Samuel Heinicke (10 April 1727 – 30 April 1790), the originator in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

of systematic

education for the deaf Deaf education is the education of students with any degree of hearing loss or deafness. This may involve, but does not always, individually-planned, systematically-monitored teaching methods, adaptive materials, accessible settings, and other ...

, was born in Nautschutz, Germany. Entering the electoral bodyguard at

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, he subsequently supported himself by teaching. Around 1754, he took his first deaf pupil. His success in teaching this pupil was so great that he determined to devote himself entirely to this work. Heinicke promoted a chiefly oral/aural method of instruction, though he did use some form of a

manual alphabet Fingerspelling (or dactylology) is the representation of the letters of a writing system, and sometimes numeral systems, using only the hands. These manual alphabets (also known as finger alphabets or hand alphabets) have often been used in deaf ...

. He believed a spoken language to be indispensable to a proper education, and that it formed the basis for reasoning and intellectual thought. He died before his contributions to Deaf education became widespread, but John Baptist Graser (1766–1841) and (1805–1874) continued to espouse the oral method.Moores, Donald F. ''Educating the Deaf: Psychology, Principles, and Practices.'' Third ed. Boston: Houghton, 1987. The outbreak of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

upset his plans for a time. Taken prisoner at

Pirna Pirna (; , ) is a town in Saxony, Germany and capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 37,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as a ''Große ...

, he was brought to Dresden, but soon made his escape. In 1768, when living in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, he successfully taught a deaf boy to talk, following the methods prescribed by

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

in his book ''Surdus loquens'', but improving on them. Recalled to his own country by the

elector of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

, he opened the first deaf institution in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany, in 1778. He directed this school until his death. He was the author of various books on the instruction of the deaf.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinicke German educational theorists 18th-century German educators 1727 births 1790 deaths