, one should speak in his ordinary manner. Exaggeration of facial movements usually renders lip-reading more diffi- cult, if not impossible. Schools for the deaf and those which educate hard of hearing children offer instruction in lip-reading. For the large group of people who become hard of hearing when adults, we find special lip-reading classes in many parts of the United States in the programs of Adult Education. Local chapters of the American Society for the Hard of Hearing also sponsor lip-reading classes in various localities. And these classes are attended by the hard of hearing, both young and old. The change in outlook and psychology of people attend- ing these classes is remarkable. The acquisition of the art opens to the hard of hearing new avenues of pleasure through conversations. While one may not become an expert, still he can have many happy moments through the wider scope of communication presented through lip-reading, e. g., en- tering into conversations in family circles and at clubs, buy- ing in the stores, mingling freely at socials. The hard of hearing, therefore, make a tragic mistake in not investigating this matter. Those who do investigate must be careful not to be discouraged by first appearances and the early futile attempts; like all good things, it re- THE HARD OF HEARING 37 quires time, attention and energy. This art plays an impor- tant part in the rehabilitation of hard of hearing adults. Whether they can use hearing aids or not, they owe it to themselves and to their loved ones to inquire into it and to avail themselves of the opportunities offered. C. The Hard of Hearing Child 1 . His Problem Just as the deaf child in the field of education differs from the child who hears normally, so also does the hard of hearing child differ in many ways from both classes. The hard of hearing child, as the hard of hearing adult, had his hearing (or at least a good portion of it) at one time; he still retains some usable hearing. He had therefore the op- portunity of hearing words and consequently of establish- ing a vocabulary and speech habits. He enters school with a vocabulary which, though larger than that of the deaf child (which is negligible), is still far smaller than that of the child who hears normally. This type of child in many cases can be reached by the electrical hearing aids previously described. He has in many cases residual hearing which should be preserved and developed whenever it is possible to do so; he has speech habits which must be maintained; he has a vocabulary which must not be allowed to diminish, but which, on the contrary, must be increased. Such a child can be rather easily trained emotionally also because of the influence of sound upon the emotions. It has been shown scientifically that sound not only informs the intellect as sight does, but that it excites feelings far more than sight; its primary effect, indeed, is the creation of moods. Parents of a hard of hearing child might assume that their problem is easier than if their child were deaf. How- 38 THE WORLD OF SILENCE ever, were they to search for a school in the United States for the hard of hearing exclusively, they would search in vain; for no such school exists. In several European coun- tries a school for the deaf is never erected unless nearby there is erected also a school for the hard of hearing. In this country this phase of education has received very little attention until recent years. Further, many educators for sound reasons frown upon the idea of schools exclusively for such children. The question, then, for parents resolves itself into this: “Shall I keep my child in a school for children who hear nor- mally or shall I place him in a school for the deaf?” If the former procedure is followed, the child tries to keep up with a standard which has been set for children who hear readily ; as a result the child is too often discouraged unless he is remarkable in mind and character and receives adequate supplementary help. For it is important that he be trained in the reading of lips and that special speech and voice training be given to him in addition. Perhaps with this training and the use of a hearing aid, or even without the hearing aid, he can fit into an ordinary school. Such cases, however, MUST be decided individually. On the other hand, if a hard of hearing child is placed in a school for the deaf he starts out as one of a few hard of hearing children amongst many deaf children. Since standards in such a school have been adapted to the needs of the deaf child, the hard of hearing youngster’s vocabu- lary will likely suffer and his speech itself may eventually become slovenly unless he receives special care. He presents to the teachers problems very different emotionally and psychologically from those presented by the children for whom the school was intended. The result is that very frequently he is set in a background in which he simply does not belong. If, indeed, no other choice remains and THE HARD OF HEARING 39 he must be enrolled in a school for the deaf, at least he should be placed in special classes and in a special section for the hard of hearing children; he must NOT be treated as a deaf child! 