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Academics

The Illinois School for the Deaf Bilingual Communication Policy:

  • Philosophy

    Illinois School for the Deaf is an accessible ASL/ English bilingual community in which people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing learn and work together without language and communication barriers.

  • Policy

    In support of the Illinois School for the Deaf's accessible bilingual philosophy, the separation of ASL and English when communicating to/with others is expected. This helps ensure optimal accessibility and benefits all students and staff.

    Illinois School for the Deaf is an accessible ASL/ English bilingual community that enhances the experience of learning and working together without language and communication barriers with people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing.

  • Expectations

    The strategic use of ASL and English separately is expected for everyone to:

    • Demonstrate respect for both languages, ASL and English.
    • Be a consistent ASL and English bilingual role model.
    • Be considerate when using spoken English around deaf people, especially students.
    • Use ASL as the language of communication during all ISD related activities, from student meal times in the dining room, to field trips and other student activities.
    • Foster a deaf friendly visual environment through the use of captioning; glare free lighting, unobstructed views and by minimizing visual distractions.
    • Use interpreters for meetings.
    • Practice strategies of clarifying information to asist all participants when no interpreter is available.
    • Manage your meetings
      • Know participants' language and communication skills.
      • Give expectations at the beginning of each meeting.
      • Report in ASL.
      • Provide written English notes to participants.
      • ID speakers by pointing to the person who is communicating.
    • Use deliberate language planning, giving attention to expressive and receptive oracy, literacy and signacy.
    • ISD believes in offering staff and students opportunities for ASL development.


    Suggestions for Improvement should always be respectful and constructive, and never public.
    **In the coming months, we will experience a trial and error process to refine and achieve our communication philosophy and policies. We anticipale over time, ASL and English language separation will become natural to us. We will see our skills improve and rules that govern our communication choices in a bilingual context will become more apparent.

    ** This policy is modeled after the policy used by the Wisconsin School for the Deaf. Our thanks go to them for sharing their excellent work.

    Click here to Download a pdf version of the complete document on ISD Bilingual Communication Policy
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