What is Oralism?
Oralism is one of the two main approaches to providing education of deaf students. Considered by many to be especially effective with children who have retained a small amount of hearing ability, oralism has its origins in the 18th century, and continues to be a popular option in helping deaf children and adults to function in society. Understood to be part of the auditory training technique, oralism involves the use of sight and touch in order to assist the hearing impaired in learning to communicate with other people. Learning to recognize what is being said by learning to read lips allows the deaf individual to understand the communication without the need for writing a note or the use of sign language. Along with teaching the deaf person to recognize the words that are being articulated by another person, oralism also addresses the act of responding verbally. This process is enhanced by using touch to learn how pronouncing certain words is accomplished by the movements of the lips
