The Deaf Baby Instruction Manual is under full sail. The final release date has been set for April 2026, right around IEP season. Copyediting is happening, cover discussions are underway, and promotional feelers are being sent out. I should have a pre-order link before the end of October.
Unless you keep a close eye on the trade magazines, you probably missed the recent earth-shaking item in the Publisher’s Marketplace deal announcements, which partly accounts for the lateness of this email:
Parent and advocate for deaf and hard of hearing children Will Fertman’s THE DEAF BABY INSTRUCTION MANUAL, a guide for parents, families, and educators of deaf and hard of hearing infants and toddlers, covering birth to five years and the critical language window, to Christen Karinski at Bloomsbury Academic, by Jen Nadol at The Unter Agency (world English).
The tentative publication date is spring of 2026—I’ll let you know when there’s a pre-order link available.
Obviously, this is an incredible privilege. The process of book-writing, proposal-writing, agent-finding, publisher-pitching, etc. is both well-documented and completely free of guarantees. Tens of thousands of good books die annually, never having escaped their laptop. Tens of thousands more bounce off the publishing industry’s knobby shell and fall into the slush. So I need to give a lot of love and thanks to Jen, Christen, and the good people of querytracker.net.
In times of crisis, we all turn to loved ones; I turn to my smart 'n sassy wife. She’s deeply invested in the well-being and success of children—ours and everyone’s. So here’s what she had to say about Trump’s attacks against public education, what it means for our deaf kids, and how we can take action.
I’m thinking about the days after Oscar was born. The growing sense of urgency as it became clear that he was deaf, and that we had only a short time to act. We hit the books, turned up research, spoke with Deaf adults, and made decisions about what we would do, and what we wanted from the professionals sent to help us.
This was followed by the sinking realization that the pros, from the school district on down, were stonewalling. Some did not know their ass from a hole in the ground. Others had specific ideas about what was supposed to happen with Oscar, whether we wanted it or not. Some seemed helpless in the face of their more assertive colleagues. None of them were going to just allow us to give our child the education and the services that were his right under the law.
They’re after all of us. Our wives, our children, everyone!
This was a terrifying experience, with Body Snatchers overtones. We could no longer rely on the competence and benevolence of the systems around us, and we could no longer trust the people put in charge of our child’s well-being. We were suddenly done to, rather than done for.
The holidays are here, and although it’s a little late to send around a gift guide (Language Priority is already done for the year… but get a shirt for January!) I did want to give a bump to some children’s books, or really children’s book authors, who I love and whose work you can pick up from your local bookshop or library this week.
Hi, and welcome to the newsletter. If somebody sent this to you (and you like it,) you can subscribe here. Also, my agent tells me I need to bulk up my social media, so you can follow me on Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook.
Look at my beautiful family, drenched in the honey-color sun that spills down on us, in the fragrant rose garden of the gracious Berkeley cottage where we live. Notice the true bond between my children, their unconditional love for each other, and the perfect love and care which my wife and I shower down upon them. See our happiness and our perfection; gaze upon the basilisk.
This is just a note to thank all the subscribers to this newsletter. Signups just passed the 100 mark, which seems small, but it’s about 100x more readers than I ever thought I would have, and I am truly grateful. If you have any thoughts on what topics I should cover in this newsletter, or words of encouragement, please let me know!
And if you have friends, family, or colleagues who you think would enjoy or benefit from this newsletter, send them this link—you can sign up for the newsletter and read all my past emails in the archive there.
Dr. Kimberly Ofori-Sanzo is a hearing speech-language pathologist, and the founder and director of Language First, an organization that “aims to educate and raise awareness about American Sign Language / English bilingualism and the importance of a strong first language foundation for Deaf and hard of hearing children.” She’s also a co-founder and board member of the American Board of DHH Specialists, a certifying organization for professionals working in Deaf education, rehabilitation and research, which launched this year.
image courtesy of Language First
I was excited to speak with Dr. Ofori-Sanzo because she’s been advocating for deaf children for almost exactly as long as my son has been alive. When Oscar was born in 2018, Language First was one of the only professional organizations1 honestly discussing the impact of language deprivation syndrome, and how ASL could prevent it. Importantly, they also talked about language deprivation’s social context: how doctors, therapists and educators were causing iatrogenic harm by insisting on English-only interventions for deaf and hard of hearing kids and steering parents away from natural signed languages like ASL.
Finding Language First online was a revelation—their position was a brave and radical break with larger professional organizations like ASHA and EHDI, which at best were equivocating about signed languages, and at worst actively suppressing ASL education and research2. Beyond that, Kim was a true poster,who knew how to use social media to its greatest effect. Language First’s pithy memes and growing online network led me to professionals who helped support my son’s education, and to the people and the science that shaped much of my thinking for The Deaf Baby Instrution Manual.
I spoke with Dr. Ofori-Sanzo by phone in late August of 2024 about her experience as an SLP, as an advocate for deaf kids, her new project, and the difficulties and rewards of changing her mind. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
I’m going to begin with a new series on favorite books to sign with my kid in ASL. It’s a retrospective at this point, because Oscar absolutely refuses to let me read to him anymore—he can do it himself. But I LOVED reading to him, and I feel like I’d better share my faves before Dad brain claims my memory of the past six years.
Hi, and welcome the the second newsletter. If you think it’s fun or useful, please forward it to friend who might like it. If you got this from a friend and you do like it, you can subscribe here.
The use and abuse of boredom
In parenting, boredom is a double-edged sword. Generally, I’m on team boredom: kids need to experience it, or at least learn to tolerate it for our sake, because child who can’t be bored is a child that can never be left alone.
“Go draw.” “Go play with your toys.” “Go get a book.” “Go outside.” “Go find your brother.”
Hi, and welcome to the inaugural Deaf Baby Instruction Manual newsletter. There’s an introduction and bio at the bottom of the newsletter, but you’re not really here for that…
Thinking of Linda the Librarian If you haven’t already seen it, PBS recently debuted long-needed ASL interpreted versions of selected PBS Kids shows, in cooperation with DCMP. Meanwhile, SignUp has added The Magic Schoolbus to their app, and MyGo continues going strong interpreting their corner of the CocoMelon Blippiverse.
This is unquestionably good news, and it means our Deaf kids have a chance to enjoy these shows and learn (or just veg out) the same as any hearing child.
But is it the same, exactly?
Watching an interpreted episode of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood makes me wish for a Plaza Sésamowhere every actor, puppet and claymation mostrosity uses ASL. There’s a difference between a show interpreted into sign language from English, and a show made in sign language, for a Deaf audience. I’m thinking of something at that public TV level of production, made by Deaf creators, that showcases native signers and features an either an Eyeth-y Deaf world, or at least a set in a real world that isn’t mediated by the interpreting two-step.
These have existed here and there. Rainbow’s End was the first program I’m aware of—5 episodes were made in 1977-78. Not much of it is available online, but from what little I’ve seen, it looks amazing.
