Instructional Program

A central feature of the EPIC Project was development of a "best possible" instructional program for a group of deaf children, that is, a program that we believed would provide maximum academic achievement for each child under optimum teaching conditions. We were challenged not to be bound by what existed in the CID School nor what had been observed in other schools for deaf children, but also to consider the organizational structures, instructional procedures and curriculum materials being used in various kinds of educational programs and clinics, and then to consider, as well, innovative and sometimes still theoretical proposals for educational programming of the future. In this section of the report we describe the instructional program that was developed for the EPIC Project. First we explain the rather different, overall program organization. Then we discuss separately each area of instruction, including the rationale for the focus of instruction, a description of the primary objectives and teaching strategies for that area, and the ways in which we believe the EPIC instructional program differed from what is in practice in many school programs for deaf children.

The EPIC Project's instructional program was not based on any one new method, new teaching technique, new apparatus, nor new set of materials. Rather, it was an attempt to draw from methods, techniques, and materials of the past and of the present those what would be effective for our children. The organizational schema of the program was an obvious, highly visible differentiating feature and the one most frequently commented about by observers. Because it was most readily abstracted, it was often assumed to "make the difference." However, the organization of the program was merely the vehicle that facilitated implementation of the teaching strategies by providing opportunity for more individualization and a greater intensity of instruction.