4 2. The Hard of Hearing Child at School Since we lack in this country schools exclusively for the hard of hearing, such children are usually to be found in schools for youngsters who hear normally. Schools for the deaf have relatively few of the total number of hard of hearing children, despite the fact that day schools and many residential schools find that from 20 per cent to 40 per cent of their total enrollment is composed of hard of hearing children. Thus it is not out of place to look into the status of these children in the ordinary school (public or private). Surveys in the public school systems of the United States have revealed some 2,000,000 children with impaired hear- ing. There is on record only one of our parochial school systems that has conducted a survey, viz., that of the Arch- diocese of St. Paul, Minn. There Father James Byrnes, with the very capable assistance and leadership of Miss Florence Waters, offered the beginnings of a solution while he was Diocesan Superintendent of Schools. Following a survey in their parochial schools, many Sisters from various Congregations or Orders have been trained to teach the hard of hearing children and they now conduct some classes for them in Teachers’ College. Father Byrnes and Miss Waters themselves would be amongst the first to admit that as yet the problem is not being dealt with in an adequate manner. Their staff at least have made a start. As a result of these various surveys some very impor- tant corrections have been effected. In many cases authori- ties have arrested what might otherwise have proved to be 40 THE WORLD OF SILENCE a serious condition of impaired hearing in later life. For example, by examining the hearing of ALL children in a given school they have located instances in which various foreign objects have been lodged in the ear, unknown to the children andrfheir parents or guardians. Then, too, when Johnnie has been considered lazy or dull because of inatten- tion, these surveys have indicated the real cause of his in- attention, i. e ., lack of hearing. Again, the teacher may be led to believe that a child’s apparent hearing difficulty is due merely to a pose on his part ( i . e., “He can hear when he wishes; he heard me very well this morning but pretends that he does not hear me this afternoon”) ; actually the teacher may have been using in the morning words which were within the child’s range of hearing whereas in the afternoon she perhaps used words which were either above or below that particular child’s hearing range. Such facts as these can be discovered only through general hearing tests by means of the audiometer and the proper interpre- tation of the results of the tests by competent authorities. Once the condition is recognized, proper authorities must be informed, i. e., school nurses, medical authorities, parents and teachers. Upon discovery of the deficiency, we find only too often that the real difficulty comes in bring- ing the parents to accept the facts; offended when informed that their child is hard of hearing, parents too often refuse to overcome false family pride which simply will not let them believe that this could happen to their child. As a result stubbornness comes to play a great part and many years are wasted during which the situation might have been brought under control; then—when it is too late—they awaken to a realization of their error. An ideal, though expensive procedure is the examina- tion of all children in our schools (public and private) by means of audiometric testing so as to ferret out such hear- THE HARD OF HEARING 41 ing defects. This is required by many large universities in the United States today as part of the entrance examina- tion. Once the condition is noted it must be revealed to those responsible for the child’s education and well-being. From this point the natural step is to seek correction of the difficulty or at least to prevent its advancement when pos- sible. Advice of competent medical authorities plays an important part in the planning of a practical program for such children. If, after all this, the frightening (for it is frightening) fact still remains that the child is hard of hearing and will become more so in the years to come, inevitably there must be given grave consideration to three points of paramount importance, viz.: (1) Should the child remain in the school in which he has been receiving his training? (2) Will a hearing aid alone solve his difficulty? (3) Where could he obtain at once the training so very necessary in speech and lip-reading? Lack of consideration of these factors causes a blight on many lives which otherwise could be quite happy. Con- sideration of them makes room for a well-rounded educa- tion and consequently a better preparation for life. To omit them will spell loneliness and unhappiness because it will bring about forced isolation; to take care of such fac- tors will spell companionship, friendship—in other words, real living. Hard of hearing children properly prepared for life can be in their remarkable way just as happy as per- sons who hear normally; in fact, they are sometimes much happier. 42 THE WORLD OF SILENCE 3. Religious Education of the Hard of Hearing Child Facts such as those presented above show the real diffi- culties with regard to the general education of the child. When the religious phase of his education is considered the difficulties are greatly intensified. So true is this that it is almost beyond human power to realize fully the barriers encountered in this field of religious education. In the first place, we have little or no exact knowledge as to who these children are or as to the schools in which they are at present located, whether parochial or public. In the second place, if we could locate them, we do not have religious teachers trained in the handling of their problems. In the third place, it is almost out of the question to estab- lish one center which would prove easy of access for all. And, in the fourth place, the question of transportation to such centers (if we should be able to establish them) is a problem in itself. Still further, once these children are found (and we pray that some day they will be) those who are to give them religious training must be well aware of the fact that it is almost a matter of individual instruction. A child may have a rather fair vocabulary on general matters after special training; the religious teacher must now give him a religious vocabulary. Some may already have part of this vocabu- lary; others may have practically none. Where we find one child quite adept at the