It is argued that Oralism and Total Communication underestimate the profound nature of deafness and the potential value of fundamental research. The evolution of these philosophies is described, and changes in philosophy are discussed. (Author)

A variation on microteaching, the use of videotaped feedback during training, is suggested as an efficient and effective way for improving teachers' communication ability with hearing impaired students. Manually encoding English within a system of simultaneous communication has improved the climate for communication in classrooms for…

The concept of total communication is being increasingly incorporated into educational programs for the deaf. Because American Sign Language plays a basic role in the deaf community, it must also be a critical part of education for deaf children. (Author/CL)

The Total Communication Choir of the Saginaw, Michigan, public schools integrates deaf and hearing elementary and junior high students in music performance. All students both sign and sing. Methods used to instruct the choir are described. (SJL)

The paper examines the needs, presention procedures, professional role, and positive results of a comprehensive parent education program as a component of a total communication early intervention project for hearing parents of deaf infants. (Author)

The authors address several issues pertinent to designing environmentally based total communication assessment and training programs for language delayed hearing children for whom oral language training alone is inadequate. (Author/CL)

This study investigated effects of: (1) task-oriented communication and non-task-oriented communication on group outcome; and (2) visual impairment on intragroup and intergroup communication in competitive situations. The results showed that amounts of task-oriented interaction was significant in determining goal accomplishment, while…

The study analyzed the dyadic conversational speech of two hearing-impaired twin boys trained in simultaneous communication. Results indicated the adolescents used an integrated bimodal form of English with a grammatical base that did not vary as a function of the presence or absence of simultaneous signs. (Author/DB)

Seventy-six children with cochlear implants completed a nonword repetition task. The children were presented with 20 nonword auditory patterns over a loudspeaker and were asked to repeat them aloud to the experimenter. The children's responses were recorded on digital audiotape and then played back to normal-hearing adult listeners to obtain…

In a study involving 20 Down's Syndrome children and 4 normal but language delayed preschoolers, standardized change score analyses revealed that the total communication group scored significantly higher on the Expressive scale and in the number of acquired signs. (Author/CL)

Discusses the data from an analysis of Simulataneous Communication, a basically bimodal English with full English being presented in the speech channel and a systematically abbreviated form of English presented in the sign channel. Data suggest that the notion of a bilingual continuum needs to be reconsidered. (SED)

The gap between oral and manual production of the 159 profoundly deaf children in total communication programs indicated that spoken English did not develop simultaneously with manually coded English and that Ss educated in programs using manually coded English did not develop competence with early developing English syntax faster than those not…

Fourteen deaf elementary children (eight from total communication and six from oral classes) and seven non-hearing-impaired peers were given tasks designed to elicit spontaneous language. Results favored hearing children on all measures. When comparing the two deaf groups, few differences emerged in measures of verbal output and communicativeness.…

Two elementary hearing impaired students showed their ability to demonstrate which of several languages and/or systems was the most beneficial to them as an instructional communication tool. Findings had implications for teachers wishing to match language of instruction to the child's language preferences. (Author/CL)

The problems and satisfactions of teaching deaf children are discussed in this interview with a teacher of the deaf. Uses of Ameslon and signed English, talking, and valuable teaching approaches are offered. (JD)