Whole Class of 1st Graders Learn Sign Language to Communicate with Deaf Classmate – IOTW Report

Whole Class of 1st Graders Learn Sign Language to Communicate with Deaf Classmate

deaf child bosnia

OC: A school in Sarajevo is making headlines for not only accepting a deaf student, but also teaching his entire class sign language to allow them to better communicate with him.

The heartwarming story began in September last year when Mirzana Coralic requested the primary school in her neighborhood to enroll her six-year-old son, Zejd, who has a hearing disability. The teacher, Sanela Ljumanovic, accepted almost immediately, but on the first day of school, she noticed Zejd sitting all by himself, unable to communicate with any of his school mates.  MORE

11 Comments on Whole Class of 1st Graders Learn Sign Language to Communicate with Deaf Classmate

  1. Great story. It’s hard being the odd one out in childhood.

    It’s never too soon to begin teaching children a second language. These children will most likely end up trilingual as they will probably study yet another language in high school.

  2. I’m leaning towards Tim’s comment. The issue is opportunity cost. While learning to sign is obviously a good thing, what lessons ultimately more valuable to them could the students have learned instead but didn’t have time for? Perhaps a better approach would have been to ask for a few volunteers to learn to sign and then see what happens.

  3. Who’s the deaf kid gonna communicate with NEXT year?

    Is he gonna go through life assuming that everyone has to change their behavior and communication skills to suit him?

    The lesson was lost.

Comments are closed.