This book offers a readable, comprehensive summary including everything a parent or teacher would want to know about growing up deaf. Marschark studies topics ranging from what it means to be deaf and the uniqueness of Deaf culture to the medical causes of early hearing loss; from technological aids for the deaf to the many ways that the environment of home and school can influence a deaf child's chances for success in both academic and social circles. He makes sense of the most current educational and scientific literature, and also talks to deaf children, their parents, and deaf adults about what is important to them. This is not a "how to" book or one with all the "right" answers for raising a deaf child; rather, it is a guide through the conflicting suggestions and programs for raising deaf children, as well as the likely implications of taking one direction or the other.