Communication methods
Deaf children often use a combination of communication approaches depending on the level of hearing that they have, the situation they are in and the skills of the person they are communicating with.
Various communication options include -:
Auditory – oral approaches
Auditory-oral approaches aim to develop speaking and listening skills in deaf children. They emphasise the use of hearing aids, radio aids and cochlear implants to make the best use of any hearing a deaf child has (their ‘residual hearing’). Most auditory-oral approaches will also use lipreading to help the child’s understanding. Auditory-oral approaches do not use sign language or fingerspelling to support the understanding of spoken language.
Lipreading
Lipreading is the ability to read words from the lip patterns of the person speaking. Deaf children will naturally try to lipread when they are communicating.
It is difficult to measure how much of a conversation a deaf person understands just by relying on lipreading, as lip patterns vary from person to person. It is estimated that about 30% to 40% of speech sounds can be lipread under the best conditions. There are many things that can make lipreading difficult, for example -:
- Beards and moustaches
- Talking while eating
- Covering your mouth while talking
- Poor lighting
When children are still building up an understanding of the language they may find it difficult to lipread words they are not familiar with. It also relies on a speaker having a clear lip pattern. An adult, who has a good understanding of the language being spoken, may understand more.
Lipreading can be used with other communication approaches such as fingerspelling and gestures. A child will also watch the facial expression and body language of the speaker to get more clues. The combination of these things makes it possible to understand most of the conversation.
Sign bilingualism
Sign bilingualism uses sign language as the child’s first language. The spoken language of the family is learned as a second language. This can be taught through speech, writing or a sign-support system. The aim of using sign bilingualism is to allow the child to communicate in a way that doesn't depend on their hearing. British Sign Language (BSL) is a visual language that uses handshapes, facial expressions, gestures and body language to communicate. It has a structure and grammar different from that of written and spoken English. Because BSL is a totally visual language, being deaf does not affect a child's ability to learn the language. When a child has become confident in BSL, they can use this as a way to learn English. BSL will also give them access to other deaf people in the community.
It is estimated that over 70,000 people use BSL as their first or preferred language. In March 2003, the Government officially recognised BSL as a language.
Fingerspelling
Fingerspelling supports sign language. It uses the hands to spell out English words. Each letter of the alphabet is indicated by using the fingers and palm of the hand. It is used for spelling names, places and for words that don't have an established BSL sign. For more details see Fingerspelling.
Sign Supported English
Sign Supported English (SSE) uses signs taken from British Sign Language. Signs are used in the same order as English words, but not every word that is spoken would be signed. Many hearing parents find this an easier way to become familiar with sign language as it means that they can use signs with their own language. As it uses the same signs as BSL, it can be helpful if the child wants to develop BSL skills at a later stage. SSE is not a language in its own right. For more details see Sign Supported English.
Signed English
Signed English (SE) uses signs to represent English exactly by using a sign for every spoken word. It uses BSL signs, fingerspelling, and specifically developed signs to represent important grammatical information.
Signed English is not a language like BSL, but it has been designed as a teaching tool to be used at the same time as spoken English. Its aim is to develop reading and writing skills.
Cued Speech
Cued Speech is a simple sound-based system that uses eight hand shapes in four different positions (cues), together with natural mouth movement of speech. Some words which sound different to hearing people can look very similar when they are lipread by deaf people (for example, 'pat' and 'bat'). Cued Speech is visual and the cues are placed near the mouth. This helps to make every sound and word clear to a deaf child. It can be used together with sign language or to complement speech.
Total communication
Total communication is based on using a combination of methods at the same time to communicate with a deaf child. The idea is to communicate and teach vocabulary and language in any way that works.
The child and their family are encouraged to use -:
- A sign language system based on the English language, such as Sign Supported English (SSE); fingerspelling
- Natural gestures
- Lipreading
- Body language
- Speech and
- Hearing aids, cochlear implants and radio aids
Communication methods for deaf children with extra needs
Children who have another physical or learning disability may have difficulty using some of the methods detailed above. The methods listed below are commonly used with children with extra needs.
Signalong
Signalong is a form of Sign Supported English. It is a relatively new signing system devised by professionals for children (and adults) who have language difficulties associated with learning disabilities and autism.
The signs are mostly based on BSL and are used in the same order as spoken English. It can be used with other languages too. Signalong is intended to support speech and is sometimes used with deaf children who have not developed speech but use some gestures. For more details see Signalong
Makaton
Makaton is a language programme that uses signs from British Sign Language together with unique Makaton symbols to provide basic communication to develop language and teach literacy skills. Grammatical signs are taken from signed English. Makaton is not a language but was designed as a tool for teaching children with severe communication and learning disabilities.
Makaton is made up of a main vocabulary of 450 concepts. It also has a larger resource vocabulary of approximately 7,000 concepts (for example for animals, food, growth and development and many others). Concepts are visual images that are illustrated with signs and symbols. For more details see Makaton.
Deafblind children
There are different communication approaches that a deafblind child may learn. These include British Sign Language (if a child has Usher's syndrome, for example, they might use visual frame BSL signing or hands on BSL signing to understand what someone is saying to them). They may also use Makaton, Signed English, Sign Supported English or one of the auditory-oral approaches. Deafblind children may also use the manual alphabet or a symbol system.
There are also written communication methods such as Braille or Moon, which use raised dots to indicate letters.
