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As a parent of a congenitally deaf daughter, whose hearing loss is what drew me from the field of electrical engineering and engineering management into special education back in 1962, I was intrigued with the title of Polly Pooser's piece in the Nov. 19, 2002 issue of The ASHA Leader. It caused me to reflect on more than 50 years of experience in being Linda's loving father, her teacher, and her advocate as she advanced from John Tracy Clinic home schooling, Mill Neck Manor Lutheran School for the Deaf, public and private schools in Pennsylvania and Maryland, the Benjamin Franklin Business School in D.C., and NTID.
In all those years and experiences, I learned that parents should never force a child into an educational setting when the clinical and educational authorities do not agree that it is appropriate and are convinced they cannot provide what is necessary to meet the child's needs. George Pratt, long time president of the Clarke School for the Deaf, said it best at an A.G. Bell convention in Philadelphia: "Clarke School will never knowingly accept a child as a student who we honestly don't feel we can help." Anything less than that would be unethical, and I think that is what Ms. Pooser said in addition to other constructive things in her article.
George W. Fellendorf
Keene, NH
fellendorf@webryders.net
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