Content
How does Cece's hearing loss happen?
She starts having trouble hearing after she has meningitis.
Why is the book called El Deafo?
There is a pun with the word "deaf", making it out to be the name of a superhero whose power is super-hearing.
What changed in the way Cece's siblings treated her right after she was released from the hospital? Give an example.
Before she was sick, her siblings were not nice to her. When she came home from the hospital, they started playing with her and giving her candy.
According to some of our empathy interviews, what are the most difficult places at Avenues for people with hearing loss?
Food / Cafeteria, the stairs and the atrium.
How do Cece's hearing aids work?
She straps the device on every day and teachers have to wear a microphone which connects to it.
Why does the author choose to use terms like "What'd ya think?", "Watcha doing?" and "Dunno" throughout the book in the speech bubbles?
To mimic how people speak in real life.
Mention at least one AHA MOMENT found in the book.
Examples: Cece realizes she can't hear / Cece realizes Laura isn't a good friend to her / Cece realizes the hearing aids are more good than bad / etc.
Mention at least two different types of hearing aids.
Phonic Ear, Cochlear Implant, Bone Conduction Implant, Behind-The-Ear and In-The-Ear hearing aids, etc.
What is an audiologist? Can you mention an example of something an audiologist does that is taken from the book?
An audiologist is a doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating hearing, balance, and ear issues. An example would be Cece's hearing test.
On page 115, Cece explains why she hates the word SPECIAL. What meanings or connotations are there for the word SPECIAL according to the character?
Cece talks about special meaning "great" or "cool" for other people while for her it means "weird".
Who is the first person Cece reveals her superpower to?
Mike.
Great acoustics, carpets in the classroom, classrooms are pretty much soundproof, smaller groups, etc.
In the book, the author mentions three common symptoms of meningitis. Mention at least one.
Vomiting / throwing up, headaches, feeling dizzy / losing your balance.
Each letter has its own speech sound, but the shapes our mouths and faces make may be the same for different letters. Can you give an example of words Cece gets mixed up in the book?
Juice / shoes, goat / Coke, My grandma may die / My grandma makes pie
How does Cece feel when her classmates want her to listen out for her teacher so that they can have fun while she's gone?
She feels conflicted - she doesn't know if she should do it or not.
According to our empathy interviews, how has technology helped people with hearing differences?
Access to better hearing aids which offer better sound quality and much more control over volume and where sound should be picked up from.
Cece uses three different types of clues to help her lip-read. What are they?
Visual Clues, Context Clues, Gestural Clues
In what ways is the language used by El Deafo different than the language used by Cece?
El Deafo is more assertive and is more straightforward. Cece is more shy and does not speak as much.
Examples: When Cece befriends Laura / When her PE teacher breaks her microphone / When her friend makes fun of her because she mixes up words / When she doesn't have her Phonic Ear for a couple of weeks at school / etc.
Mention at least three things we can do to prevent hearing loss from headphones.
Limit use, lower the volume, use noice-cancelling headphones, take breaks, limit exposure to noises above 85 decibels, etc.