Deaf kids in 1980s Nicaragua created a language from thin air

In 1977, a special-education center opened in Managua with 50 deaf children. Enrollment reached 400 across two schools by 1983. Teachers drilled the students in spoken Spanish and lipreading, “with most pupils failing to grasp the concept of Spanish words,” according to Wikipedia. The plan failed, but “the schoolyard, the street, and the school bus prov…