Emma Garrett (–1893) was an American educator and advocate of teaching speech to the deaf. She established the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in Mount Airy, Philadelphia, to teach the language to the deaf. She paired with sister Mary Smith Garrett to establish their own school with a federal grant. Her educational methods to find how best to fully teach a deaf student can be seen through the word method in teaching which she ultimately created and is still used in educational classrooms with deaf students. Through this she was able to change the lives of many deaf students and allow them a chance at education. Biography Early life Garret was born in 1846 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Emma grew up in Philadelphia alongside her sister, Mary Smith Garrett, and together, they led very obscure childhoods. Emma and Mary from an early age were involved in helping the deaf community, and together were able to make new contributions the world had not seen in any form yet. Education and work life Emma graduated from Boston University School of Oratory, which was Alexander Graham Bell's course for teachers of the deaf, in 1878. From there, Emma went on to become a speech teacher at Pennsylvania Institute for the Deaf and Dumb which was in Mount Airy, Pennsylvania, receiving an invitation from several civic leaders. In 1892, Emma and Mary Garrett founded the Home for Training in Speech of Deaf Children Before They Are of School Age. She was a major advocate for teaching verbal speech to deaf children (oralism) rather than the previous technique, which was strictly sign language (see Manualism). Emma's drive to continue the teachings and widen the knowledge of deaf students led her to begin to teach her version of vocal instruction to other teachers. She did this so that deaf children could be helped on a wider scale. Emma became principal of the Pennsylvania Oral School for Deaf Mutes in Scranton, which formally became a state institute in 1885. Mary, who had many of the same beliefs, became a teacher at Emma's school and continued on with the methods the two sisters had established together. The Garrett sisters then moved on to establish the Bala House, the Pennsylvania Home for the Training in Speech of Deaf Children Before They Are of School Age, in 1882. Emma became superintendent of the Bala House and appointed Mary as