Signs as Words: Education of Deaf Children

<BODY TEXT="#000000" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" LINK="#1C278F" VLINK="#FF9900" ALINK="#FFFFFF"> <H2 ALIGN="Center"><FONT COLOR="#1C278F" FACE="Verdana">The first educators</FONT></H2> <CENTER> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="4" CELLPADDING="0" WIDTH="99%"> <TR ALIGN="Center" VALIGN="Top"><TD> <TABLE BORDER="3" BORDERCOLOR="#1C278F" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="4" WIDTH="100%"> <TR ALIGN="Center" VALIGN="Middle"><TD BGCOLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Verdana" COLOR="#FFFFFF"><B>Pedro Ponce de Leon (Spain)</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR="#DEEBF6"> <IMG SRC="../img/edu00.gif" WIDTH="130" HEIGHT="156" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="2" ALIGN="Left" ALT=" [Portrait of Pedro Ponce de Leon] "> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Rosie, Helvetica, Arial"> <SPACER type="horizontal" Size="10"><B>T</B>he first mention of deaf education goes back to the time of a Benedictine monk, Pedro Ponce de Leon (1520-1584). He is the first known educator of the deaf children. We know that he used some form of manual alphabet, a system in which each letter of an alphabet corresponds a particular hand configuration. The theory and practice of this method became public knowledge for the first time in a book written by Bonet, titled <I>Reducciòn de las letras y arte para enseñar à hablar los mudos</I> (1620).</FONT></TD></TR></TABLE> </TD></TR> <TR ALIGN="Center" VALIGN="Top"><TD> <TABLE BORDER="3" BORDERCOLOR="#1C278F" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="4" WIDTH="100%"> <TR ALIGN="Center" VALIGN="Middle"><TD BGCOLOR="#000000" COLSPAN=2><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Verdana" COLOR="#FFFFFF"><B>Charles-Michel de l'Epée e Roche-Amboise Sicard (France)</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR="#DEEBF6" COLSPAN=2> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Rosie, Helvetica, Arial"> <SPACER type="horizontal" Size="10"><B>I</B>n France, the abbot L'Epée founded the first public school for the Deaf (1770). L'Epée elaborated a conventional sign language, making the gestures used by his own students the central nucleus, and creating a series of signs that designate specific parts of French grammar (grammar rules). His method was further perfected by abbot Sicard (1742-1822).</FONT></TD></TR> <TR ALIGN="Center" VALIGN="Middle"><TD BGCOLOR="#DEEBF6"><IMG SRC="../img/edu01.gif" WIDTH="130" HEIGHT="120" ALT=" [Abbot L'Epee's portrait] "><P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Verdana"><B>Abbot Charles-Michel de l'Epée</B></FONT></TD> <TD BGCOLOR="#DEEBF6"><IMG SRC="../img/edu02.gif" WIDTH="130" HEIGHT="120" ALT=" [Abbot Sicard's portrait] "><P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Verdana"><B>Abbot Roche-Amboise Sicard</B></FONT></TD> </TR></TABLE> </TD></TR> <TR ALIGN="Center" VALIGN="Top"><TD> <TABLE BORDER="3" BORDERCOLOR="#1C278F" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="4" WIDTH="100%"> <TR ALIGN="Center" VALIGN="Middle"><TD BGCOLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Verdana" COLOR="#FFFFFF"><B>Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (United States)</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR="#DEEBF6"> <IMG SRC="../img/edu03.gif" WIDTH="130" HEIGHT="156" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="2" ALIGN="Right" ALT=" [Portrait of Thomas H. Gallaudet] "> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Rosie, Helvetica, Arial"> <SPACER type="horizontal" Size="10"><B>T</B>homas Gallaudet visited a school in Paris where he remained for several months to learn the education method used by Sicard. He brought with him to the United States a deaf teacher, Laurent Clerc. During the long voyage home, Clerc taught him signs. In 1817, Gallaudet and Clerc established the first American school for the deaf in Hartford (Connecticut). His son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, went on to found Gallaudet College in Washington in 1864.</FONT></TD></TR></TABLE> </TD></TR> <TR ALIGN="Center" VALIGN="Top"><TD> <TABLE BORDER="3" BORDERCOLOR="#1C278F" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="4" WIDTH="100%"> <TR ALIGN="Center" VALIGN="Middle"><TD BGCOLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Verdana" COLOR="#FFFFFF"><B>Tommaso Silvestri (Italy)</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR="#DEEBF6"> <IMG SRC="../img/edu04.gif" WIDTH="130" HEIGHT="156" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="2" ALIGN="Left" ALT=" [Portrait of abbot T. Silvestri] "> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Rosie, Helvetica, Arial"> <SPACER type="horizontal" Size="10"><B>I</B>n Italy, the abbot Tommaso Silvestri, who met and learned L'Epee's methods in 1783, founded the <A HREF="pannello11.htm">first school for the deaf</A> in Rome. From the written works of Silvestri, we know that the use of the method was intended for teaching speech and lipreading using signs as the primary form of communication.</FONT></TD></TR></TABLE> </TD></TR></TABLE> <P> <A HREF="mailto:webmaster.istc%40istc.cnr.it?Subject=Web site 'Signs as Words'"><IMG SRC="../img/mail.gif" WIDTH="28" HEIGHT="32" BORDER="0" ALT=" [Send an e-mail to the webmaster...] "></A> <A HREF="pannello0.htm" TARGET="Pannello"><IMG SRC="../img/chi.gif" WIDTH="28" HEIGHT="32" BORDER="0" ALT=" [Who contributed to the exhibit?] "></A> <A HREF="links.htm" TARGET="Pannello"><IMG SRC="../img/links.gif" WIDTH="32" HEIGHT="32" BORDER="0" ALT=" [Links to other web sites] "></A> <HR SIZE="1" WIDTH="99%" NOSHADE> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" WIDTH="99%"> <TR> <TD ALIGN="Left"><A HREF="pannello07.htm"><IMG SRC="../img/back.gif" WIDTH="13" HEIGHT="15" BORDER="0" ALT=" [Back] "></A></TD> <TD ALIGN="Right"><A HREF="pannello09.htm"><IMG SRC="../img/fwd.gif" WIDTH="14" HEIGHT="15" BORDER="0" ALT=" [Forward] "></A></TD> </TR> </TABLE></CENTER></BODY>