Amy Signs : A Mother, Her Daughter, and their Stories / Rebecca Willman Gernon and Amy Willman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gernon, Rebecca Willman.

Contributor:

Willman, Amy.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Parenting.

Mother and child.

Child rearing.

Deaf children.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 320 p. ) ill. ;

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Washington, District of Columbia : Gallaudet University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Thirty-seven years ago, I vowed to write a truthful book about raising a deaf child." Rebecca Willman Gernon followed through on her promise with her deaf daughter Amy Willman in this extraordinary new narrative. Many stories have been told about a parent's struggle to help her deaf child succeed in a mostly hearing world. Amy Signs marks a signature departure in that both Rebecca and Amy relate their perspectives on their journey together. When she learns of 11-month-old Amy's deafness in 1969, Rebecca fully expresses her anguish, and traces all of the difficulties she endured in trying to find the right educational environment for Amy. The sacrifices of the rest of her family weighed heavily on her, also. Though she resolved to place four-year-old Amy in Nebraska's residential school for deaf students, the emotional toll seemed too much to bear. Amy's view acts as the perfect counterpoint. Interwoven with her mother's story, Amy's account confirms that signing served her best. She summarizes life in boarding school as "laughter and homesickness." She laughed with all of her deaf friends, though felt homesick at times. Amy thanks her mother for the gift of sign, asserting that a mainstream education would never have led her to earn a master's degree and later teach American Sign Language at the University of Nebraska. Amy Signs is a positive albeit cautionary tale for parents of deaf children today whose only choice is a mainstreamed education.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

1. December 1969 / Rebecca

2. Day Two and Beyond: Waiting / Rebecca

3. Date with Destiny / Rebecca

4. Stunned and Numb / Rebecca

5. Stomaching the Diagnosis / Rebecca

6. The Mechanical Tyrant / Rebecca

7. Starting the Climb / Rebecca

8. Twenty Minutes of Torture / Rebecca

9. Gibberish / Rebecca

10. Pavlov's Daughter / Rebecca

11. Hard Lessons / Rebecca

12. Gain and Loss / Rebecca

13. The Scarlet Letter / Rebecca

14. Blessings and Fellow Travelers / Rebecca

15. Terrible Twos / Rebecca

16. Miles and Moments / Rebecca

17. Respite and Renewal / Rebecca

18. On the Road Again / Rebecca

19. Ready, Aim . . . / Rebecca

20. Dreams and Reality / Rebecca

21. Pets and Playmates / Amy

22. Hearing in a Deaf World / Rebecca

23. Summer Workshop Times Two / Rebecca

24. Emptying the Nest / Rebecca

25. The Year with Few Memories / Rebecca

26. Residential Life in the Primary Dorm / Amy

27. Smooth Roads / Rebecca

28. Education, the Primary Years / Amy

29. Moving into Deaf Culture / Rebecca and Amy

30. Caution, Speed Bumps Ahead / Rebecca

31. Mainstreaming, Not for Me / Amy

32. The Decision / Rebecca

33. Deaf Child in a Hearing World / Amy

34. Tossed and Blown by Life / Rebecca

35. Middle School / Amy

36. Gaining Independence / Rebecca

37. Do You Sign? / Amy

38. Driving Miss Daisy Crazy / Rebecca and Amy

39. More Audism / Rebecca and Amy

40. Stateside Travel / Rebecca and Amy

41. Plans in Turmoil / Rebecca and Amy

42. Europe and Beyond / Rebecca and Amy

43. Making Memories, High School / Amy

44. Last Chances / Rebecca

45. The Big Question / Rebecca and Amy

46. Graduation and College Bound / Rebecca and Amy

47. Gallaudet, New Horizons / Amy

48. No Choice, Mainstreamed in 1994 / Amy.

49. Deaf in the Hearing World / Amy

50. Deaf or deaf, Does It Matter? / Amy

51. Adapting to Live in Two Worlds: Hearing and Deaf / Amy

52. My Eyes Are My Ears / Amy

53. Concluding Thoughts / Amy and Rebecca.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781563685385

1563685388

OCLC:

823345788