Despite dwindling numbers, the schools are one of the few places children can be immersed in ASL, first recognized as a language in the 1970s. At a school for the deaf, they can play sports or lead student government like others their age. For children in local schools, communication barriers can lead to poor academic achievement, says Joiner. That's educational deprivation. But while the deaf community is passionate about keeping its own state schools, technological advances such as cochlear implants may soon dramatically reduce the number of children who attend, says Jon Green, superintendent of the South Dakota School for the Deaf.
Cochlear implants are high-tech hearing devices.
Today, one in 10 deaf children have them, and that could grow to one in three within a decade as the technology improves.