With shoe in hand, the director of the Sumner Deaf and Dumb Institution, Gerrit van Asch, teaches students in a classroom in 1884. Students boarded at the centre and lessons were taught orally. As was the convention at this time, sign language was banned.
As well as continuing to offer residential care, today the centre (now known as the van Asch Deaf Education Centre) provides support and services for deaf children in mainstream education.
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Ko Taku Reo Deaf Education New Zealand
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