- Apart from establishing educational classes for deaf children and
deaf adults, DMI assist educational Institutions that are
Government, Private or Religious to develop or improve their
special educational curriculum and facilities design on behalf of
deaf students. Having the right educational tools helps teachers to
better assist deaf students to attain their highest educational level
desired.
When deaf people are discovered in any part of the world, and it is
known that no educational services are provided or only speech
therapy is provided... DMI develops two research and development
Teams ... "A-Team" &" B-Team". "There are a number of teams
involved in the entire process... but I will not mention them here.
To begin the educational process, the language and the culture of
the deaf community must be discovered, captured and understood
in order to develop the appropriate educational material.
If the deaf within the aggregate society are not coming together as
a community to realize that there are others with the same
attitudes and interests in common, then "A-Team" &" B-Team"
have an additional responsibility of locating and bringing the deaf
together which establishes an active and functional deaf community
within the country.
What is first noted in the deaf community is the exchange of
concepts of the deaf people with one another through body
movements, facial expressions, hand formation movements (a real
language they understand). This is when the team members first
see a change in the life of an isolated inactive deaf individual. In
this special community, deaf individuals begin mental development
as they receive and exchange concrete and abstract concepts in a
visual language they understand. For the first time, the former
isolated feel they belong to a family. In the past, communication of
many deaf individuals with relatives was limited to finger pointing
and limited basic gestures.
Sometimes a deaf community is already established due to a
charismatic deaf leader. The team must earn the confidence of the
deaf leaders in order to receive corporation of the community.
Cooperation is accomplished by giving attention to their desires.
"Team A" with the cooperation of the deaf community initiates and
completes the Dactylology research. The research consists of
presenting many visual concepts to each deaf member
independently. As the visual concept is being shown, the deaf
individual's hand and finger movement including the body and
facial expression are recorded. The Dactylology expressing a
concept by several deaf candidates independently is recorded as
authentic and certified by the deaf community.
While "Team A" knows the written and audible language and
captures the Dactylology, "Team "B" individuals do not know the
verbal nor written language of the hearing. They begin the process
of learning the written language without audio assistance. This
process helps discover the same difficult challenges that deaf
student may also encounter. This knowledge helps in the
development of the educational materials that will be created with
the assistance of discovered or trained teachers.
The challenges encountered may require the development of a
modified Dactylology "a second language for the deaf students who
desire to go on to superior education". Modified Dactylology is a
second language developed for the deaf that coincides with the
grammatical structure of the country's language. The modified
language is a tool that helps the deaf learn to read and write. It is
not a replacement of Dactylology in the natural state that is
developed and preserved within a deaf person according to the
visual culture that surrounds the deaf community.
As "Team A and Team B" completes the basic research, efforts
are made to discover teachers committed to learn the language,
the sub culture and the psychology of deafness. This knowledge
with a good attitude are necessary in order for the teachers to earn
the confidence of the deaf students and accomplish the educational
goal. "Team A" and the teachers form the Educational Committee
to develop the educational curriculum.
When the curriculum is ready, communication must first be
established between the teacher and the deaf student in order to
help the deaf student to build the Bridge of communication to the
members of the hearing society.
That bridge of communication is not sign language "Dactylology"
and it is not speech therapy, both are valuable tools to help the
student understand in order to develop the bridge of
communication to the hearing society. The bridge is the ability to
read and write the written language of the Culture where the
subculture resides.
Hearing members of the Society developed and use the silent
language of characters to communicate concepts. Now it is up to
the deaf student to attain the ability to read and write to the best of
their ability. Alone without teachers, they can not accomplish their
goal. Teachers without the right material and facilities can not
assist the deaf student. In other words, teachers with the right
attitude, including materials and appropriate facilities can help deaf
students build the Main Bridge of communication on to a superior
education.
When the communication between the teacher and a student is
harnessed, the lesson that follows is the Psychology of the Hearing
in reference to ethics. This lesson will help deaf individuals to
cease receiving angry and disappointing looks from the hearing.
Although there are many ethical subjects, the one I will close with is
the ethic of eating soup. There are many deaf people "children and
adults" to no fault of their own "surp...surrrrp" the soup from the
spoon... simply because they are in the vacuum of silence and
have never been told that slurping make a noise that is not pleasant
to hear... therefore it is impolite. Then comes the complicated
questions in the language of the deaf: "What is noise?" & " What is
"...to hear". But, there are other deaf people that have no problem
at all with slurping the soup... reason? To slurp the soup is part of
the culture and therefore not considered unethical. When I am
alone... I enjoy just picking up the bowl of soup, tilt and slurp! But
due to the culture, in the presence of others... I would never do it...
nor do I like hearing others slurp.
To be contunued...
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Educational Research,
Development & Application.
Development & Application.
| DMI "Deaf Missions International" |
| DMI "Deaf Missions International" |
| DMI "Deaf Missions International" |
| DMI "Deaf Missions International" |
"Speech Therapy serves to discover the small percentage of deaf students who can attain the ability to speak and read lips. But, for the majority of the deaf students who fail due to no fault of their own. . . to consume the limited educational time with the same failing speech therapy is an act of being irresponsible! The Dactylology Visual Memory Method with the use of the natural manual language helps deaf student construct their bridge of communication to a superior education." - Dr. Bernie Hale, Dactylologist |