Haley Smith

Mr. Kinner

ASL 1010

21 June, 2018

Chapter six in this book (Deaf Community In America) had a lot of information that

interested me. This essay is going to focus on the history of fingerspelling as well as different

ways of teaching students American Sign Language.

The history of fingerspelling and how it evolved into American Sign Language.

Fingerspelling was conceived in 1878, was known as the manual alphabet, and was a very

difficult way of communicating. The process of fingerspelling took a long length of time out of

the conversation because you have to spell every word as well as view the words from the other

people in the conversation. During the 1950’s when the method was used in california, students

started to make hand movements while fingerspelling to make it easier to communicate. In the

1980’s, fingerspelling “fell out of favor” because many people found it easier to gesture instead,

and even later American Sign Language was invented.

There was a variety of different ways to teach students American Sign Language. The

earliest variation in signing was based on regional variation. Even though all of the signs are

American Sign Language, the way you sign can be different from others because of where you

live, religious beliefs, ethnicity, the teachers method, etc.

The best part of my day is coming home and opening the book, it is always relaxing to

read about the deaf community. It has been very delightful and it is hard for me to put the book

down. I am thrilled learn and share the information from this book.