Gli istituti speciali per sordi: dal primo dibattito metodologico agli sviluppi per l’integrazione in Italia
Antonello Mura
This study recalls, albeit briefly, the key figures and pivotal points of the birth, development, decline, and in some cases, the reorganisation of the special Institutions to train and educate deaf persons. In particular, attention is focused on the dispute that for a long time has seen opposed the promoters of the mimic sign method with the supporters of the oral method and the integration processes, which in the second part of the 20th century, in Italy, shifted the focus of the debate from the importance of the individual teaching methods to the multiplicity of the possible contributions in the direction of the more general school and social inclusion processes. Many Institutes did not find an autonomous reason to exist in this situation and terminated their activity, while others, not many to tell the truth, reorganised their approach becoming specialised service centres to support the inclusion processes.
