Deaf Education Options Guide
Bilingual-Bicultural Educational Approach
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Goal:
The traditional approach to bilingual-bicultural education is founded on the premise
that “Auditory/Oral and Total Communication approaches do not meet the linguistic and
cultural needs of deaf children; [that] natural sign language, such as American Sign
Language (ASL) is the “biologically preferred” mode of communication for
deaf individuals and [that] deaf children can acquire verbal language in the written
form through the language base of natural sign language.”107 Hence ASL is taught to the child first
and then English is taught as a second language.
Benefits:
The benefits of such a program are
that deaf children receive a language that is highly accessible to them. In the
Bi-Bi approach, teachers that are native in the language model ASL for the child. In
addition, parents who are hearing may engage a deaf adult who will model ASL in the home
environment until the parents’ language skills are adequate. If the child
attends a residential school, he also has the opportunity to learn from his peers.
Since everyone signs ASL, the feeling of isolation often found among signing children
placed in the mainstream is ameliorated. Since ASL is strongly connected with Deaf
Culture, children in Bi-Bi programs have the opportunity to learn about, and participate
in, Deaf Culture. This method is particularly useful for deaf children of parents
fluent in ASL since the parents already know the target language and can model it
correctly.
Disadvantages:
There are several disadvantages to this approach. The first is
availability. Outside of the residential schools for the deaf, the Bi-Bi approach is
not common. “There may be an insufficient number of deaf teachers and
‘role models’ to serve the population in question.”108 Signing is a difficult skill for hearing
parents to master and they may resent having a stranger in their home, should they decide
to engage a language model for their child. Bi-Bi does not spend time working on
audition or speech. In fact, “it is felt to be morally wrong to impose on deaf
children a language they cannot acquire, this, spoken language.”109 This policy can limit participation in
hearing culture.
Resources:
Bilingual-Bicultural Deaf Education Resources
Resource list from the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center at Gallaudet
Universit
Laurent Clerc Elementary School
At Laurent Clerc Elementary School we believe that a curriculum revolving around the use of American Sign Language (ASL) can support the development of reading and writing skills in English, without the usual reliance on sound. We emphasize the need to learn English as a new language after ASL.
Learning Center for Deaf Children
Throughout its history, The Learning Center for Deaf Children has been a leader in Deaf education. It was the first school in Massachusetts to depart from the "oral" method of education and to advocate the use of sign language in addition to spoken English. In 1988, TLC made a commitment to become a bilingual and bicultural school, placing it among the first in the nation. Visitors to The Learning Center, from the USA and abroad, have without exception commented on our stimulating faculty, our warm and language-rich environment, and our happy, expressive children.
