a son visits the school for the deaf his father attended as a child. here’s what he learned. - small smart board

This is the beginning of Bob Brodi's following post, a senior and essayist, and a newly published memoir, play with strangers: a family member (Reluctantly)
By the age, "who went to St.
Louis saw where his father lived when he was a child, learning and playing.
He visited the Central Institute for Deaf-mute to learn how much has changed since his father was a student --
And how much remains the same.
Brodi says his father died 20 years ago but is still looking for him.
Bob BrodyIn 1931, a boy born deaf and five years old, boarded a train in Newark alone to go to St. Louis.
868 miles from home, he will study at the Central Institute for the deaf. CID).
The boy named Li Brodi became my father later.
In October, I first flew from my home in New York to visit the school.
There, I tried to rebuild his childhood as a student at such a young age.
I am also trying to understand the progress of education for deaf children since the Great Depression.
Max Goldstein, a famous ENT doctor, founded CID in 1914.
His inspiration came from a professor he met during medical training in Vienna who was teaching deaf children to speak.
The Institute was founded on the principle that all children present should not be regarded as deaf children but as children.
The CID staff taught my father to make the most of the 5% to 10% hearings he had.
He will hold a mirror in front of his mouth to see how his lips, teeth and tongue move to produce certain sounds.
He puts his fingertips on his cheeks or throat, and sometimes on the teacher's fingertips, feeling the vibrations that accompany this sound.
He also wore headphones connected to the "megaphone" and watched the teacher speak to the microphone, better observing how certain sounds moved with her mouth.
One working day morning on Halloween, I visited the school.
There have been so many changes there in 86 years, but there are still so many changes.
Deaf and Dumb children still face-to-face with their teachers in the classroom.
The school still emphasizes showing the children the basics of how to listen, read and speak closely, which is understandable but not dependent on sign language.
In fact, children are still taught how to listen and express words
And, more ambitious, in a world of listening, how to more or less play the same function as the listener.
"All children need to hear to speak," CID Executive Director Robin Feder explained since 2003 . ".
Her mother taught at school at the age of 1940 and 1950, where she herself used to teach.
"The words go in, and then they can come out.
Listen to children learn to speak from listening to their parents.
But deaf people need to listen 10,000 times before they learn to say the first word.
Everything we do is based on listening.
"But since my father came to CID, great progress has been made in educating deaf children.
First of all, there is a big difference in infrastructure.
All classrooms are soundproof.
Sound insulation boards are arranged on walls and ceilings, the floor is carpeted, and the windows are equipped with double glazing.
The room is also slightly smaller than the square and a niche is also configured to prevent the sound from shaking in the room.
As a result, students are better able to hear the teachers, each other, and any other sounds made in the classroom.
In 1918, CID was the first school to enroll only 3-year-old students, compared to the previous five-year-old.
The sooner deaf children go to school, the sooner they learn to listen, read and speak.
This is also the first institution to establish a parent relationship. infant program.
Reason: It is estimated that 95% of deaf children are born by hearing parents.
These parents may not have the experience of deaf culture, let alone deaf education.
"This is a curve ball for parents," Feder said . ".
"They never thought there would be a deaf child.
"Some students, usually those with no additional disability, started with CID a few weeks ago and then transitioned to lower grades at nearby schools.
Other students usually enter CID at a later age after receiving inadequate services elsewhere and falling behind, and now graduate at the latest at 12, which is distinct from the previous 16-year-old limit
The average stay is between 4 and 5 years, about half of the 1930 s.
The sooner children leave CID, the sooner they are "mainstream" by listening students and have the opportunity to adapt to the life of the listening world and learn sign language if they wish.
Now, technology is also playing a growing role in deaf education, although hearing aids of one form or another have been around for centuries.
Almost all CID students either wear hearing aids or cochlear implants, or both, which are clearly attached to the skull and are coiled into the Cochlear to stimulate nerve cells.
My father pays great attention to his teacher and studies hard.
He learned to listen, read, and speak, without sign language.
He only comes home once or twice a year to visit his parents and two sisters during the holidays.
At 1938, a photo titled "Young Traveler" was published on the Newark Star Ledger.
"In fact, the young traveler is Owen Lee Brodi," the title reads . ".
"Owen, 7, was holy last night. Louis —
Only five hours he traveled to or from the Middle alone. western city.
He went to a private school there.
Every Monday at that time, CID asked the students to write a letter and send it home.
Teachers proofread the letters on Tuesday, make the necessary corrections, and mail them on Wednesday.
"I wear my Mickey Mouse tie today," My father wrote to his parents in a letter.
"The Three Little Pigs are on my other tie.
In another article, he said: "I am a good boy.
I study at school.
At the age of eight, he declared his career ambition: "I still want to be a radio and television engineer . "
Goldstein eventually became a lifelong friend with Helen Keller.
