The bilingual/bicultural model in deaf education

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present an education model adopted by most of the countries in the world for hearing impaired persons. The bilingual/bicultural education of deaf reffers to his early exposure to two different linguistic environments: the gesture and the oral. Thus, both the linguistic and the cognitive development would be assured through the sign language, considered to be the first language. A second language oral and/or written would be responsible for deaf integration to the hearing world. The need for hearing impaired exposure to the deaf culture is also enhanced.