A Man Without Words

The author recounts her successful efforts to teach Ildefonso, a deaf twenty-seven-year-old Mexican man, to read and communicate, and raises questions about teaching methods and what it means to be human

YA-- Schaller was neither a teacher of the deaf nor a linguist, but she had learned American Sign Language (ASL) and enjoyed interpreting for the deaf. Still, nothing had prepared her for Ildefonso, a languageless adult, born deaf and lacking instruction in even the simplest communication. With infinite patience and determination, Schaller taught this intense, lonely, but apparently intelligent man to grasp not just signs, but ideas and words. Their breakthrough to language is most spectacular, reminiscent of Keller's experience with "water." Schaller's frustrations were similar to Ildefonso's as she struggled to bring language to him; they were equals as they achieved the impossible. YAs will relate to this appealing story, full of care, concern, and curiosity as it taps basic emotions regarding "words" that people share, especially while overcoming handicaps. --Mary T. Gerrity, Queen Anne School, Upper Marlboro, MD
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"What would life be like," wonders Oliver Sacks in his foreword to this intriguing story, "for a languageless man," a human being "deprived of what all the rest of us take for granted, deprived of the essentially human birthright of language?" When she took a temporary job as an interpreter for the deaf for a southern California community college class, Schaller met such a person. "Ildefonso" (as she calls him here)--27 years old, bright, deaf, and an illegal alien from Mexico--had never been exposed to proper sign language and was unaware of the myriad possibilities of language. The story of how Schaller patiently and painstakingly worked with him to bring him to the point of grasping, for the first time, the meaning of a sign and of recognizing a single signed word is truly inspiring. Recommended for most library collections.
- Marcia G. Fuchs, Guilford Free Lib., Ct.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.