User:Aly.estrella00/sandbox

Background/Purpose of the Research
Why teach chimpanzees sign language? The answer is as simple as why we teach humans sign language, to be able to communicate when verbally speaking is not an option. Originally the deaf were seen as unable to be educated, but that all changed around 1750, when a French Catholic priest, Abbe de L'Epee, became interested in helping educate the hearing impaired. These deaf children would show him the signs they used to communicate at home and he would in turn use these to teach them French, then more schools were opened, and once the children left they would share what they had learned with family and neighbors allowing them to learn to sign as well. However, sign language did not hit America until around 1814, when a minister from Connecticut named Thomas Gallaudet, decided to teach his neighbors deaf daughter how to communicate. Gallaudet traveled to Europe where he met L'Eppe's successor Abbe Sicard, after learning their teaching methods there he came home accompanied by Laurent Clerc. Together they opened the American School for the Deaf and began teaching students from all over the United States. If we are able to teach the deaf how to communicate without words, then what is stopping us from trying to communicate with other species using similar techniques? Sign language not only gives these chimpanzees the ability to express their thoughts and feelings, but it also shows us that they have the capability of learning it and teaching other chimpanzees as well.