Megan Kuhle
10/12/09
CD 652
Research Project
The History of Deaf Education in America
The history of education for deaf persons in the United States spans back to almost two centuries ago when Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc founded the first school of its kind: The American School for the Deaf. This happened at the turn of the 19th century, when little was known (and hardly revered) regarding the most effective and efficient methods for educating the deaf. America’s first school for the deaf, ASD, instructed its students in the borrowed Old French sign language, and focused curriculum on promoting literacy for future employment. These practices were also applied at the post-secondary school level when, in 1864, Gallaudet University was founded in Washington, D.C. Named after Thomas Gallaudet himself, this college was founded by his son Edward, and was authorized to issue valid degrees by Abraham Lincoln. Deaf education that integrated sign language continued to progress and dominate most of the early 19th century, but as biased notions began to spread throughout the country, these teaching practices came under attack.
Almost 50 years passed after the establishment of the first deaf school until America witnessed the emergence of a different approach to deaf education with the opening of the first purely oral school in New York. Founded by Bernard Engelsman, this school aimed to promote speech reading and speech amongst deaf students, virtually disregarding sign language as a means for communication. At the time, this oral method was thought to be a more reputable way to educate the deaf, seeing as America was one of the only countries still using sign language in schools. Sadly, in 1880, the Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf in Milan, Italy, voted to pass a resolution that banned the use of sign language in deaf schools, and the oral method took its place as being the “better” system. This new law resulted in decreased educational abilities and self-confidence for many fully deaf persons, who were now denied access to sign language education and the pride that came with communicating in their own language. Over a half-century with this law intact would pass (a period now known as the “Dark Ages” in the deaf community) before the 1960’s rolled around and brought about change in a myriad of social and educational sectors, including deaf education.
In 1960, William Stokoe, a professor at Gallaudet University, studied the linguistic components of the ASL used amongst his students, and published his findings in Sign Language Structure. In this book, he demonstrates the ability of ASL to thrive as a conventional language, owing to its complex syntax and grammar, thus challenging the theory that teaching purely oral communication was best for deaf persons. His research successfully changed the views of the government and public alike of deaf people, and the practice of “total communication” was brought into deaf education. This was the idea that deaf persons should learn both sign language and speech in order to best prepare them for success in their own communities, and in the speaking world at large. Total communication began to spread throughout the country, but children with hearing disabilities still did not have access to public education and mainstreaming. That changed when, in 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children law gave a “free and appropriate” education to all kids with disabilities. It was later changed to a “decent” education in 1990, when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed. In this act, it is required that all children with disabilities, including deaf persons, have access to education in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). Cheryl Zapien notes in an article on deaf education, “Any setting, including a regular classroom, that prevents a child who is deaf from receiving an appropriate education that meets his or her needs, including communication needs, is not the LRE for the individual child.” (Zapien 7) Total communication methods and the increase of legislature that directed special education continued to impact the majority of deaf education up until the 1990’s, when a new focus began to emerge.
By the end of the 1980’s, a successful, FDA-approved device for enabling deaf persons to receive and neurologically process sound waves was being implanted at an increasing rate – the cochlear implant. This surgically implanted device allows sound to stimulate functioning auditory nerves by creating a metal passageway from the skull directly to the cochlea itself. To date, about 10% of deaf U.S. citizens have received a cochlear implant, with users split roughly equally between children and adults. Obviously, this has impacted the structure, expectations, and outcomes of deaf education in a variety of ways across America. Many “oral deaf education” schools have once again sprouted up, with the intention of being able to integrate deaf students into the public school system as early as Kindergarten. The Oral Deaf Education Foundation states that “Oral deaf education is a collaborative, family-centered approach that builds the child’s confidence and life skills along with language and listening. It combines today’s sophisticated hearing technologies with intensive early intervention to teach children to listen and talk.” Such schools, like CCHAT Center in Sacramento, California, usually have a variety of educational programs tailored to suit each child’s needs, from infancy to primary school. Most oral deaf education schools provide standard education for their students, with the added benefits of on-site speech- language pathologists and audiologists who involve themselves when need be.
Although the number of children who receive a cochlear implant is still relatively low, it is increasing rapidly as more parents make the grave decision to give their deaf children the ability to hear the world around them. The future will most likely see an abundant growth of oral deaf education schools, and the life-changing benefits that come from early intervention and education for children with impaired hearing abilities.