The Total Communication Rating Scale is a 5-point, 10-item evaluation instrument designed to assess the total communication skills of students in training as they interact with deaf persons. The necessity for, a description of, and recommended uses for the rating scale are discussed. (Author/CL)

Modeling can help hearing impaired students acquire facility in English. To be effective, the modeling should involve total communication (including the voice), use correct English consistently, and increase the amount of fingerspelling used. (CL)

Sixteen deaf persons using total communication or sign language and 10 deaf persons using oral communication were administered the Test of Communication Skills (which measures information context and message class) in their preferred modality. Results showed that total communication was a more effective communication method under the testing…

This study investigated the perception of voice onset time (VOT) in speech produced during simultaneous communication (SC). Four normally hearing, experienced sign language users were recorded under SC and speech alone (SA) conditions speaking stimulus words with voiced and voiceless initial consonants embedded in a sentence. Twelve…

Two methods (signs presented with or without accompanying verbal label) of training autistic children to use manual signs were compared. The efficacy of training in both treatment conditions was demonstrated but no clear differences in acquisition speed across conditions were apparent. (Author/CL)

Among parents of 48 children previously enrolled in oral/aural programs there was a significant correlation between overall perception of benefits of total communication (TC) and perception of children's educational and emotional growth. Most parents did not feel TC adversely affected speechreading, speech production, or hearing aid use. (CL)

Two studies investigated the effects of administration modifications on subtest scaled scores of the Wechsler-Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). Performance scale rated different groups of 57 severely/profoundly hearing-impaired children. Total communication was found to result in higher scores on all subtests in the genetic and…

The paper offers a model for providing comprehensive speech services within a total communication program for deaf students so that this type of educational approach will be more than manual education with adjunct speech services. Contributions of each member of an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, speech team are described. (Author)

The author cites research that casts doubt upon the use of total communication as a means of facilitating speech, communication between parent and child, academic achievement, and vocabulary development in hearing-impaired children. He states that the Alexander Graham Bell Association is not antimanual communication, but rather prospeech. (CL)

The case of a deaf preschool child whose parents and teacher cooperated in a Total Communication and Signed English approach is cited. A record of the child's utterances is presented to illustrate growth in language to a level near that of a hearing child. (CL)

A 10-year evaluation of effects of introducing total communication into a previously oral/aural school focused on student achievement levels and communication skills. Staff perceptions and test results have indicated important changes in both aspects, some of which may be attributable to direct intervention, legislative aspects, and greater…

Findings of a study involving two groups of teachers of the deaf (those who used oral language only and those who used total communication) revealed no differences in teachers' use of nonliteral language. Reduced use of idiomatic language occurred in both oral and sign communication, only when total communication was used. (CL)

The article reviews a study of interactions among deaf children, their parents and teachers which points out the need for developing early and ongoing contact with the deaf community. It is stressed that English and American Sign Language be given equal status in the classroom. (CL)

Curricular plans for deaf students include the study of English but not of American Sign Language (ASL). This omission suggests a lack of recognition of ASL as a language and as the communication system of deaf people. Every program for the deaf students should include ASL in its requirements. (Author/CL)

Comparison of the relative effectiveness of oral and total communication training models for teaching expressive labeling skills to three echolalic autistic children (six-nine years old) demonstrated that total communication was the most successful approach with each of the Ss. (Author/CL)