art of reading lips, we may find another child of the same age for whom this method of gaining knowledge is quite difficult, if not impossible. And even in the case of good lip-readers there remains the prob- lem which arises from the fact that religious instruction classes come at the fag end of the school day. Eyes may be very tired because of reading lips all day long, and the THE HARD OF HEARING 43 children may be so exhausted that they are either sleepy or nervous or excited, making still worse a task of itself difficult. The imparting of religious truths in general is not as simple a task as teaching a child to add two and two; it is by no means as easy as teaching a child a vocabulary deal- ing with material objects for Religion deals so very often with abstract things which one cannot touch or feel or see. Considering all these difficulties, we must ask ourselves how we can solve them in a practical manner. Once hav- ing on hand religious teachers who are acquainted with the problems involved, we might be able to locate centers in various parts of our large cities, interest our Catholic soci- eties in providing funds or furnishing the machines which will transport children to the center nearest to their school. With the framework set for handling the situation, the hearing tests conducted in our parochial schools will not end in cruel sterility. Were we to have the tests and then be unable to cope with the problems thus presented, we might make bad matters worse for parents, children and teachers, for they would then be acutely aware of difficulties without any means of meeting them. If we could succeed in hand- ling the problem in our parochial school system, then we might pay attention to our Catholic hard of hearing chil- dren in the public school system. The first could readily lead to the second. From the large cities we might then move toward the problem in the rural districts. In areas where we have a good Catholic school for the deaf which is modern in all respects it might be somewhat easier to handle the hard of hearing problem as well. Some- times the thought comes to mind that in many sections the best which we may do under existing circumstances amounts to the establishment of a modern Catholic school for the deaf in which also special care shall be given to the hard of 44 THE WORLD OF SILENCE hearing who will not be able to make their way in the ordi- nary schools. By no means is this ideal but definitely it can be made somewhat practical, provided we keep the deaf and the hard of hearing children separated in the classroom and in other phases of their training. Only a short time ago in a certain country district the writer met with the case of a ten-year-old girl who had been in a parochial school for several years with such great loss of hearing that it was actually impossible for her to learn anything. This is a situation which should never have existed! That girl was in the school because both Church and civic authorities had told the parents that there was no school anywhere in which a child with such great loss of hear- ing could receive an education. Actually the girl had lost her hearing to such an extent and at such an early age that she could easily have been admitted to the State School for the Deaf in which this particular type of child belonged. There her residual hearing would have been used and per- haps maintained, her speech habits continued and improved upon, her language and vocabularly increased, and the art of lip-reading acquired. There are places in which children of this type can ob- tain such training. It is no favor to these children to let them “slide through” school simply because authorities do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Educators should know of these facts because almost inevitably they will meet such children throughout the school year. Indeed if some day we could have centers wherein parents of these children could receive proper professional advice in such matters we might prevent tragedies. THE HARD OF HEARING 45 Prayer for the Deaf (Taken from the Raccolta, 1935 edition, page 441 ; 100 days in- dulgence, Pius X, December 5, 1906.) O most merciful Jesus, who didst show such tenderness towards little children, who enjoyed the privilege of being caressed by Thy divine hands, and didst say that whoever received one such innocent child, received Thee; extend, we pray Thee, the hand of Thy providence over the little ones who, through being deprived of hearing and speech, are exposed to so many dangers of soul and body. Diffuse the spirit of Thy ardent charity into Christian hearts, that they may come to their aid, and send down abundant graces on those who help in providing for this portion of Thy flock a refuge where their innocence can be secure, and they can find food and affection. Amen. ' Inquiries for further information and advice may be directed to any of the following groups. Their listing does not imply that each agrees with all of the views herein expressed. National Association of the Deaf, 19 West 21st Street, New York, N. Y. Californla. Association of the Deaf, % 5362 West- haven Street, Los Angeles, Calif. Conference of Executives of American Schools for the Deaf and Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf Official organ: American Annals of the Deaf (published bi- monthly). Editorial offices: Kendall Green. Washington, D. €. American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf Official organ: The Volta Review (combining The Auditory Outlook ), published monthly at 1537 37th Street NW., Washington, D. C. American Society for the Hard of Hearing Official organ: Hearing News , published monthly at 1537 37th Street NW., Washington, D. C. Organization for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing of the Archdiocese of San Francisco 400 Alcatraz Avenue, Oakland, Calif. Local and State Boards of Education