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Origins of Deaf Learning In America - Coggle Diagram
Origins of Deaf Learning In America
Martha's Vineyard
An island off the coast of Massachusetts, where Native American tribes and new settlers lived in harmony together.
Many poor farmers left England and settled in Chilmark, a town in the western part of Martha's Vineyard.
Intermarriage was common practice among the community in Chilmark since marriage "off-island" was rare. History suggests that one of every four babies born in certain areas was deaf.
On this island, deaf individuals had full communication accessibility in the community. Hearing residents viewed deaf people as perfectly normal and used sign language regularly.
Bedouin Village
Discovered in the late 1900's at the University of Haifa in Israel. An isolated village in the middle of the desert.
Deaf and hearing individuals lived in the village. With a population of approximately 3,500, 150 are deaf.
Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) is only spoken in the village between the hearing and deaf communities. It first appeared in the 1930's as home signs and evolved into ABSL as time progressed.
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
Graduated from Yale in 1805 at the age of 17 at the top of his class.
Dr. Cogswell and THG worked together to fulfill the lack of education and communication for Alice Cogswell (Dr. Cogswell's daughter) and other deaf children.
THG spent a year in Europe studying the methods of educating the deaf and mute children in hopes to bring new methods to America and begin the first school of the Deaf.
The first successful school for the deaf opened on April 15, 1817. Seven students enrolled and it is notable that they did not discriminate against age as the oldest student was 40 years old. THG was the principal until 1830.
Laurent Clerc
First documented teacher of the deaf in America.
Clerc became lifelong friends with his first teacher Jean Massieu and later worked with Sicard to demonstrate that as a deaf student, he could effectively read, write and communicate in sign language.
In 1816 THG and Clerc became lifelong friends and was appointed the head teacher at the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons, later renamed American School for the Deaf in 1885
Clerc trained many teachers and used French Sign Language for instruction. He taught for 50 years, in two countries and retired at the age of 73.