Charles-Michel de l'Épée: Encyclopedia II - Charles-Michel de l'Épée - Educational legacy

Charles-Michel de l'Épée - Educational legacy

What distinguished Épée from educators of the deaf before him, and ensured his place in history, is that he allowed his methods and classrooms to be available to the public and other educators. As a result of his openness as much as his successes, his methods would become so influential that their mark is still apparent in deaf education today. Épée also established teacher-training programs for foreigners who would take his methods back to their countries, and who established numerous deaf schools around the world. Laurent Clerc, a deaf pupil of the Paris school, went on to co-found the first school for the deaf in North America and took with him the sign language that formed the basis of modern American Sign Language, including the signs of the ASL alphabet.

Some deaf schools in Germany and England that were contemporaries of the Abbé de l'Épée's Paris School used an 'oralist' approach emphasising speech and lip-reading in contrast to his belief in 'manualism'. Their methods were closely-guarded secrets and they saw Epee as a rival. The oralism vs. manualism debate still rages to this day. Oralism is sometimes called the 'German method' and manualism the 'French method' in reference to those times.

The Paris school still exists, though it now uses French Sign Language in class rather than Épée's methodical signs. Located in rue Saint-Jacques in Paris, it is one of four national deaf schools - the others being in Metz, Chambéry, and Bordeaux.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Educational legacy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki