Total Communication Approach

"About Us." NationalCued Speech Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2013.<http://www.cuedspeech.org/ncsa/mission-vision>.

Jay, M. (2013). History of American Sign Language. Start American Sign Language (ASL). Retrieved April 11, 2013, from http://www.start-american-sign-language.com/history-of-american-sign-language.html

Signing Exact English - Sign Language in English Syntax Through Signing Exact English. (n.d.). About.com Deafness. Retrieved April 11, 2013, from http://deafness.about.com/cs/signfeats2/a/si

Total Communication: Learning to Use Different Communication Methods. (n.d.).Raising Deaf Kids . Retrieved April 10, 2013, from http://raisingdeafkids.org/communicating/

What is American Sign Language? . (n.d.). National Association of the Deaf. Retrieved April 11, 2013, from http://www.nad.org/issues/american-sign-language/what-is-asl

ASL Deafined BlogASL Deafined Blog. (n.d.). ASL Deafined Blog | ASL Videos and ASL Lessons OnlineASL Deafined Blog | ASL Videos and ASL Lessons Online. Retrieved April 11, 2013, from http://blog.asldeafined.com/category/american-sign-language-grammar/

Resources

Johnson, C. E. (2012). An Introduction to Cochlear Implants. Introduction to auditory rehabilitation: a contemporary issues approach (pp. 286-287). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Hawkins, L., & Brawner, J. (1997). Educating Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Total Communication.ERICDigests.Org . Retrieved April 10, 2013, from http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-2/total.htm

Bloopers

Speech Reading

•Speech reading is the process of recognizing speech using both auditory and visual cues

•When speech reading, the person attends to both the talker’s auditory and visual signals, as well as the talker’s facial expressions and gestures, and any other available cues

How is Speech Reading Different from Lip Reading?

• Speech reading involves putting together information from a variety of sources while lipreading only involves determining meaning from the visual aspects of articulation

• Which is easier?

• Visual, verbal, and tactile cues

• Four factors that influence the speech reading task:

• The talker
• The message
• The environment
• The speech reader

Characteristics

Cued Speech

History

Cued Speech through TC

• Simultaneous communication(simcom): when teachers and children speak and sign at the same time.
• Encourages hard of hearing children to use the hearing they have left.
• Cued Speech provides an easier way for children to learn language.
• Once language is learned, they have an easier time learning how to read and write, just like anyone else.
• After the child gets a basic understanding of language, they are encouraged to look into other forms of language such as ASL or SEE.
• Provides an easier way for children to communicate their wants and needs, as well as understand what is being said to them.

http://whatshouldwecallme.tumblr.com/post/47550433149/when-people-start-talking-about-things-that-i-know

Definition

• Defined as: a visual communication system that incorporates eight hand shapes and four hand positions(cues) that represent how sounds are said while talking, helping children distinguish sounds that look the same on the mouth.

• A way for people to see spoken language

• Helps hard of hearing children better understand what is being said.

• Helps children learn written language.

• Helpful for learning a new language or children who are bilingual.

• Mainly used by deaf or hard of hearing children who attend public school.

Lip Reading

• Age

• Prelingual hearing loss

• Certain cognitive skills

• Willingness to guess

Possible predictors of lip reading skill

What happens when someone lip reads?

The talker's face presents prominent cues for recognizing the sounds of speech and the prosodic patterns of sentences . When someone is lip reading, they are scanning the talker's face seeking both phonetic and prosodic cues

• Originated in March 1973.
• Originally called the Concerned Individuals for the Educational Promotion of Cued Speech.
• 1978 renamed to the Cued Speech Association, Inc. which was then absorbed into the Adult Cuers Cued Speech Association, Inc.
• 1982 the National Cued Speech Association (NCSA) was formed to:
• Support and provide assistance and information about cued speech for families and professionals.
• Invented by Dr. R. Orin Cornett:
• Purpose: to help deaf and hard of hearing students become better readers, but to do so, they needed an easier way of understanding spoken language resulting in the invention of cued speech.

