Final answer:
Parents must choose between mainstream schools with a focus on verbalization and reading lips or schools for the deaf with ASL learning, based on their child's needs and their own experiences with deafness.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a child is diagnosed with a hearing impairment such as deafness, parents do face a challenging decision on the best educational environment for their child. This could range from enrolling them in mainstream schools and focusing on teaching them to verbalize and read lips, to sending them to a school for deaf children where they would learn American Sign Language (ASL) and be immersed in deaf culture. The approach parents take may vary significantly based on their own experiences, with deaf parents potentially having a different perspective and approach to a child's education compared to parents who can hear.
Parents who are also deaf may be more inclined towards ensuring their child is part of the deaf community and may prioritize the learning of ASL. In contrast, parents who can hear might lean more towards mainstream educational settings where the focus is on oral communication skills. Regardless of the decision, it is vital to ensure that the child's educational needs are met and that they have access to all the necessary support and resources to thrive.