America's Founders: Friends of the Deaf - Fall 2016

Main Ideas / Lessons Conveyed

• The origin of Deaf education in America is traced through the efforts of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and early collaboration with Deaf educators.
• Learning is possible for Deaf children when education uses appropriate communication methods rather than expecting Deaf students to rely on spoken language.
• A manual alphabet, signs, and gestures (modeled on European methods) can enable Deaf students to communicate, read, and write.
• Collaboration across people and cultures (Gallaudet + French Deaf educators) is presented as essential to building lasting educational institutions.
• The story emphasizes preserving Deaf culture and ASL, and passing the legacy forward through Deaf teachers and future generations.

Teaching Methodology (Key Approach)

• Start with accessible communication

  • Use a manual alphabet (finger spelling) and signs/gestures rather than spoken language as the primary tool.
  • Teach the idea that Deaf children can acquire language through visual/manual communication.

• Use concrete word-spelling examples

  • Teach by associating objects with finger-spelled words (e.g., “hat” taught through finger spelling).
  • Encourage the student to imitate motions, then progressively connect those motions to meaning.

• Combine finger-spelling with literacy

  • After the student begins to understand finger-spelled words, teach:
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Continued finger-spelling

• Iterate through practice and improved health/conditions

  • The teacher’s effectiveness increases as guidance, practice, and stability improve over time.

• Scale the method into an institutional system

  • Train new teachers in the communication approach so the program can expand.
  • Use early student success to convince funders and build legitimacy for broader Deaf education.

How Deaf Schools Were Founded (Step-by-Step Narrative)

• Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet grows up in Connecticut; despite weak vision and chronic health issues, he pursues education and degrees (including work and theological study).
• He returns home due to health, where he meets Alice Cogswell, a Deaf child.
• Initial problem: Alice’s caregivers note that Deaf children have no access to schooling.
• Discovery of a teaching resource:
  • Gallaudet studies a French book describing methods from the Royal Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in Paris (by Abbé Sicard).
  • The book emphasizes Deaf communication through signs, gestures, and manual finger spelling.
• Practical trial with Alice:
  • Gallaudet teaches Alice finger spelling (starting with simple words like “hat”) and later expands to reading and writing.
• Fundraising and decision to go to Europe:
  • Dr. Mason Cogswell encourages wealthy supporters to fund a plan for a Deaf school in America and sends Gallaudet to Europe to learn proven methods.
  • Gallaudet persuades skeptics by demonstrating that Deaf children can learn.
• Europe study and recruitment of expertise:
  • In Paris, Gallaudet observes leading teachers at the institution, especially Laurent Clerc.
  • Abbe Sicard agrees to send Laurent Clerc to America (under a three-year contract) to help establish the American program.
• Founding the school:
  • Gallaudet, Clerc, and Dr. Mason Cogswell secure a building, prepare classrooms and living quarters, recruit students, and train teachers.
  • The American School for the Deaf is founded on April 15, 1817.
• Legacy and continuation:
  • As founders age, their work is carried forward by the next generation.
  • The story concludes with the importance of Deaf educators becoming leaders, spreading education across America, and preserving Deaf culture/ASL.

Speakers / Sources Featured (As Named)

• Conrad Baer (narrator/presenter)
• Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
• Charles (Thomas’s brother)
• Alice Cogswell
• Dr. Mason Cogswell
• Abbé Sicard
• Laurent Clerc
• Jean Massieu
• Eddie (son in the later family conversation)
• Thomas’s father / Papa (spoken by a family member; name not given)
• Mama (spoken by a family member; name not given)
• “Sicard” interpreting (Abbé Sicard as interpreter in the dialogue)

Video Title Source

America’s Founders: Friends of the Deaf - Fall 2016