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Rome News - Tribune
State Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome, and Sen. Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, filed legislation Wednesday to enact the Deaf Child’s Bill of Rights Act.
The bill would require local school systems to take into account the specific communications needs of hearing impaired students and to guarantee that deaf students are instructed in whatever communication mode or language is deemed necessary – such as sign language, oral, aural or with visual signs or clues.
Senate Bill 168 is the first part of a duo of bills Smith and Butler have introduced to benefit children in state schools for the deaf as well as in public schools. The Georgia School for the Deaf in Cave Spring is in Smith’s district.
“Many deaf or hard-of-hearing children lack any significant language skills,” Smith said. “It is essential for the well-being and growth of deaf and hard-of-hearing children that our public educational programs recognize the unique nature of deafness and ensure that all deaf and hard-of-hearing children have the appropriate, ongoing and fully accessible educational opportunities as their hearing counterparts.”
The companion legislation, Senate Bill 170 will allow students to fulfill the foreign language requirement for a college preparatory diploma with American Sign Language – the preferred language used by the deaf community in the United States.
“American Sign Language is a complete, complex language that employs signs made with the hands and other movements, including facial expressions and postures of the body,” Butler said. “It is the first language of many deaf North Americans, and one of several communication options available to deaf people. ASL is said to be the fourth most commonly used language in the United States behind English, Spanish and French.”
Under SB 168, no deaf or hard-of-hearing students would be denied the opportunity for instruction in a particular mode or language solely because the child has some remaining hearing, the child’s parent or guardian is not fluent in the communication mode or language being taught, or the child has previous experience with some other communication mode or language.
In recent years, a number of states have passed legislation recognizing American Sign Language (ASL) as a foreign language and permitting high schools and universities to accept it in fulfillment of foreign language requirements for hearing as well as deaf students.
Many community colleges and universities including Brown, Georgetown, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue, and the University of Washington, accept ASL as a foreign language for academic or elective credit.
In Georgia, American Sign Language has been accepted as a foreign language in limited circumstances: for deaf students as one unit elective credit and for other students as the third unit of foreign language credit. American Sign Language is taught in several colleges both for credit and non-credit.
State Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome, and Sen. Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, filed legislation Wednesday to enact the Deaf Child’s Bill of Rights Act.
The bill would require local school systems to take into account the specific communications needs of hearing impaired students and to guarantee that deaf students are instructed in whatever communication mode or language is deemed necessary – such as sign language, oral, aural or with visual signs or clues.
Senate Bill 168 is the first part of a duo of bills Smith and Butler have introduced to benefit children in state schools for the deaf as well as in public schools. The Georgia School for the Deaf in Cave Spring is in Smith’s district.
“Many deaf or hard-of-hearing children lack any significant language skills,” Smith said. “It is essential for the well-being and growth of deaf and hard-of-hearing children that our public educational programs recognize the unique nature of deafness and ensure that all deaf and hard-of-hearing children have the appropriate, ongoing and fully accessible educational opportunities as their hearing counterparts.”
The companion legislation, Senate Bill 170 will allow students to fulfill the foreign language requirement for a college preparatory diploma with American Sign Language – the preferred language used by the deaf community in the United States.
“American Sign Language is a complete, complex language that employs signs made with the hands and other movements, including facial expressions and postures of the body,” Butler said. “It is the first language of many deaf North Americans, and one of several communication options available to deaf people. ASL is said to be the fourth most commonly used language in the United States behind English, Spanish and French.”
Under SB 168, no deaf or hard-of-hearing students would be denied the opportunity for instruction in a particular mode or language solely because the child has some remaining hearing, the child’s parent or guardian is not fluent in the communication mode or language being taught, or the child has previous experience with some other communication mode or language.
In recent years, a number of states have passed legislation recognizing American Sign Language (ASL) as a foreign language and permitting high schools and universities to accept it in fulfillment of foreign language requirements for hearing as well as deaf students.
Many community colleges and universities including Brown, Georgetown, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue, and the University of Washington, accept ASL as a foreign language for academic or elective credit.
In Georgia, American Sign Language has been accepted as a foreign language in limited circumstances: for deaf students as one unit elective credit and for other students as the third unit of foreign language credit. American Sign Language is taught in several colleges both for credit and non-credit.