Edward L. Scouten was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 10, 1914. A graduate of the Omaha Central High School, he served as Boys’ Supervisor and Instructor at the Nebraska School for the Deaf from 1934 to 1937. Upon receiving a B.A Degree from the University of Omaha in 1937, he enrolled in San Francisco State Teachers College, where he received a Teacher’s Certificate in 1938. He was a teacher in training at the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley. From 1938 to 1940, he was an Instructor at the Rochester School for the Deaf. He taught in the Normal Department at Gallaudet College, where he received an M.A. in 1941. From 1941 to 1946, he served as Demonstration Instructor at Kendall School. During the world war years, 1943-1945, he served as Instructor of Lip-Reading and a Supervisor in Special Education in the Medical Department of the United States Army. He joined the faculty at Gallaudet College in 1946. Edward also served as the chairman of the College Preparatory Department beginning in 1954. He wrote two books, “A revaluation of the Rochester Method” and “Language through opportunity.”

In 1962 he moved and became principal of the Louisiana School for the Deaf, where he was an advocate of the Rochester Method. Alpha Sigma Pi Fraternity of Gallaudet College selected him “Man of the Year” in 1964. In 1967 he became principal of the Florida School for the Deaf. In 1970, he joined the English Department at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). In 1978, he served as an English technical specialist in the NTID Data Processing Department.