Laurent Clerc Deafness Case Study

Cause of Deafness:

Legend has it that Laurent Clerc became deaf and had also lost his sense of smell when he fell out of his high chair into a fireplace at the age of one. His name sign was actually derived from the scar on his right cheek which was due to a severe burn from the incident. Clerc’s name sign, the “U” hand sign stroking twice downward along the right cheek ended up becoming one of the best-known and most recognizable name signs in American deaf history. Laurent Clerc though always believed and argued that he, in fact, was born deaf and without the sense of taste or smell. In reality, no one knows for a fact what caused Clerc’s deafness, we only know the rumors.

Educational Background:

It may be hard to believe, but Clerc didn’t attend school or learn to write until he was twelve years old. He didn’t have any means of communication or education until his uncle-godfather enrolled him in the Institut National des Jeune Sourds-Muets which was the first public school for the deaf in the world; becoming the model for many other schools for the deaf in the time to come. Clerc exceeded

in his academic studies, and had later become a teacher for the school in 1806 before travelling to America with Gallaudet where he would soon make history in establishing the current day American School for the Deaf.
Communication Mode:
Laurent Clerc had always believed that deaf students can learn more efficiently by signing.

When he was in school, Abbe Margaron, the assistant teacher tried to teach students to pronounce words. Margaron became so enraged with Clerc’s difficulties to enunciate certain syllables that one time he struck Clerc underneath the chin causing him to accidently bite his tongue. Clerc bit his tongue so hard from the blow that he swore he would never learn to speak again, strengthening his belief that signing was the best mode of communication for the deaf. When he and Gallaudet established the American School for the deaf, then called The Connecticut Asylum at Hartford for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons, Clerc taught his students French signs, and began integrating some native sign language that he noticed his students using creating a basis for American Sign

Language.
Background Experience:
After teaching at the Institut National des Jeune Sourds-Muets for nearly ten years, and teaching the highest class at the institution, Thomas Gallaudet invited him to go to America with him and help establish a school for the deaf. Though Gallaudet didn’t know sign and Clerc didn’t know English, they both managed to tutor each other while on their 52-day voyage to America enough to communicate. Evidence had later shown that Clerc indeed knew how to write in English given that his journal was entirely in English during their voyage. After arriving in Hartford, Connecticut on August 22, 1816, Thomas Gallaudet introduced Laurent Clerc to Alice Cogswell. Clerc and Cogswell communicated with synonymity of signs, motivating Clerc to teach the deaf in America by seeing the intelligence in the young Alice Cogswell and her hunger for knowledge. For 6 months, Clerc, and Gallaudet and occasionally Alice’s father Dr. Cogswell made many efforts to get funding and support for their goal. Demonstrating teaching methods and delivering many speeches in New York, New Jersey, Boston, and other places communicating with prospective students, interviewing parents of deaf children and informing the public; they raised $12,000. Also, the Connecticut General Assembly voted $5,000 in conjunction with Clerc and Gallaudet’s funding’s for the school, making history as the first allowance ever for the education of handicapped people. Together Clerc and Gallaudet established the first school for the deaf called the Connecticut Asylum at Hartford for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons. Where the taught many future teachers and administrators, both hearing and deaf.
Career Experience:
Before leaving France for America, Clerc was the chief assistant for, Abbe Sicard and worked alongside his mentor and former teacher Jean Massieu. He was also offered a teaching position in Russia but turned it down due to his financial problems at the time, but at the age of 28, young and adventurous, Clerc was then offered to sail to the states with Gallaudet. He was intrigued by the idea of living in a country that wasn’t Catholic and was also motivated by his empathy for other Americans who lacked a language and had no means of education. Gallaudet had to sign a contract with Institut National des Jeune Sourds-Muets when Clerc agreed to leave that he was “on loan” for only three years in America, which didn’t exactly prevent Clerc from spending nearly the rest of his life in America. He became one of the greatest influences in the establishment of new deaf schools in the states after the founding of the Connecticut Asylum at Hartford for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons. Clerc originally taught grade school students, many of which went on to be productive deaf citizens and profound deaf leaders. Later became known as the “Apostle of the Deaf People in America”, and helping establish today’s American Sign Language, Laurent Clerc created the foundation for the deaf community.