American School for the Deaf

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American School for the Deaf
American School for the Deaf, main building
founding 1817
address

139 North Main Street

place West Hartford, CT 06107
State Connecticut
Country United States
Coordinates 41 ° 46 '16 "  N , 72 ° 44' 50"  W Coordinates: 41 ° 46 '16 "  N , 72 ° 44' 50"  W
carrier Public school
student approx. 200
management Carleton N. Mowell
Website www.asd-1817.org

The American School for the Deaf (ASD) is a school for deaf and hearing impaired students in the United States. It is the oldest existing school of its kind in North America and was founded in April 1817 by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc in West Hartford , Connecticut , where it is still today.

School offer

The branches of the ASD include elementary school , junior high school and senior high school as well as a special school ( Positive Attitudes Concerning Education and Socialization , PACES). Speech and sign language ( American Sign Language , ASL) are used in the classroom .

In addition to the educational offer, the ASD conducts public relations work in the field of deafness and hearing impairment and various socio-educational and medical advice programs and service offers. The school has a museum with collections on the history of the ASD.

For sports, the American School for the Deaf is a member of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) and Eastern Schools for the Deaf Athletic Association

history

Gallaudet Memorial by Daniel Chester French (1925) at the American School for the Deaf

In 1807, Hartford-based doctor Mason Fitch Cogswell began to seek appropriate support for the deaf, triggered by his daughter Alice becoming deaf due to illness. A survey conducted in 1812 showed that Connecticut alone had a significant number of deaf people without education. Cogswell saw an urgent need for action with regard to the establishment of a school education specially tailored to the needs of the deaf and hearing impaired. Together with other prominent sponsors from Hartford, he raised money in 1815 to finance a trip to Europe to the clergyman Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a son from the neighborhood who had already taught Alice a few words. Gallaudet was supposed to research teaching methods for deaf children there.

In London, Gallaudet met the deaf Frenchman Laurent Clerc, who taught at the National Institute for Deaf Children in Paris and used sign language . After a stay at the National Institute in Paris, Gallaudet returned to Hartford accompanied by Clerc; Both founded the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons in the building of the Old City Hotel on Main Street in 1817 after collecting grants on a trip through New England . Alice Cogswell was one of the first students. Clerc was the first teacher to teach at the school until 1858, and Gallaudet was director until 1830. In 1921 the school moved to its current location on North Main Street.

campus

On the school grounds are in addition to the buildings of the ASD the Deaf National Theater ( National Theater of the Deaf ), a Montessori School ( Montessori School of Greater Hartford ) and a daycare center for children with learning disabilities ( The Learning Incentive, Inc. )

See also

Web links