Download Communication Methods

Communication
Methods
American Sign Language (ASL)
ASL is used by many deaf in the United States, thus its use
promotes assimilation into the Deaf Community. ASL is a
visual language, and speech-reading or listening skills are
not needed to learn ASL fluently.
• Because of its visual nature, ASL is very graphic, and
understanding of concepts can be promoted more easily. It
has developed over time through usage by deaf individuals
and is a free-flowing, natural language. ASL is a language
complete in itself. It is not usually written or spoken, but
can be translated, just like French or German, to English
and vice versa.
• It does count as a language credit at University level,
because it is a separate language. ASL usually follows the
TIME + TOPIC + COMMENT structure.
Pidgin Signed English (PSE)/ Signed English
• PSE is probably the most widely used communication
mode in the United States among deaf and hearing
persons who work with them.
• The vocabulary is drawn from ASL but follows English
word order. Words that do not carry information (e.g.
to, the, am, etc.) are often dropped, as are the word
endings of English (e.g. -ed, -s, -ment, etc.).
• This means that the signer can easily speak while
signing, since it is possible to keep pace with spoken
English. It is simpler to learn than ASL or SEE, since one
does not need to include all English endings, nor does
one to master the structure or idioms of ASL.
• (Many ASL Students sign this way)
Signing Exact English (SEE II)
• SEE is based upon signs drawn from ASL and expanded with words,
prefixes, tenses, and endings to give a clear and complete visual
presentation of English.
• The ASL sign for the concept of “pretty, lovely, beauty, beautiful”
and other such synonyms is retained for beauty, initialized with P
for pretty, L for lovely, and the suffix -ful is added for beautiful. The
child thus has an opportunity to develop an expanded vocabulary.
• SEE encourages the incorporation of ASL features to show
intonation visually. SEE does require more signing time that PSE,
because of the word endings and prefixes, etc. Over-concentration
on signing every word may lead to “colorless” signing.
Seeing Essential English (SEE I)
• Developed in the US in 1966 by a deaf teacher named
David Anthony, seeing essential English (SEE I) was
intended to teach proper grammatical construction by
using gestures borrowed from ASL but it implements
English word order
• In SEE1, all compound words are formed as separate signs
- instead of using the ASL sign for butterfly, SEE1 places
the signs for butter and fly in sequential order. Many
gestures from ASL are initialized in SEE1 – the ASL sign for
“have” is signed with the H handshape in SEE1.
• Grammatical markers also have signs of their own,
including the -ing ending and articles such as the, which are
not typically included in ASL.
Sign supported speech, or
simultaneous communication
• Sign supported speech (SSS) involves voicing
everything as in spoken English, while simultaneously
signing a form of PSE.
• The vocabulary, syntax and pragmatics of English are
used, with the PSE serving as a support for the
reception of speech. Signs are borrowed from the local
deaf sign language and/or are artificial signs invented
by educators of the deaf.
• The terms SSS and SimCom are now often used
synonymously with total communication (TC), though
the original philosophy of TC is quite different.
Cued speech
• Instead, Cued Speech uses eight handshapes - none of
which are derived from sign languages - to represent
consonant phonemes, and four hand placements
around the face to represent vowel phonemes.
• Cued Speech must be combined
with mouthing (associated with the speaking of a
language), as the hand shape, hand placement, and
information on the mouth combine as unique feature
bundles to represent phonemic values.
• Cued Speech has been adapted for languages and
dialects around the world.
Start at 1:50
Rochester method
• The Rochester method involves fingerspelling every word.
It was originated by Zenas Westervelt in 1878, shortly after
he opened the Western New York Institute for Deaf-Mutes
(presently known as the Rochester School for the Deaf).
• Use of the Rochester method continued until
approximately the 1940s, and there are still deaf adults
from the Rochester area who were taught with the
Rochester method.
• It has fallen out of favor because it is a tedious and timeconsuming process to spell everything manually (YES!!)