A Deaf Child Listened: Thomas Gallaudet, Pioneer in American Education

by Anne E. Neimark

A biography of a man whose pioneering efforts in educating deaf children in the early part of the nineteenth century are still being felt today.

116 pages, Library Binding

First published April 1, 1983

Reviews

[Stacy Atherton Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since a couple of my teenage boys were learning ASL, I decided to dive into the culture a bit with them. I read this book aloud in our homeschool, so we all learned a lot about Thomas Gallaudet and the ASL beginnings in our nation, as well as how he (and what he started) impacted the world. This is a wonderful book with a lot of great language. (I can tell it isn't written post-2015 because of the word choice by the author. There are many beautiful words here that are just no longer seen in children's literature. This was not dumbed-down for the audience by any means!) I highly recommend this book, even if you aren't learning ASL.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read. Good living book about Gallaudet's life. Thoroughly enjoyed. Once Thomas passed, the author added updates and additional information. It was a bit biased but for that time still good information. A bit abrupt for me from the neutral storytelling version of his biography to the slightly opinionated one sided list resources and history.
Overall good book, not perfect but will use with my kids.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely biography of Thomas Gallaudet who pioneered schools for the deaf in the US in the early 1800s. It's 10 chapters are suitable for all ages as a read-aloud or for independent reading.

[Alissa I am on Storygraph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was lovely and I really appreciated how grounded it is in his diaries. The writing is wonderful and you really get a feel for who he was.

[Gabriella Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biographical read and informative of how the deaf culture was developed early on

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of biographies and this certainly hasn't swayed me. Found this in the children's room, but it seems rather dull and sort of packed (not quite dense, but packed) to me.

It's told sort of like a third person close point of view story, which just strikes me a little weird. (As I said, not a biography reader.) I guess I expected 'just the facts', even if it did tell a chronological story.

Gallaudet grows up, has a couple jobs, becomes a minister of some sort, heads to the UK to learn how to teach the deaf. Is denied, so goes to France instead. And he and Clerc come back and get the first school for the deaf opened in America. And American Sign Language is born.

I felt I would get more and more efficiently from a Wikipedia entry, but I kept reading to find out about his lung ailment. Were we going to get a diagnosis? Was he going to be cured? Was he going to die young because of it? I never did get much closure on that. Was it 'just' asthma, or was it something else?

A couple things I found questionable. The author describes the sign for 'home' like the modern sign for home, which is not even the first sign for home I learned about 15 years ago. But another sign did seem older and perhaps correct.

There are a number of words used that make the deaf seem like poor souls needing to be saved or enlightened or something. I can't say that's not consistent with the times, but it might give the modern reader the wrong impression. She also used both 'deaf-mute' and 'hearing impaired'. Considering the end brings things up to the present (of 1980-whatever when this was published), she left quite a few things out that I felt she could've said.

So, overall. Meh. I learned things, but not in a particularly enjoyable way.

[Jeniann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short biography about Thomas Gallaudet, the man who established the first school for the deaf in the United States. He had personal challenges of his own but dedicated his life to helping others. I found his story inspiring and uplifting.

[Makenna Espinoza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was very interesting in my opinion. I especially liked this book as I have always had an interest in sign and it's origins. I would recommend this book to anybody who loves to read about history. I really hope to find more books just like this.