1. The History of Deaf Education and ASL
Part II
J. Parmley Richland High School
Birdville ISD Fort Worth, Texas

2. 1760: Abbé de l’Epée
Considered “the father of the Deaf”
Epée saw that the deaf must learn “through the eye what other people acquire through the ear.”

3. It was awkward, but a successful beginning.
1760: Abbé de l’Epée
However, the existing sign language in Paris was limited, so Epée created “methodical signs” to include French grammar.
It was awkward, but a successful beginning.
“Believe” (croire) required 5 signs: KNOW, FEEL, SAY, NOT-SEE, VERB
Even the simplest sentence took on enormous complexity. One example: a line from Racine, “To the smallest of the birds, He gives their crumbs,” required forty-eight signs from Epée’s pupils. “Gives” alone required five signs: those for verb, present, third person, singular, and “give”. To the deaf pupil accustomed to expressing such an idea in five or six signs in a different order, the sentence in methodical signs lacked unity, was full of distractions, was far too long for a single unit of meaning, and, in the end, was unintelligible. This did not prevent Epée’s pupils from signing French sentences given a text and, conversely, from writing perfect French given a sentence in manual French; it just prevented them from understanding those sentences – they had to be explained in French Sign Language. – When the Mind Hears, pg 61-63

4. The first teacher of the deaf who was himself deaf.
Jean Massieu
The first teacher of the deaf who was himself deaf.
Became the “poster child” for Deaf education, and still is.
He learned from Epee, but he taught Epee, too. His whole life was wrapped up in the St. Jacques. He was fond of pocket watches and enjoyed fun.

5. 1789: Roch-Ambroise Sicard
Abbé Sicard takes over the Paris school after Epée’s death.
Wrote several books on Deaf Education

6. Abbé Sicard
Sicard loved attention and fame. He made public demonstrations of his students.
Sicard was open with his methods and was willing to train others.

7. Believed speech was necessary for abstract thought
1778: Samuel Heinicke
Believed speech was necessary for abstract thought
Opened an oral school in Germany
So a lot of people are watching these two guys – Sicard and Heinicke.

8. Heinicke was successful, but only with a few certain students.
He was secretive and would not share his methods, which died with him.
Almost all of his students lost their hearing as children so already had some exposure to language and had learned some speech and/or were HH. After they graduated from his school and didn’t have constant practice, their became unintelligible.

9. 1816: Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
A young pastor meets the neighbor’s 9-year-old deaf daughter, Alice Cogswell.
Her father hires him to establish a school for the Deaf.

10. 1815
Gallaudet goes to Germany, but Heinicke wants to charge Gallaudet a fortune, which his backers in Connecticut can’t pay.

11. 1816
Meanwhile, Sicard wants fame, needs money, and has to hide from Napoleon, so he does public demonstrations in London.
Napoleon was returning to France to take power again so Sicard had to get scarce.

12. Laurent Clerc
He takes Massieu and another student- turned-teacher, Laurent Clerc.
They meet Gallaudet and invite him to their school in Paris

13. Gallaudet learns to run a school from Sicard and how to sign from Clerc.
Gallaudet invites Clerc to go to the US to help start the first Deaf school. Clerc is thrilled at the chance.

14. They establish the American School for the Deaf with 7 students, including Alice Cogswell.
Their legacy still continues today.