When hearing speakers address a mixed audience of hearing and deaf participants,[1] they have a choice of three methods by which to convey the information in their presentation. They may choose to use English and provide an English-to-ASL interpreter, use ASL and provide an ASL-to-English interpreter, or use simultaneous communication (SimCom).…

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 examines the receptive skills of severely deaf subjects employing either oral or total modes of communication in the comprehension of a wide range of syntactical and semantic structures. For almost all types of structures investigated, the total system was found to be the more effective method of communication. (Author/SJL)

The study of effects of mode (manual only, manual plus oral, and manual plus oral plus aural) and language (Signed English or American Sign Language) on the comprehension of deaf students (mean age 16 years) found no significant treatment effect for mode of presentation; there was an interaction between languages and mode. (Author/DB)

Three Spanish deaf preschoolers were taught receptive vocabulary in oral English, English sign-mix, oral Spanish, Spanish sign-mix, and sign alone. Subject one learned best using sign alone. Subject two performed best using oral Spanish or sign alone. Subject three seemed to profit from sign, Spanish sign-mix, or oral English. (Author/SW)

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)

Speech, speechreading, and manual reception skills of 78 deaf students were evaluated over a 2-year interval of residency at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) in order to determine the relative stability of these skills within an integrated environment which stresses the use of amplification and oral-aural instruction. (Author)

Deaf children (N=52) were administered a videotaped presentation of a vocabulary test under one of five conditions: Total Communication (TC) with audio; TC without audio; Manual Communication (MC) with no mouth movement; Oral Communication (OC) with audio; and OC without audio. Modes using MC or TC yielded performances significantly superior to OC…

A study investigated whether differences in working memory could account for variance in word recognition and receptive vocabulary skills of children (ages 5-16) using oral communication (n=32) and total communication (n=29). A contribution from working memory was observed only for the span tasks that incorporated an auditory processing component.…

The comprehension of 30 severely and profoundly deaf students (ages 10 to 17) was evaluated under 11 communication conditions involving individual and combined presentations of lipreading, listening, fingerspelling, and signed English. Severely deaf students scored higher than profoundly deaf students under all but one condition, and all students…

Presented is the third year interim report of a 4-year longitudinal study comparing effectiveness of seven preschool programs which serve approximately 69 deaf children. Schools are seen to emphasize either an oral-aural, Rochester (oral-aural plus fingerspelling), or total communication approach to language development. Reported are the following…

Presented is the fourth year report of a 4-year longitudinal study comparing effectiveness of seven preschool programs for deaf children. Schools are seen to emphasize either an oral-aural, Rochester (Oral-aural plus finger spelling), or total communication method of instruction. Included in the report are a brief review of literature on…