Dom Pedro Ponce de Leon, O.S.B., (1520–1584) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...

who is often credited as being "the first teacher for the

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

Biography

Ponce de Leon established a school for the deaf at the San Salvador Monastery in

Oña Oña is a municipality and town located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2011 census ( INE), the municipality has a population of 1,219 inhabitants. Main sights * Benedictine monastery of San Salvador de O� ...

. His students were almost all children of wealthy

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient R ...

s who could afford private tutoring. His work with deaf children focused on helping them to learn how to speak language audibly. He also instructed children in writing and in simple gestures. Ponce de Leon is not known to have developed a working

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign ...

, but there is some indication from the writings of

Juan Pablo Bonet Juan Pablo Bonet (–1633) was a Spanish priest and pioneer of education for the deaf. He published the first book on deaf education in 1620 in Madrid. Juan Pablo Bonet was born in Torres de Berrellén (Aragon), and became secretary to Juan Fern ...

—who never credited him for his method—that Ponce de Leon developed a manual alphabet which would allow a student who mastered it to spell out (letter by letter) any word. This alphabet was based, in whole or in part, on the simple hand gestures used by monks living in silence. Ponce de Leon's work with the deaf was considered bold by contemporaries, as the prevailing opinion among most Europeans in the 16th century was that the deaf were incapable of being educated. Many laymen even believed that the deaf were too simple-minded to be eligible for salvation under Christian doctrine. In

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

, there is a school for deaf children named Colegio Fray Pedro Ponce de León. It is located in Urbanización La Rambla.

References

External links

A brief article (scroll to the bottom of the page) detailing recent research on de Leon
1520 births 1584 deaths 16th-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests Spanish Benedictines People from the Province of Burgos Educators of the deaf {{Spain-bio-stub