The aim of this study is to present the educational trajectory of Flausino José da Costa Gama, who was a student at the Imperial Institute for Deaf-Mutes of Rio de Janeiro in the nineteenth-century. Besides having been an exemplary student and "lesson repeater", according to records of the times, he distinguished himself by creating the first sign language to date in Brazil, i.e. the Iconography of Signs of Deaf-Mutes of 1875. Using bibliographic and documentary research, we present the pedagogical proposal used at the Imperial Institute for Deaf-Mutes. The study discusses the institution's educational objectives at the time when Dr. Tobias Leite was headmaster and presents Flausino's educational trajectory based on biographical data and on his development upon enrollment in said institution. An understanding of the social and cultural context of the times aids in understanding the process that led to the creation of the first Brazilian sign language publication; besides a page containing the manual alphabet, the book boasts 20 printed images of 382 manual signs using lithography. We hope to present Flausino to the academic community as a deaf person whose educational pathway was unique, and who contributed in a relevant way to the beginnings of Brazilian sign language.
special education; history of education; deafness; iconography
