| Bilingual-Bicultural education is based on the principle that
Deaf children are members of the Deaf community and that American Sign Language (ASL) is
the language most completely accessible to them. BiBi also recognizes that these
children will need to live and succeed in the hearing world. In addition, BiBi
education recognizes and respects that the vast majority of Deaf children are from hearing
families. For these reasons, the BiBi philosophy supports the use of ASL for all instruction with a strong commitment to written English literacy. Another key component to the BiBi approach is to actively teach children to understand and accept the differences between the hearing and Deaf communities. A wonderful example of the BiBi philosophy in action is The Learning Center for Deaf Children in Framingham, Massachusetts. |