Comments on: Speech, Speech, Speech!

By: Bert Shaposka

Bert Shaposka — Tue, 22 May 2007 02:32:53 +0000

With all due respect, Jenny, I agree with you that there are no simplistic solutions, but I also want to point out Dr. Gallaudet’s statement: “In coming to our institutions the learning of the sign language is not the most important task.” (E. M. Gallaudet, “The American System of Deaf-Mute Instruction–Its Incidental Defects and Their Remedies,” American Annals of the Deaf, Volume 3, p. 155.

By: Bert Shaposka

Bert Shaposka — Mon, 21 May 2007 19:43:03 +0000

With all due respect, Jenny, the goal of deaf education is to encourage all, meaning both the prelingually deaf and the postlingually deaf, to recognize English as the coin of the realm and to prepare them to succeed academically and competitively in the real world. If educators fail to create a complete English atmosphere and ASL holds sway in deaf education, the prospect of success would be problematical.

By: Bert Shaposka

Bert Shaposka — Mon, 21 May 2007 19:29:36 +0000

With all due respect, Jenny, the goal of deaf education is to encourage all, meaning both prelingually deaf and postlingually deaf, to master English. We need to create the environment that would allow prelingually deaf college applicants to succeed academically and be competitive in the real world. The focus has to be on English as the coin of the realm. If ASL were to hold sway in deaf education, we would be back to Square One, and the prospect of success would be problematical. In the final analysis, there is only one certain way to master English and that is through a complete English atmosphere.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Mon, 21 May 2007 16:07:35 +0000

Bert, it is important to acknowledge that people who became deaf prelingually and who became deaf postlingually learn English in totally different ways. Please do not presume to speak for people who are prelingually deaf because of your experience. People need to acknowledge your experience, and I’m willing to do that. But it just does not apply to everyone.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Mon, 21 May 2007 16:03:25 +0000

I was born deaf, therefore I’m prelingually deaf too.

By: Bert Shaposka

Bert Shaposka — Mon, 21 May 2007 08:50:17 +0000

With all due respect, Cecily, when my parents enrolled me at the Western PA School in Pittsburgh in 1947, ASL was dumped into my lap. I had become deaf as a result of spinal meningitis at the age of eight. I had an adolescent level of English and ASL was the interloper, i.e., the second or foreign language, as far as I was concerned. ASL was not the foundation upon which I built. In this case, English was the horse and ASL the cart. When I refer to constant exposure and persistent usage, I speak from personal experience. You know the old architectural saying: “Before we concern ourselves with spires, let us concern ourselves with foundations.”

By: Cecily Whitworth

Cecily Whitworth — Sun, 20 May 2007 13:57:24 +0000

Thanks!

By: Cecily Whitworth

Cecily Whitworth — Sun, 20 May 2007 13:55:54 +0000

Bert-
But as you said several times before, you became deaf postlingually rather than prelingually. So your mastery of English didn’t occur as a Deaf person. You learned English as first language and ASL as a second language. Why did you choose to learn ASL? Was it because you found that there were advantages to be had in knowing multiple languages?

By: Chris Heuer

Chris Heuer — Sun, 20 May 2007 06:46:36 +0000

Fine. Gallaudet isn’t in an acedemic crisis BECAUSE the United States’s Deaf Ed system utilizes Bi-Bi methods on a widespread basis. Gallaudet is in an academic crisis because it DOESN’T.

My bet is that once Deaf Ed starts utilizing effective Bi-Bi approaches, the pool of literate deaf high school graduates will grow. Meaning that the pool of of potential students Gallaudet can focus its recruiting efforts on will widen.

If you want me to support this opinion, we’re going to have to go back to statistics. So let’s agree to disagree and call it a day, okay?

By: Bert Shaposka

Bert Shaposka — Sun, 20 May 2007 06:25:50 +0000

With all due respect, Ms. Fisher Clark, I am a deaf person with a 100 percent hearing loss in both ears, and I do not recall using ASL as a stepping stone to the mastery of English. I have no clear recollection of banging my head against the wall and experiencing frustration or pain. English was the first, not the second, language and certainly not the foreign language in my personal sphere of influence. So we agree to disagree and move on.