Ostrogradsky, Alexander Fedorovich

The son of Fedor Ivanovich and Elizaveta Nikolaevna Ostrogradsky; the family had three sons and three daughters - Alexander was the youngest.

In 1870 he graduated from the 3rd St. Petersburg gymnasium .

He entered the service on May 3, 1881 ^[1] . He began his pedagogical activity in the Alexander Cadet Corps , from where in 1885 he moved to the St. Petersburg School of the Deaf and Mute , although he did not have a special sign language training. In 1886 he was on a business trip to Germany, where he got acquainted with the so-called sound teaching method. In 1887, he began restructuring the organizational and methodological work at the Petersburg School on the basis of the principles that he subsequently set out in the Guide to the Initial Training of Deaf and Dumb Children in the Sound Method (St. Petersburg: type. School of Deaf and Dumb, 1889). He was an inspector, then - the director (1896-1901) of the St. Petersburg School of the Deaf.

In 1897, he opened courses for the training of sign teachers; in 1898 he organized the publication of the journal "Leaflet on teaching the sound method of the deaf and dumb, educating and charity them."

He served as an official of special assignments under the Ministry of Finance . Since March 25, 1903 - a valid state adviser ^[1] .

Studying the physiology of the action of the organs of speech, Ostrogradsky came to the pedagogically important conclusion that, with imperfection of the organs of speech, they can be influenced through special exercises. He divided the sounds of the Russian language into concentric groups according to the peculiarities of articulation. To help the child in the development of sounds, his hands and a mirror were attracted, which contributed to the formation of speech perception on a visual basis, as well as due to kinesthetic and vibrational sensations. This seemingly harmonious methodological system in the initial period of training for the deaf did not, however, contribute to their general mental development. Its main drawback was that spoken language did not separate from lip reading and literacy. Submission of sound production to literacy led to a narrowing of the knowledge circle of a deaf student in the initial period of study. Creating a methodology for teaching sound speech, Ostrogradsky also did not attach due importance to the use of residual hearing in deaf children.

Ostrogradsky compiled textbooks and manuals, including:

• "Book of literacy" (1893) - a manual on the assimilation of grammatical rules of the Russian language
• "Stories from Russian history with articles about the life of primitive people" (St. Petersburg: printing house of the School of the Deaf, 1900) is the first special textbook on Russian history for the deaf.

He was awarded Russian and foreign orders ^[1] :

Russian

• Order of St. Stanislav , 2nd Art. (1891)
• Order of St. Anne , 2nd Art. (1895)
• Order of St. Vladimir 3rd Art. (1905)

foreign

• Chinese Order of the Double Dragon , 3rd class 1st art. (1897)
• Serbian Order of St. Sava 1st Art. (1904)
• Bulgarian Order of Civil Merit, 10th Art. (1904)
• Oldenburg Order of Merit of the Duke Peter-Friedrich-Ludwig (1904)

• Alexander Fedorovich Ostrogradsky