Simultaneous Communication: Are Teachers Attempting An Impossible Task?

This paper reports on the analysis of narrative samples of simultaneous communication (SC) from three elementary school teachers of the deaf. Patterns of deletion in the signed component were found consistent with earlier studies of teachers at other grade levels. Further analysis of other deviations revealed five distinct strategies which the teachers employed in an attempt to cope with the difficult task of communicating in two channels at once. It was concluded that the model of English presented by teachers using SC is neither consistent nor complete enough to permit a young learner to acquire the rules of the language successfully. Alternative means of providing manual input in the classroom are suggested.