Organization models for schools of Bilingual Education for the Deaf: experiences in three institutions of the state of São Paulo

Although Brazil has over forty schools of Bilingual Education for the Deaf (BED), the literature on how these institutions organize their practice is limited. The purpose of this article is to present the BED models of organization located in major cities of the State of São Paulo based on data produced during the mini-course “Organization Models for BED Schools: Three Different Experiences,” which was held during the Week of Education of the University of São Paulo (USP). It was possible to identify the main characteristics of each model, the methodologies used, the strategies of support to the families, and the challenges to assure the linguistic right of deaf students. Despite the differences in the scenario (private institutions and municipal public schools), the three models converge in the defense of the Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) as first language (L1) and written Portuguese as second language (L2), in the priority to the early language acquisition and articulation with the deaf community. The experiences analyzed show that schools of Bilingual Education for the Deaf are not spaces of segregation, but linguistic territories that assure equity and identity.

Keywords
linguistic rights; pedagogical practices; hub schools; bilingual schools for the deaf; Libras