Total Communication

Concept: In this approach, both signs and spoken English are used to communicate. The signs used are often similar to ASL signs, but instead of using the grammar and syntax of ASL, the signs are signed in English word order. While there are several varieties of manually coded English, the most common system in use is referred to as Signing Exact English (or SEE). While speaking, the signs are given at the same time as the corresponding English word is spoken. This approach may be implemented either in a separate TC classroom, or the deaf child may be mainstreamed with the use of an interpreter.

Originally, total communication was supposed to make use of all methods for teaching deaf children, including such things as lipreading. Current TC programs vary widely in the relative emphasis they put on the signing and speaking aspects of this approach.

Pros:

• May be option for profoundly deaf children who do not have enough residual hearing to benefit from hearing aids, who are not candidates for a cochlear implant based on parental preference or physical reasons, and who would not benefit from oral approach
• Proponents claim that use of both sign and speech simultaneously gives the deaf child the opportunity to use whichever modality (sight or hearing) that best allows that child to understand
• Widely used in public schools
• Some public school systems, such as St. Louis County Special School District, have a support team for the child on staff such as speech-language pathologists, audiologists and a child psychologist.
• While parents still need to learn a great number of signs to become proficient at communicating in Sign Exact English, they at least are not faced with learning a completely new language as would be the case with ASL
• Proponents claim the use of SEE gives the deaf child who will get a cochlear implant later a language base until such time as they have improved hearing with the implant
• Growing movement that hearing children of hearing parents can jump start communication when their parents sign to them as babies might have relevance to importance of using sign with deaf children

• It is very difficult to sign and speak at the same time using your normal rate for either speech or sign, so speech and sign often are presented in a distorted fashion
• Some programs that label themselves TC actually primarily use sign
• If you encounter a word or phrase you don't know the sign for when an opportunity presents itself for that word, by the time you get a chance to look up the sign for that word in a dictionary the opportunity to use it often has passed
• Unlike cued speech, where once you've learned the system you can cue any word you encounter, with Sign Exact English you never learn all the signs
• Several studies have indicated that children with cochlear implants in TC programs do worse with speech and listening than do children with cochlear implants in auditory-oral or auditory-verbal programs
• Very few people know Sign Exact English, so for signing your child will be limited to communicating with parents and other relatives who sign, friends who sign, and teachers or other professionals who sign

Studies:

Total Communication: A Review of Studies Offered in Its Support, Gary Nix, Volta Review, Nov. 1975

Current Status in Missouri:

Appears to be widely used in public school programs for deaf children

Resources:

Modern Signs Press
800-572-SEE2 V/TTY
P.O.Box 1181
Los Alamitos, CA 90720

Learn to Sign (uses Manually Coded English) - available from Boys Town Press at 800-282-6657

References:

Signing Exact English by Gerilee Gustason and Esther Zawolkow, Modern Signs Press, 1993.

Teaching and Learning Signing Exact English, by Gerilee Gustason, Modern Signs Press, 1993.

National Organizations:

American Society for Deaf Children

S.E.E. Center for the Advancement of Deaf Children P.O. Box 1181 Los Alamitos, CA 90720 310-430-1467 SEE center email

Materials:

video: Deafness: The Hidden Handicap
video:Growing up with SEE: A Closer Look
How Does Yoour Child Hear and Talk?
Stages of Communication Development

Workshops:

The S.E.E. Center sponsors week-end workshops on S.E.E. every summer, and weekend workshops throughout the year. Contact the S.E.E. Center for more information.

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