The Philosophy for Children Program was introduced to a class of deaf fifth graders as an instructional approach for reasoning skills. The program is intended to develop analytic skills required for intellectual functioning (including concept development, generalization, inference making, question formulation, and analogies). The program's major aim is to foster students' thinking about thinking. Affective issues--such as student frustration and insecurity--and teaching strategies are described. Examples are provided to illustrate the range of exercises used in the program. Evaluation of the program's first year resulted in greater emphasis on examining students' experiences inside and outside the classroom. (CL)