The South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind (SCSDB) is the only specialized non-profit school in South Carolina for students who are deaf or blind. The main campus is located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, but the school serves students throughout the entire state of SC through its campus and outreach service programs. The SC School for the Deaf and the Blind was founded in 1849 by the Reverend Newton Pinckney Walker. The school was first started as a private school for students who were deaf. The School for the Blind was later established in 1855. The state of South Carolina began funding SCSDB in 1856. SCSDB later established the School for the Multi-handicapped in 1977. Outreach Service Centers began opening in mid 1980s. The work of the school is overseen by the school’s president and a board of eleven volunteer commissioners appointed by the governor.
In the 2012-2013 school years, SCSDB served a total of 285 students based on grades PK- 12. Of the 285 students 81.75% of students were eligible for free or reduced lunches. In addition, SCSDB maintains 430 personnel that are campus located as well as throughout the state that are based out of home offices or their Columbia, South Carolina Satellite Office. SCSDB also serves the following;
• Deaf-Blind Project
• Kelly’s Kids
• Vision Services
• Hearing Services
• Summer Camps
• Braille Production Center
The South Carolina Department of Education’s accreditation program encompasses the following areas of evaluation of the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind: the Board of Commissioners, school operations, the elementary schools for the blind and the deaf, the high schools for the blind and the deaf and the school for multi-handicapped. SCSDB is both...
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... up. She has friends. She does things she would have never have been able to do at home. Now she’s going to go to college. There’s a future for her.”
Robin Roberts, a parent of a multi-sensory disabled student from Moore, SC states “Early intervention is key to parents who have children with special needs. From the moment you bring them home, all it takes is a phone call. The first phone call I made was to SCSDB.”
James Bomboy, a parent of a blind student from Shaw Air Force Base, SC stated “Brittany was very quiet and timid and now she’s very outgoing. Her grades have drastically improved. They can’t really get her to be quiet anymore! She likes to take charge of things!”
I wanted to give a little overview of what some of the students and parents are actually saying about SCSDB. This school is doing amazing things for their students, parents, and staff.
Toward the middle of the 19th century, deaf children were beginning to be more accepted. Most deaf children completed and elementary education and some even went on to "higher" education. An oral school for the Deaf was organized in Massachusetts in the late 1860's. by Samuel Gridley Howe, an American educator. In 1867 there were 26 American institutions for the education of Deaf children and all of them taught ASL, by 1907 there were 139 institutions and NONE of them taught ASL.
...latively normal and happy life with her family in their new home in Vermont by adjusting to her new mental environment.
The ABC/Cody Gifford House is an early intervention center, which aims to meet the needs of toddlers and infants with severe developmental needs. Their philosophy includes working with children who live in poverty and providing as much services as possible to these children with severe needs. The children not only range in ages from one to three, but also in disabilities. There were young children with severe language impairments, autism, and disabilities so rare that there were only forty known cases in the world. The school’s mission was to reach each child at an individual level by providing one-on-one services and small classroom sizes.
When looking back over her life, so far, she says not a bad life. Then again she’s not done yet and hopes to have another good ten years. I leave you with her life’s message.
There have been many talks on shutting the school down, enrollment is declining, and the government will not give the school any more money. The students are also impacted by the poor choices that SC State has made. The accreditation of the overall school is on the line. If the school happens to lose the prestigious accreditation, all students will lose their eligibility for all federal financial aid. The faculty and staff have to suffer through job cuts and mandatory furloughs. The city of Orangeburg is also impacted. SC State generates the most revenue for the city of Orangeburg. The students and faculty help bring business to the small local companies throughout the city. The thought of closing SC State had sent Orangeburg County into a panic and many businesses feared that they would be on the brink of closing. The biggest impact has been made on the schools’ morale. Some students no longer wants to attend the school, the faculty and staff are now looking elsewhere to teach, and SC State is losing out on contracts with different vendors. Students just are not motivated to participate in anything and you just can tell the morale of the school is
The school's leadership then realized the need for a school for the deaf. This is just like what our God does; He takes something that seems bad and turns it into good (Romans 8:28).
The Gallaudet School of the Deaf is a University in Washington D.C. The school was first intended for the deaf and the blind. Mason Cogswell had a daughter, Alice, who was deaf. He, like any father, was worried about her education since she could not learn like normal children. Cogswell found out that in England Thomas Braidwood had started a deaf school, so he sent the most trusted person he knew to investigate the school. He convinced his neighbor and member of his intellectual circle, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, to go to England and check it out. Thomas Gallaudet was a known genius. He was a reverend who started Yale University at fourteen. Three years later, at age seventeen, he graduated first in his class. Gallaudet was pleased with his findings and came back with a companion the two started the first school for the deaf, the American School for the Deaf. Alice was the first student and the school still educates today.
Have you ever felt like there was nothing that you can do for your child? In this book, Deaf Like Me, by Thomas S. Spradley and James P. Spradley, I can see the journey that Lynn’s parents took to get her help. (Spradley & Spradley, 1978). This book was an excellent read. I really liked the way that they described the ways they tried to help Lynn to understand the world around her. The book, is a great asset for any family that might be unexpectedly put into a situation that they know nothing about such as a deaf child.
History unfolds the advantages of residential schools for students who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH). While some DHH students are placed in other educational settings depending on their circumstances, majority of those who have experienced residential schools cannot help but express how glad they are of the experience.
I have worked with many teachers in this line of work and have watched how they interact with the kids. I have worked with all kinds of kids with special needs, ranging from reading disabilities to severe mental retardation. Some of the teachers that I have worked with, I have not approved of their tactics on how they handled the kids, but you learn and you adapt. Eventually you will know what is right and what is wrong.
Klein, M. D., Cook, R. E., & Richardson-Gibbs, A. M. (2001). Strategies for Including Children with Special Needs in Early Childhood Settings. Albany, NY: Delmar.
Raising a child with a disability may have some difficulties and challenges but it will have a lot of rewards; just as having a normal child. A parent want their child to live a normal fulfilling life as any other normal child. This life style will take extra patience, time and adaptive equipment and a special person to do it. When accepting that your child has a disability it is good to get all the literature on that type of disability. This will help you understand your child’s disability. A parent involvement is needed to find support groups, so they can get some insight on things someone from the support group has done to get certain things accomplished.
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation. (1994). The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/SALAMA_E.PDF
I was working at a camp and got into a conversation with a friend who has Asperger Syndrome about his experience with special education. He told me how long it took him to get into a program and how much those teachers had helped him to become the person that he was. The teachers were able to help him understand what he was learning as well as life lessons. He and other children with special needs at the camp I have worked at for the past few summers have instilled in me a stronger need to reach out to those in both special and general education classes. This was again enforced in the class “Intro to Special Education.” I was taught even more that school is not just about learning the information, but learning about yourself and how to grow in yourself. Each student is different and therefore each student must be seen as
Someone working with special needs children should be aware of the many factors that contribute to a child’s improvement. Although there are many factors, some of the main ones include the child’s social interaction, environment, and also overall health.