Sign Language Man: Gallaudet and His Incredible Work (Genius at Work! Great Inventor Biographies)

When he was a young man, Thomas Gallaudet saw a young girl who could not hear, and he taught her how to spell "hat" and her name, "Alice." The girl's father encouraged him to start a school for the deaf. Gallaudet traveled to Europe, where he learned French sign language. He became instrumental in the development of American Sign Language, or ASL, and the teaching of the deaf.