Special Programs: ASL

American Sign Language (ASL) has been a part of our curriculum ever since we began welcoming children who are deaf, hearing impaired and cognitively delayed into our school. To ensure that these youngsters can enjoy full participation in our program, we teach ASL to all of the youngsters at TEDCC. In this way, every child has full access to both the peer group and the adult community at school. Through ASL, some children have been given a first language while others have become truly bilingual. And, for children with cognitive delays, ASL and oral language have combined to make words meaningful and spoken messages powerful.

In every classroom at TEDCC, ASL instruction takes place once a week. Each session begins with direct instruction and ends with ASL being incorporated into the day's regular Choice Time activities. This gives a concrete and exciting aspect to learning, and offers a tremendous sense of pride and accomplishment for each youngster. Most important for all classrooms, both our children who require ASL and those for whom it is a second language learn that they can "speak" fully with each other.