Lebanese School for the Blind and Deaf

Lina Sabbagh came to Perkins Educational Leadership Program to be immersed in educational techniques for children who are deafblind.

After nine months observing educators and working with students in Perkins Deafblind Program, Sabbagh returned to the Lebanese School for the Blind and Deaf to take a lead role in the establishment of a program for children who are deafblind. Today Sabbagh uses the teaching strategies she learned at Perkins to foster communication skills in her students.

“Going into Perkins, I thought that deafblind children were incapable of completing anything,” Sabbagh recalled. “Throughout the year I was surprised to see how [Perkins students] progress and gain new skills.”

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Lina Sabbagh started out as an art teacher at the Lebanese School for the Blind and Deaf before advancing to a full-time classroom. The school’s director, Wadad Lahoud, had studied in Perkins Educational Leadership Program during the 1950s, at a time when the Lebanese school served students who were deaf or visually impaired but did not yet cater to students who were deafblind.

Seeing Sabbagh’s innovation with students and commitment to teaching, Lahoud recommended her for the ELP – convinced that with the right kind of experience, Sabbagh might institute deafblind instruction at the Lebanese school.

When she came to Perkins campus in 2007, Sabbagh immersed herself in practicing tactile finger spelling and sign language, learning braille and in finding new ways to communicate with students who are deafblind.

Through her studies and work with students in Perkins Deafblind Program, Sabbagh discovered new strategies for communicating with students who are deafblind. Since returning to the Lebanese school, Sabbagh has included these and other practices with students in the school’s new deafblind program.

“The first method I applied was the calendar [box] system. I gave the child two boxes, one for the beginning of the activity and a second for the end. I would put the tool s/he needed to complete this activity in the first box. When s/he is done, s/he would put what s/he did in the second box,” Sabbagh explained.

The calendar box introduces the key element of teaching time frame and anticipation to children who are deafblind. An object that represents an activity, i.e., a spoon meaning “mealtime” is placed in a box to the child’s left. When the student is guided to the left-hand box, s/he feels the object and the teacher makes the sign identifying an activity. After completing an action, s/he places the object in the “finished” box on the right. This technique helps a student without sight or vision to understand time and establishes pre-literate left-to-right interpretation of signals so fundamental to learning to read.

Beyond strategies and tactics, Sabbagh says, “I learned that I must believe in my students, and that the more effort I put into teaching them, the more I will learn from them.”

Sabbagh continues to take the lead from her students, using an individual approach to match their abilities and interests.

“I observe what they do to know on which level to communicate with them,” Sabbagh says. “I now see that deafblind children are capable of doing anything as long as they are taught properly.”

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