How Thomas Gallaudet started Ameican Sign Language?

Answer 1

He came around to starting ASL by:

He graduated from Yale in 1805 with a degree in education, but was unsure of where to take his education.

Gallaudet's interest in education began when considering the religious principle of educating, and further grew after he met Alice Cogswell. Cogswell, the deaf daughter of Gallaudet's doctor, intrigued his curiosity after he attempted to teach her at the request of her father. He discovered the difficulty of teaching a deaf student like Alice and realized the necessity for special instruction and more effective education for both deaf and mute students in the United States. Soon after, the Cogswell family along with other families aware of the situation funded a trip for Gallaudet to Great Britain to further study deaf instruction. He returned quickly after becoming aware of the deaf instruction monopoly that was held by only one British family. The Braidwood family attempted regular instruction of the deaf and made proceeds the priority of their schools. Directly after his return to Connecticut, the Cogswell family then aided Gallaudet in establishing the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons. The Connecticut Asylum, later named the American School for the Deaf was a free institution which operated solely on state grants and private donations. Gallaudet remained principal until 1830; however, during his stay, the school became known as a place of instruction for not only students, but also instructors seeking to establish similar institutions for deaf-mute instruction.

Answer 2

Thomas Gallaudet did not create American Sign Language. He did, however, work with Laurent Clerc, a Deaf French educator, to establish the first American school for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817. This collaboration helped spread French Sign Language, which influenced the development of American Sign Language.