The idea that
deaf people should be taught how to speak
orally from an early age, and that communication through
sign language should be
actively discouraged. This view is founded on two assumptions, which are now both believed to be
false:
The nature of
sign languages as complete, complex
languages weren't understood until very recently, and thus,
oralism has been regrettably common for a long time. I have heard a story about a
teacher of
deaf children who was
reprimanded by the
headmaster for speaking with her pupils in sign language. That happened in the
70s. In the decades before that, children might even be
punished for using sign language in the
school yard or in the
dorm room.
Today, even though speech training is still practiced, most schools for the deaf are firmly rooted in the manualist tradition -- which means that they teach deaf children a sign language as early as possible, so that it becomes their first language.