Editor's introduction

Schlesinger analyzes the oral/signed responses of both hearing and deaf children to a number of (mostly “why”) questions in terms of her recently developed theory of powerlessness. Schlesinger, a psychiatrist who has worked with deaf children and their parents for many years, has contended that deaf children are more successful at school if their mothers do not succumb to the sense of powerlessness that often develops in the parents of children with whom they have difficulty in communicating. She traces some of the effects of powerlessness to the children's verbal responses and is able to show that the deaf children who were to become the better readers answered more often in ways similar to the hearing children. Schlesinger brings a creative and novel perspective to the analysis of the language of deaf children. Her work not only emphasizes the importance of parental input for children's language learning, but shows us, too, how this input can be severely modified by the psychological state of the mother in her reaction to the deafness of her child. This serves to remind us of the importance of parental education and counseling as a crucial component of intervention strategies for the successful habilitation of deaf children.