Jericho: The Walls Come Tumbling Down!

Abstract

Special IssuE JERICHO The Walls Come Tumbling Down! Frank R Withrow e are here to discuss technology and its applications in the education of people who are deaf. But in doing so, we must also take into account the context within which this technology is, and will be, applied. School Setting Two thirds of the hearing-impaired students in American schools are now enrolled in mainstream programs. Some have adequate resources and teachers who provide excellent programs . Others have minimal services and staff. Public Law 94-142 requires the least restrictive environment for an equitable and appropriate education. Many have interpreted this to mean mainstreaming. I believe for deaf students it should, and in some instance has, meant different things for different students at different times in their school lives. It should mean that within a given state the residential school for the deaf and the mainstream programs are working in cooperation with one another. I am reminded of two students I knew when I was Director of Research and Clinical Services at the Illinois School for the Deaf. These students had been mainstreamed for most of their education. Both had excellent language and communication skills. One, above average on all aspects of her achievement tests, scored significantly above her grade level. The Chicago school system had provided services in the past, but at the time both were enrolled in over-crowded inner city schools with 45 to 50 students to a class. One mathematics teacher lectured with his back to the class. This intolerable educational environment resulted in the transfer of these students to the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville. Under different circumstances, both students could have completed their education in a mainstream program. However, at that time and in that place, the residential school was the least restrictive educational environment. One student has since graduated from NTID and the other from Gallaudet University . One has continued her education and received a Masters degree from a state university. I cite these two students because I believe that their experiences represent the essential intent of P.L. 94-142, notably that every student must have an Individual Educational Program—the critical factor is individual. Too often we have pitted different educational programs against one another. We argue over instructional and communication methods and forget the individual student. We must offer all deaf stuAmeiucan Annals of the Deaf dents a complete and continuous educational program that allows each individual to fulfill his/her potential. At different times in their lives, they may develop best in different educational environments. Through its residential facilities, the state can provide support services to all deaf students and their families. These statewide services should include early identification, parent workshops, parent/pupil tutoring services, home visiting programs, psychological services, social services, communication services, day classes for deaf students, mainstream classes, and residential schools. Such statewide services will enrich the educational lives of all deaf students. And it is essential that deaf students have access to appropriate technology in their education wherever their school might be. Captions I'd like to consider some major technological resources that over the past decades have been made available to the deaf community, and especially to students . I speak particularly of captions. For a short time early in this century, deaf and hearing people shared together the common communications of silent motion pictures. Once we entered the Nickelodeon together, we were brothers and sisters experiencing a common means of communication. The deaf person, accustomed to reading the sensitive signs of body language , may have been at an advantage over her hearing peer. The captions interspersed in the films were common to each group. A deaf friend once told me how excited he was when he went to a silent movie with his brothers and sisters, because they all shared the same experience. Those days of wine and roses were short lived. Science brought about talking motion pictures and, once again, deaf people were separated from their hearing brothers and sisters. It was not until 1958 that deaf people again enjoyed motion pictures with captions. This came about through congressional legislation which established the Captioned Films program. This legislation provided for...