ABSTRACT
In the late 19th century, a time when educational systems struggled to educate for students who were deaf or hard of hearing, the Rochester Method of instruction distinguished itself from others. In 1878, the designer of the Rochester Method, Zenas Westervelt, challenged conventional thinking by finding a way to make communication of English transparent, and by assuming that with full access to English, deaf individuals could read, write, and reason. Westervelt, superintendent of the Rochester School for the Deaf, immersed his students with spoken, written, and, most importantly, fingerspelled English, with documented success. Erroneous assumptions, limited technology, bitter conflict within his field, and a heterogeneous population of students all shaped his choices; as those conditions changed, the Rochester Method gradually disappeared.
