Bonet book (published 1620)
updated by Simon Adler
Simon Adler, son of Samuel Adler and Rosali Weiss and brother of Rosa Adler Strausz, was born in Miskolc on November 30, 1861. He was graduated from the Teacher Training College in 1881 and received a diploma as a teacher of therapeutic pedagogy, after which he became a lecturer at the Jewish National Institute for the Deaf. In 1907, he became principal of the Wechselmann Institute for the Blind in Budapest, a post he retained until his death on December 17, 1930. Adler was vice-president of the Jewish National Teachers Association and was active in other teaching, public education, and child-protection organizations.
Adler traveled throughout Europe to study curative and therapeutic arts. He specialized in the development of strategies for teaching the deaf and blind and was the first person in Hungary to educate blind mutes. In 1915, his book Treatment of Soldiers Blinded in War (co-authored with Gyula Fejer, an eye specialist) was published in Budapest. He wrote updated editions of two books by Juan Pablo Bonet (the Spanish priest and leader in the field of education for the deaf, who published the first book on the subject in 1620 in Madrid): Teaching Mutes the Art of Speech and Analysing Elements of Alphabet Speakers. Adler also published academic essays in Hungarian, German, and French journals and contributed articles to the Jewish publications Egyenlosef (Equality) and the Jewish Educational Bulletin.
Simon Adler is the great-uncle of Miskolc-researcher Julie Strauss Kirsh.
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