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Article: The signs of silence: a deaf child's brain is primed to learn language easily. (includes related article about Oliver Sacks latest book, Seeing Voices)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- October 16, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The signs of silence
It was not so much that Robert Ferguson was deaf but that other people would not hear. After 2-1/2 years at the state school for the deaf in Austin, Tex., Robert returned last year to his hometown of Amarillo to be mainstreamed, with the aid of an interpreter, in a regular fifth-grade class. He failed miserably, because school officials repeatedly refused to acknowledge that Robert's native, and preferred, language was not English but American Sign Language.
Robert Ferguson is unfortunately not alone. For the past century, educators have tried, with little success, to forcefeed deaf students an understanding of English by shunning ...