American School for the Deaf - West Hartford, Connecticut

 

The American School for the Deaf was founded in April of 1817, a time in United States educational history when literacy, religious beliefs, and self sufficiency were beginning to be taught concurrently.  With aims to expand on the nation's focus, the establishment of the school and sign focused curriculum was first seen as an experiment, but would actually stimulate a change in societal views of mental capabilities of the deaf and hard of hearing.

Our fellowship begins here in West Hartford, the birthplace of American Sign Language.  We sought out to experience various classroom instructions using Visual Phonics (a visual representation of English phonemes,) as well as examine the school's transition program and available resources for students preparing for life after ASD.