The Gallaudet and Clerc Story
One day, a hearing man named Thomas H. Gallaudet walked around the neighborhood.
He noticed a young girl named Alice Cogswell playing alone. Thomas looked at the girl,
wondered why she played alone. So, he spoke to the girl and tried to get her attention but the girl
did not look back at him. So, Thomas walked up to the girl and tried to speak to her again,
however she didn’t look back at him. Puzzled, Thomas tried to speak to her once again, but the
girl continued playing. So, Thomas carefully tapped her shoulder and she finally looked back at
him. Thomas tried speaking to her again, but the girl gave him an “I can’t hear you” look.
Thomas later realized that the girl was Deaf and wanted to teach her, however there was one
problem: communication. Thomas also realized that America doesn’t have any schools that
could teach Deaf children. However, he remembered that there was a school for the Deaf in
England. He traveled to England first through a boat. Once he got there, he found a school and
observed how the Deaf children were taught. However, Thomas didn’t like the way he observed
how teachers there taught Deaf children because they didn’t sign at all. The teacher there only
used spoken language. Disappointed, he left the school and started wondering which country that
has a school that teaches sign language. Suddenly, he remembered there was a school for the
Deaf in France. So, he got onto the boat and traveled to France. When he arrived there, he found
the school and observed the class. He saw Deaf children signed to each other. He looked around
and met the teacher named Laurent Clerc, who was Deaf. While he observed the class, he
realized that Clerc was a very good teacher because he taught Deaf children sign language. After
the class, Thomas met up with Clerc and asked him to come with him to America to help him
teach sign language to Deaf children there. Clerc wasn’t sure at first, but finally he agreed but
only for a while. Together they traveled to America. While on the way back to America, Thomas
taught Clerc how to read and write in English, while he taught him how to learn sign language.
After they arrived in America, Thomas and Clerc taught Alice Cogswell sign language, and then
later established the first permanent school for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut in 1817.