Philosophies of Education for Deaf Children

            Children that are Deaf have always have had a difficulty when it has come to school. With the many options of mainstream schools, schools for the Deaf and the use of sign language within schools each has sparked a huge debate in the past. The debate has been centered on whether or not Manualism or Oralism should be used with Deaf or hard of hearing students ("Manualism and Oralism" 2007). Where today we have successfully established three types of ways of educating students who are Deaf or suffer from hearing loss. The three ways we have come to agree on are Bilingual-Bicultural, Auditory/Oral, and Total Communication (Saint Joseph University).
             Manualism is the technical term to describe the use of American Sign Language while educating students ("Manualism and Oralism" 2007). American Sign Language (ASL) has been around and used as a way of communication from one Deaf person to another since the beginning of the 19th century. But it wasn't recognized as an official language until the nineteen sixties ("American Sign Language (ASL) definition,"). Studies conducted by researchers at Gallaudet University found that as many people that live in Houston, Texas (nearly 3 million) use American Sign Language (Mitchell, Young, Bachleda, & Karchmer, 2005). American Sign Language is used to help stimulate methods of communication between the child and their parents whether they are hearing or Deaf, along with helping those children who are Deaf or hard of hearing begin to surpass phonetic milestones in school because of the understanding and well-rounded ability to communicate with their teachers and peers. (Whittem, 2012).
             Oralism is a method of educating students who are Deaf or Hard of hearing, it is also known as cued speech ("Oralism," 2012). It has been found that those who are Deaf or Hard of hearing more times than not suffer from apraxia of speech (NIDCD, 2002). Apraxia of speech is a disorder within speech where the person with apraxia of speech has difficulty getting out the words they would like to say (NIDCD, 2002).