American Sign Language

 You will go around the room and ask your classmates the estimated cost of something in the room.  You need to talk to every person in the room!  “(deixis—point to something in the room) COST WHAT? (deixis)”

 We are going to watch A Deaf Son, a documentary about the struggle to select education programs for Deaf children.  While we watch, record five talking points for our Socratic Seminar on Friday via an index card. Each “talking point” must include:  A response to something in the documentary, followed by a question you could pose to the group.  You may also help yourself to tea or hot chocolate!

 Up until the 1860s Sign Language was used to educate the Deaf.  Then some parents and educators felt that the Deaf children should also learn how to talk which lead to the creation of pure oral schools.

 Twenty years later there was an even bigger push for schools to use oral methods instead of manual methods.  In 1880 the second International Congress of Education of the Deaf met in Milan, Italy  There were a total of 164 participants.  Only 5 were American  Only 1 was Deaf (James Denison)  The 5 represented 51 schools with a total of over 6,000 students.  This was more than the total of all the other 159 participants combined

 Despite their opposition (plus one educator from Great Britain), those present at the conference voted that Sign Language was no longer to be used when educating Deaf children.

 Attempts were made to suppress sign language until the 1960’s when a linguistic study by William Stokoe proved that ASL was a language in and of itself.

 IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) was signed into law in (formerly Educ for all HC children act)  Should be designed to meet the unique learning needs of children with disabilities. (pre-K - 21 years old)  Should prepare students for further education, employment & independent living.

 Anyone with a disability (Deaf or other) must have an IEP. Specifies what services and how often Specifies current levels of achievement Specifies how disability affects academic achievement Specifies accommodations & modifications that will be provided

This part of the law states that children are to be educated with non-disabled students unless the nature or severity of their disability would be better served in an different environment. This is not always the best option for Deaf children and we will look at why.

 Students start out behind their hearing counterparts because they have limited language. (only 5-10% acquire ASL from Deaf parents)  Most of the money for their education is spent on teaching them to talk instead of other curricula.

 Methods of teaching are really just policies of how teachers and students should communicate with each other instead of HOW they should be taught.  Oralism  Simultaneous Communication (Sim-Com)  Cued Speech  Mainstreaming

 Spoken English is the sole mode of instruction.  The assumption is made that students will acquire English through seeing and hearing it. This will “help” them fit in better with the hearing world.  Even students with some residual hearing don’t do well because some of the sounds can’t be seen visually. (60%)  They miss out on other curricula because they spend so much time on speech.

 They are expected to learn from a person who is speaking a language they do not understand nor have access to.  They suffer socially as well because they are forbidden to sign and can’t communicate easily with others.  They can’t “overhear” conversations so they also miss out on general cultural knowledge, socio- economic experiences, and other interactions that help them develop cognitively.

 Also called Sim-Com  Been around since the 1970s.  Is a little more accepted by the Deaf community because it allows signs.  The mode of communication is spoken English supported by simultaneous signs. (Sign Supported Speech – SSS)  Special signs are developed so that it represents English.

 A visual communication system that makes the sounds of spoken language look different from each other.  8 handshapes in 4 different placements on the face  Combined with mouth movement

 Student(s) has an interpreter in each class in a regular public school.  Positives:  Can take a variety of classes and exposed to more curriculum at the higher levels  Negatives:  The interpreter may not be qualified. Ex. Small school districts.  The student is isolated…sometimes the only Deaf student in the class/school.  The student must have good ASL/signing skills for this to be an effective learning environment.

 Foundational belief:  Deaf children should be taught/modeled/allowed to use ASL  They will be taught English as a 2 nd language and follow the principles other ESL students learn by

 Content classes are taught in ASL. (Science, math, etc)  English is taught as a second language. As the child gets older, more emphasis is placed on English so that he/she becomes bi-lingual.  Speech training is not ignored (esp for those who have some residual hearing), it’s just not the PRIMARY means of teaching.  No child will be expected to learn acquire knowledge at the same time they are learning to understand speech.

 Total Communication (TC) is philosophy of educating children with hearing loss that incorporates all means of communication; formal signs, natural gestures, fingerspelling, body language, listening, lipreading and speech. Children in TC programs typically wear hearing aids or cochlear implants.