In fact, on 1939, when my father attended the 25 th anniversary of CID, she gave a speech at CID.
"The excellent work done by the Central Institute is worth congratulating," she said . " "Break down the barriers of the deaf and keep them socially aligned with the people they hear.
"On my trip, I observed a 5-month-
The old deaf man wearing a hearing aid was tested for hearing.
When his mother held him, he twisted his smile and the child reacted to the sound of the music toy.
Most states have laws that require newborns to be screened for hearing loss at the age of the day, largely thanks to pioneering research on testing instruments originally conducted in CID and elsewhere.
Today, if a new parent has a child who may be deaf, they usually know before they leave the hospital.
In a classroom, a few 5-year-
When a teacher types an email on a large smart board, the children line up in front of a reclining table facing the teacher, much like a computer screen.
They practice writing home and reading together. In another, 8-year-
The old man sitting in front of a round table turns around --
Talk to each other, Robin.
One person told another: "I like walking with you . ".
This approach encourages children to communicate directly with their peers rather than always through teachers.
In the lobby, the teachers asked the children to take concrete action on the floor with a set of game characters.
"Can you put the pumpkin behind the bowl?
The teacher asked a student. “Good.
Now put the pumpkin next to the bowl.
"Over the next two hours, I have seen teachers who specialize in training and certification, who teach deaf children and create miracles in minors and professions.
They instructed the child pointing to the snack to express the request for the snack.
They ask students to identify the image in the picture with words and then correct the wrong pronunciation if necessary.
Once the student learns a word, they are asked to repeat it and then use it in the sentence.
In the words learned this Halloween, the proper thing is "skeleton", "Vampire" and "mummy ".
A student expressed the phrase "pumpkin grows on the vine.
Throughout the process, the teachers said "good job" and made high demands. fives.
They often smile and gesture freely, saying what they are saying, indicating their attention and enthusiasm, which may not be discovered otherwise.
My father lived in CID for 10 years until he was 15 and graduated in 1941.
He then returned to his home in Newark and went to vicochic high school.
He always sits in the first row of his class and he once told me that the better to follow the teacher.
After graduation, he returned to the Holy.
Louis will register at the University of Washington, one of the first students ever to have a severe hearing loss.
He takes more notes than other students and he intends to record every detail for later reference.
A year later, he transferred to the University of Rutgers, which is also one of the few deaf-mute students and has received a degree in psychology.
I met with CID alumni from 1940 to 1970 for about two hours.
Most graduates live in dormitories there.
No longer residential).
At that time, some families sent a deaf child to live in the school Park, but they moved to the Holy.
Louis is nearby.
Other families moved together in the first place.
Some parents have made sacrifices to be separated from each other, the mother lives near the school while the father stays at home, orversa.
Some students spent 13 years in CID.
"I learned to speak, read and make new friends here," said Noel Hawes Mangano, a class in 1974 . ".
"This is the right place to start when young," said Scott Campbell, a class in 1993 . ".
"I can communicate with other deaf children and have never been left out.
He continues to own and manage a UPS store.
William Shelton began working at CID in 1940 and is now a member of the CID board of directors.
"CID helps us all to be independent," he said . "
"Our parents want us to have a good education and we are all very lucky.
"From the early days, my father had repaired the technology.
When he was a teenager, his first invention was an alarm clock used to brighten his face and wake him up in the morning.
In 1969, he had an idea of how to use his mechanical ingenuity to serve the deaf community.
To that end, he focuses on television writers who have long been popular in newspapers, the army and Wall Street.
At the time, only 600 TTYs were in use nationwide.
He designed a specially built modem to enable TTYs to adapt to running on a regular telephone line.
Starting with our home as a closet in his office, he began to collect, store, renovate TTYs and distribute it to anyone with hearing loss.
They can then call someone else, type the information on the roll and have a conversation.
So Lee Brodi helped build a network that made it deaf and hardof-
The first time I heard Americans communicate with others and others over the phone.
TTYs spread across New Jersey and New York and then spread across the country.
They appear at home, school, hospital, library, airport, local police station, fire and ambulance station, federal agency, U. S.
The Senate, even the White House.
By 1977, 35,000 TTYs are being used nationwide.
People with hearing damage can reach a big one.
Independent Communication of scale lifeline-and instantly —
At any distance.
They can "hear"
In turn, let them hear it themselves.
CID is 103 today-year-
Old institutions with outstanding heritage.
Students from 48 states and 34 countries such as Australia, Russia and Japan have registered there.
There are about 30 schools for deaf children in the United States;
CID is one of the oldest and largest companies.
Its impact is profound.
Flung, especially in terms of teacher teaching: about 1,800 deaf educators around the world attended the seminar from CID by teleconference and downloaded the course this year.
Last year, CID educated 250 students, most of whom were students aged 3 or younger, and 12 graduated.
