A review of problems with using such manual communication systems as cued speech, fingerspelling, Signed or Manual English, American Sign Language, and Pidgin Sign provides a rationale for using a combination of American Sign Language and Pidgin Sign and a few markers from Signed English for a Total Communication system. (CB)

This document is designed to provide educators with an objective synthesis of the current research on language development in children who are deaf. The materials reviewed were primarily peer-reviewed articles published in the last 10 years. Only references that focus primarily on deafness were included; however, some studies also involved…