Limitations

"When lip reading, most people recognize less than 20% of the words they see"

• Visibility of sounds
• Rapidity of speech
• Coarticulation and stress effects
• Visemes and homophones
• Talker effects

"Watching the speaker and deriving meaning from recognition of the visible aspects of articulation (Johnson, 2012, p. 208)

American Sign Language

Background

• Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet developed American Sign Language in the 1800s. He realized his neighbor’s daughter was intelligent however could not read or write.

• Gallaudet asked Sicard’s student Clerc to accompany him to the United States to help start a deaf school.

• After Thomas Gallaudet died in 1851, his son Edward Gallaudet continued his legacy where he became a teacher at the American School for the Deaf in Hartford. Later Edward was asked to establish a deaf college by the superintendent of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf in Washington. D.C.

Sign Exact English (SEE)

• Signed Exact English was first discovered in 1972.

• Although it may not get as much coverage, Signed Exact English is a form of communication or instruction in which signs are used in exact English word order.

• It is used in Total Communication because it helps children learn each word as well as its individual morphemes.

http://www.sign.com.au/index.php?ACT=custom

What is ASL?

How is ASL used in TC?

• American Sign Language is used in Total Communication because it helps children have a visual representation of what the speaker is saying.

• A common misconception of American Sign Language is that there is a symbol for every word.

• American Sign Language is a visual way to communicate. It is a manual language with its own syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

• Sign language is not a universal language.

• Roy Holcomb 1967

• Philosophy, not a method

• Involves one or several modes of communication

• Original expectation

Background Info

Importance of Consistency

• We learn through repetition

• Children will learn which methods work best for them more quickly when they are consistently exposed to them

• Functional use

• Comfortability

What is Total Communication?

Limitations of TC

•Methods may not be taught accurately

•Forced methods

•Individualism in a Group Setting

Parent Training

• As a parent, one must consistently sign while speaking to their child.
• Sign language courses are routinely offered at local colleges, through the community, adult education, etc.
• Books and videos are also available.
• Signing must be used consistently and become a routine part of your communication.

Primary Goals

• To provide an easy, least restrictive communication method between the deaf child and his/her family.
• The simultaneous use of speech and sign language is encouraged as is the use of all other visual and contextual cues (Johnson, 2012, p.286).

Family Responsibility

• A minimum of one family member should learn the chosen sign language system.
• This will help the child to develop age-appropriate language and communicate fully with his/her family.
• Acquisition of sign vocabulary and language is a long term and ongoing process.
• As the child's vocabulary grows, so should the family members
• Encourage consistent use of amplification.

Hearing

• Use of a personal amplification system is strongly encouraged.

"Total communication (TC) is the philosophy of using every and all means to communicate with deaf children. The child is exposed to a formal sign-language system (based on English), finger-spelling (manual alphabet), natural gestures, speech reading, lip reading, body language, oral speech, and use of amplification. The idea is to communicate and teach vocabulary and language in any manner that works" (Johnson, 2012, p. 286).

Total Communication Approach

•In some Total Communication programs, teachers and children always speak and sign at the same time

•In other Total Communication programs, teachers put a strong emphasis language outside of verbal communication

What Happens in a TC Program?

Language Development

Receptive Language:

- Language can be spoken, signed or a combination of the two.

Expressive Language:

- Spoken English and/or sign language are used to communicate.

•Will children in a Total Communication program be able to communicate with members of the Deaf culture?

•Can English be represented fully with Total Communication?

•What kind of signing is used with Total Communication?

•Is Signed Exact English better to use than American Sign Language, or vice versa?

•Can a child speak and use American Sign Language simultaneously without one having a negative effect on the other?

•How can a teacher who speaks aloud meet the needs of a child who communicates using American Sign Language?

•Is Signed Exact English easier to learn than American Sign Language?

Making the Decision

Jean Mottley, Maggie Cecchini, Emily Wagner, Morgan Sinclair