Let us go back to the beginning ​ – the 17th Century.

There was a saying:

“A man born deaf and dumb may be taught to hear the words with his eye.”

This was published by John Bulwer, and he advocated sign language, speech and lip grammar, and spoke about speech reading back at that time.

18th Century and 19th Century

There is mention of Thomas Braidwood, and again, there is mention of “they hear with the eye”.

Thomas Braidwood was based in Edinburgh, and he established a school for the deaf.

In the late 19th century, lipreading started being taught to deaf children, and this was a method of improving speech production.

Alexander Graham Bell believed in the oral approach of teaching deaf children, so lipreading was part of the curriculum. He set up a course to train teachers of the deaf. This started in 1872.

Early 20th Century

There was a listing for Harry Cottam, and he was a teacher of lipreading at 54 Henderson Row, and this was the address of the Edinburgh Institute for the education of the Deaf and Dumb.

At this time, Analytic and Synthetic approaches were used for teaching.

Lipreading started to be taught to adults with a hearing loss.

1912 – 1918

In 1913, lipreading classes for adults with hearing loss were being held in Dundee, Edinburgh, and Govan.

Mr Illingworth had lipreading classes on Tuesday nights and Saturday afternoons, and the classes ran for two hours. He was the headmaster at the Edinburgh Royal Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb.

In 1917, Mary Stormont started lipreading classes for men who were soldiers and sailors; she had classes in 11 Upper Gilmore Place in Edinburgh.

The classes were established under the Lipreading (Edinburgh) Association, where Mary Stormont was the organiser. The treasurer was Miss E Morgan.

At this time, posters, circulars and letters, and also personal visits were made to those who needed lipreading classes.

Aural Surgeons worked with the lipreading teachers to examine the soldiers and sailors to see what they needed in the way of medical care, as well as lipreading classes. Miss Stormont and Mr Barker, and Mr W H Addison worked with the aural surgeons.

1920s – 1930s – 1940s

• There were self-help books published for lipreading in the 1920s and 1930s.
• In 1939, there were Lipreading classes being run in Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Kirkcaldy.
• In the 1940’s the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) set up a lipreading teachers’ training course in the UK. This was to meet the needs of those who had lost their hearing in the Second World War.

1948 – 1952

• The National Institute for the Deaf had a Training Scheme for Teachers of Lipreading to the Adult Deafened. The Diploma course was launched in 1948.
• The course was delivered three times, and by 1952, there were 57 qualified lipreading teachers. Two were from Scotland: Miss MBB MacKenzie from Falkirk and Miss Cam Sym from Edinburgh.
• On the 16th January 1952, there was a conference for the teachers of lipreading, and the same question was asked then as is still considered now: Should the teaching of lipreading be under Health or Education?

Additional questions that were raised in 1952 and are still being considered at the present time:

• Should the classes be free?
• Should lipreading be part of club activities?
• Should hearing friends and family members attend the classes as observers?

1970s – 1980s

• In 1977, the Association of Teachers of Lipreading to Adults (ATLA) was established.
• In 1979 and 1981, there was a TV programme on the BBC called “The Skill of Lipreading” with Christine Martin.
• Classes were run by Mrs Law and Kathleen Orr between the 1980s and the 1990s.
• Other classes were run by unqualified tutors in Edinburgh, Perth, and Gourock.
• In 1983, there was a course in Inverness, and there were 12 participants. This course ran for one week plus three weekends and involved 40 hours of lipreading class observation and written assessments.

1990’s

• Classes were set up in the Lothians, where there were 15 classes with 260 adults joining in a week, and a waiting list was required for others who were interested in joining.
• Sarah Kilbey, Ruth McAree, Margaret Moodie and Judith Christie developed a training course in order to train more tutors in Scotland, and this was accepted by the Association of Teachers of Lipreading to Adults (ATLA). Moray House was also involved.
• A pilot course was run in Inverness for 13 students in 1994/95, following the same curriculum as the Manchester Course. Another course was delivered in 1997/98.

2000 – 2014

• There was a survey about the lipreading classes. There were 34 lipreading tutors ​and 63 lipreading classes. ​
• The Scottish Lipreading Strategy Group was set up, and there was funding from the Scottish Government. ​
• A course for training lipreading tutors was delivered in 2002–2003, and another took place in 2012–2013.
• In 2014, there was another survey showing that there were a total of 26 lipreading tutors and 46 lipreading classes in Scotland.

2015 – 2024

• The course to train tutors of lipreading was delivered again in 2015 – 2016.
• Another course in 2019 – 2020.
• The latest course was in 2023 – 2024, where, for the first time, the Lipreading Tutors had a teaching qualification in Education and Training Award Level Three.

What is the way forward now?

Following this history and timeline of the Scottish Course to Train Tutors of Lipreading, read further to see what the future holds. ​

From the year 2025, a new chapter is taking place, and the aim is to move forward to promote lipreading as an established, recognised communication method.​

Lipread Scotland is aiming to reach out to a wider range of people with hearing loss and to work in partnership with other sensory organisations.​