Cost per school
Older children earn about $50,000 a year.
Several school districts have signed contracts with CID.
The rest is either a scholarship or a private fee.
"We never abandon a family because we can't afford to pay, and our goal is to prevent any deaf children from falling from the cracks," Feder said.
"The deaf community presented awards for my father's public service, praising him as a hero.
Bell Telephone accepted him as an American telephone pioneer, 29 members since Alexander Graham Bell in 1911.
He received a congratulatory message from President Reagan about his achievements.
On 1997, after my father died, Stevens Institute of Technology held a memorial service for him. a total of 500 people came to mourn.
University of Garot, Washington, D. C. C.
A deaf and hard University. of-
Named after him. scholarship.
Every two years, deaf people listen to the company's telecom
To individual I.
Li Brodi lifetime achievement award.
"Your father is a good leader," Bob Crawford of class 1965 told me.
"Your father likes to be involved in the TTY business," says William Shelton . " He entered CID in 1940 and met my father for 40 years.
"He always talks about TTYs.
He never talks about anything else.
"Decades ago, deaf people often had no choice but to be attracted to jobs in the manufacturing industry, such as printing factories, where hearing loss was more advantageous than disability.
At that time, an alumnus of CID told me that a mother of a deaf child once asked the teacher, "What happens when he grows up?
The teacher replied, "he may be the doorman.
But the student became an accomplished graphic artist in 35 years, leaving all six of his children to college.
Since my father graduated, the prospect of deaf children has improved greatly in all aspects.
Most notably, the deaf and dumb children I heard in CID sound the same as hearing children, or close, and this change has only happened in recent generations, and there is no doubt that cochlear implants are
Recently, a teacher at a mainstream school told the parents of a deaf boy that he might never learn to read.
However, within three weeks of his arrival at CID, he began reading, if at the basic level.
The walls of CID display penn's gym are the hallmark of the university its graduates attend.
The schools represented include Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia and Stanford.
CID founder Max Goldstein once announced his intention in words now carved on the arch entrance.
"We believe in the sanctity of childhood, in the divine right to play;
Spontaneous, self
Activities initiated. .
Develop to the limit of one's ability;
Let him return to society. reliant, self-
Respect yourselfsupporting . . .
We believe in modern scientific methods with the cooperation of doctors, teachers and parents.
Children are the first of all considerations.
"As it happens, I took this opportunity in a country --
CID donor's club reception, introducing yourself to Laurie Miller, the great figure in Goldsteingranddaughter.
With great excitement, I took her to a private location and told her the following story.
My father had been in CID for five years in 1936 and my grandfather had no money to pay for the tuition.
My father had to drop out of school to go to public schools in Newark and his academic performance was affected the following year.
At some point, however, my upset grandmother apparently wrote a letter to Goldstein telling him that her son was trying to keep up with the pace of the school and begged the institute to accept him back.
Goldstein quickly replied to a letter agreeing to reduce tuition fees.
"I hope that this concession of tuition will make it possible for you and your husband
He wrote: "Brodie wants Owen back to CID in next September because I know it's good for kids and will make a big contribution to your happiness as well.
"This altruistic behavior has enabled my father to continue his education in CID in the next five years.
Laurie said, "This gives me goose bumps . " Tears flashed through her eyes.
I never knew my father that way, or at least not as well as I wanted.
He has been working almost all the time and is largely a list of people operators, and TTYs's obsession with him has been going on for 28 years.
So I went to St.
Louis is looking for him, still chasing his ghost.
But I found some clues in CID. I saw the four-story red-
My father lived here for 10 years in his childhood.
I looked at the windows of the dormitory where he slept and the classroom where he studied history, mathematics and science.
I peeked at the gym where he played and the cafeteria where he ate.
Eat style meals at round tables with other students, just like any boarding school.
He became himself here.
The building was built in 1928 and, once demolished, is now included in the National Register of Historic Places.
It is being demolished and converted into a studio apartment for medical students in a nearby hospital.
It is currently surrounded by rubble, scaffolding and cranes, preventing me from walking inside.
Still, I imagine what kind of life my father must have lived there.
The tram will pass the school, but he will never hear the bell ringing.
From the window, he could see the red one --
On the roof near Barnes and Shriners.
Maybe he is one of those naughty kids who open the water pipes in the winter to flood the roof so that the water freezes and creates a temporary environment for skating.
Perhaps, he is also a part of the prank, like going fishing, often dropping the shoe box from the window with a rope and sending it to the pedestrians at the bus stop below.
The box is marked with the sign "please help the deaf.
"In the end, the children will lift up the box and now touch it with coins, as is the case with local legends, and it is likely that donations will be spent on sweets.
CID is still here after 103.
And, at least for me, as long as the deaf students are still studying in these classrooms, my father is still here.