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ind and other afflicted people--perhaps you have seen some of them. "Now, into your home comes disease or a sudden awakening to the meaning of existing conditions, and you find that _your_ child is _deaf_. "At first your thought is of physicians; they fail you. Advice from friends and advertisements from quacks pour in upon you; still you find no comfort and no help. "You stop talking to the child. What is the use? He cannot hear you! You pity him--oh, infinitely! And your pity takes the form of indulgence. You love him and you long to understand him; but you cannot interpret him and he feels the change, the helplessness in your attitude toward him. You try one thing after another, floundering desperately in your effort to discover what radical step must be taken to meet this emergency. After a time you seize upon the idea that seems to you the best. Probably it is to wait until he is six or seven and then put him into an institution. But while you wait for school age to arrive, you lose that close touch with the soul of your child which may be established only in these early years, for you have no adequate means of communication with him--no way to win his confidence. Soon the child has passed this stage, and no school can ever give him what you might and would have given had you known how. "You who are trained teachers of the deaf can hardly realize the need of advice about matters perfectly obvious to YOU; but the need exists. May I tell you from my own experience a few of the things about which you might advise--you, who know! "In the first place, suggest to parents that they make simple tests of their children's hearing; and tell them how and why those who are _partially_ deaf should be helped. "Then tell them to talk, and talk, and talk, to their little deaf ones--to say everything and say it naturally. And tell them some things in particular that should be said--commands, etc., and _certainly_ 'I love you.' Tell them to speak in whole sentences. Give them an idea of the possibilities of lip-reading. "Tell them that _by the expression of the face_ they may convey to the deaf child the interest, approval, disapproval, etc., that they would express to a hearing child in the tone of voice. "Tell them that there is
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