Volume 1

Histories of American schools for the deaf, 1817-1893. / prepared for the Volta bureau by the principals and superintendents of the schools, and published in commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America ; edited by Edward Allen Fay.

Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Histories of American schools for the deaf, 1817-1893. / prepared for the Volta bureau by the principals and superintendents of the schools, and published in commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America ; edited by Edward Allen Fay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    54/822 (page 22)
    AMERICAN ASYLUM. backs and discouragements, fitted their pupils to take their parts in life so well! What would be thought in these days of two years, ov four years, as the period allowed for the edu- cation of deaf-mutes ? As time has passed on, the necessities of the case have been appreciated better, and the period of instruction has gradually been increased. Massachusetts now allows ten years to every one of its deaf children, and gives power to the Governor to extend the time beyond that limit in the case of meritorious pupils, recommended therefor by the principal or other chief officer of the school in M'hich they are members. In the rest of New England the State authorities have discretionary power to extend the time to about the same limit. One more step in advance is needed, viz., to grant the same privi- leges to the deaf child that are accorded to his hearing brothers and sisters, to enter school as soon as he is old enough, and remain until his education is completed, includ- ing instruction in the kindergarten, the primary school, the grammar school, and in speech and lip-reading. METHODS OF INSTRUCTIOISr. Great changes have also taken place in the methods of in- struction. Finding an insurmountable barrier to acquiring the system of instruction in Great Britain, Mr. Gallaudet went to France, partially learned the system there in use, and brought it, embodied in the person of Laurent Clerc, to this country. It was a marvelous system, but there was too much machinery about it, and like all the machinery of those days it was crude and cumbersome. Too much time was spent over the sign language. It seems sometimes to have been regarded as an end rather than a means. The lever was mistaken for the load which it was intended to move. For example, in the teaching of language, instead of presenting the idea vividly in brief natural signs, and then turning at once to written, or sj)elled, language, the idea was first given in free natural signs, next in word signs in the order of the words, and, lastly, by signs in the order of the words, each word being accompanied by other signs indicating the part of speech