Dr. Grant B. Bitter's Speech Reading Principles: Part 1

When my colleague, Julie Hesterman Smith, an interpreter, and I were cleaning out an old cabinet at work, we were thrilled to discover the videos made by Dr. Grant B. Bitter during my study of him and his impact on deaf education in Utah. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to our interpreters, especially Julie, who put a lot of effort into captioning the videos. In 2011, they spent numerous hours listening to the recordings and creating caption transcripts. Regrettably, Julie's computer crash resulted in the loss of the transcripts, necessitating a fresh start. She remained committed and completed the transcripts. In 2011, we uploaded the videos to YouTube. Thanks to her dedication, we can watch Dr. Bitter's videos and the oral panelists, including his daughter Colleen.
 
Dr. Grant B. Bitter was a strong oral and mainstreaming advocate and the father of a Deaf daughter, Colleen. As a professor, he taught the Special Education 540 class in the Oral Training Program within the Special Education at the University of Utah. In May 1987, he facilitated a video featuring a panel of Deaf individuals discussing their educational background, speech reading, and preferences regarding oral interpreting. We did our best to caption the video accurately; however, the low quality and difficulty understanding some panel members may have caused some errors. We appreciate the panelists' contributions and have made every effort to represent their words accurately.
 
For more information on Utah Deaf History, you can visit the following website: www.utahdeafhistory.com

Jodi Becker Kinner