Total Communication: Structure and Strategy

8. IMPLEMENTATION

==============8=============== IMPLEMENTATION Evidence has been reviewed to suggest that, for people with severe deafness which precludes understanding speech through hearing alone, the optimal combination of media for communicating language will be drawn, according to individual needs and changing situations, from amplified hearing with lipreading, fingerspelling, signing, and written Englishj sign languagej and Sign-English or a form of signed English. This has been described as the structure of total communication. It was also argued that before a child can use these media for communicating language, it is necessary to first acquire competence in the different media. The theoretical model of the optimal sequencing for development of these linguistic media was thought of as the strategy of total communication . The implementation of theory in practice is now considered. The ideas of the previous chapter will be summarized in a form of action for teaching methodology, and then the practical implications will be discussed. TEACHING METHODOLOGY The recommendations that emerge from the interpretation of research findings, linked with observations in schools, can be summarized as follows : 1. There should be earliest possible exposure to signing to assist in the acquisition of internal language competence and to promote cognitive development. The phase of natural gesture should be reinforced with a basic sign lexicon which emphasizes enactive type gestures and iconic signs. This phase should be extended into fuller use of symbolic signs and spatial syntax, as a foundation for sign language development. Concurrently, there should be exposure to speech by support of residual hearing and through visual re- Implementation 111 ception, both as a positive prerequisite to future simultaneous communication and as an option in the event that the child proves to have adequate aptitude for good oral communication. Early preparation for speech articulation might draw upon knowledge of signing as a medium for instruction in speech training. 2. A transfer of emphasis toward the target language of English would involve the use of signs to represent English words. This process might be promoted through close interaction of signs for content words and fingerspelled "signs" for an initial vocabulary of function words prior to a more complete system of Sign-English. Observations in schools suggested that this stage can be reached by the age of three years. 3. A fuller use of fingerspelling should facilitate the transfer to more complete representation of English syntax. This should proceed in close conjunction with the learning of reading and writing. From knowledge of written language and fingerspelling there should be feedback, through the process of initialization, to closer lexical representation of English in signing. 4. Increased competence in English should establish a more viable base for lipreading through the use of contextual cues. In total communication philosophy, there is a sensitive appreciation of individual needs, a concern to offer the most appropriate medium, or media, according to different aptitudes and abilities. The preceding scheme is, therefore, a broad description of a flexible developmental sequence rather than a rigid prescription as to exactly how it should be used with all children. But children with profound hearing loss from birth who need to progress along such a path will encounter a range of language forms more complex than in normal development by hearing children: natural gesture, with the possible development of fluency in sign language; a form of manual English, or Sign-English, using 112 Total Communication signing and fingerspelling; and English, through simultaneous communication in speech and lipreading, fingerspelling and signing, or through reading and writing, or through a signed English system. When we consider the implementation of total communication, we need to take account of the ideas on the optimal combination of language forms and the optimal sequence for their development-the structure and strategy of total communication. This is represented in Figure 28. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS The extent to which this approach might be successfully applied, for individual children or in different schools and for subsequent social and educational use, will be determined largely by practical constraints. To put our theoretical ideas into practical perspective , we must consider the crucial problems which Residual Hearing -/ Speech Lipreading .II / I SPOKEN ENGLISH Reading and Writing WRITTEN ENGLISH / Fingerspelling /' SIGN-ENGLISH Signing /' Gesture SIGN LANGUAGE ~ >t: ::J E-< U ~ E-< ~--------------------------------------------~ ~ STRATEGy----------------------------------__ Figure 28. Total communication: Structure and strategy Implementation 113 arise, together with their implications for parents, teachers, administrators, and deaf people. Additionally Handicapped Children The basic discussion of language development has been centered upon severely deaf children with no signficant additional handicaps . But Freeman (1981) has reported that studies indicate between 20 and 40 percent of hearing-impaired children have additional disabilities. In particular, about one-third of children born with deafness due to maternal rubella have concomitant visual problems, and one survey showed a third of all deaf children have significant impairment of vision (Pollard and Neumaier, 1974). Additional handicaps, whether physical, sensory, or intellectual, can adversely affect the communication process. For instance, motor impairment due to cerebral palsy might hinder the production of signs, and particularly the finer movements of fingerspelling . Severe visual impairment might preclude any useful understanding of speech through lipreading and make reception of fingerspelling and signing difficult. Such conditions , being of their very nature complex, do not allow simple generalizations, other than to recognize that the selection and emphasis of different media will depend on individual response. With some conditions, modification or substitution of the communication techniques will be indicated. This might be the case, for example, with Usher's Syndrome, congenital deafness accompanied by progressive impairment of vision. Hicks and Hicks (1981) have set out some practical suggestions for such children and young people in the total communication context. For those students who still have good central acuity but a greatly restricted visual field, it may be necessary to substantially modify normal sign language procedures. Keeping in mind the three major components of sign languagepoint of location, movement, and configuration-it may be necessary to reduce the magnitude of the movements, increase the duration of each sign, and make each signed con- 114 Total Communication figuration clearer and more concise. As the field of vision becomes more restricted and as central vision deteriorates, other communication methods will have to be considerea (e.g.i ... touch method-alphabet in palm of hand, ... brai Ie, manipulative alphabet) (p. 428). An interesting technique has been used with a group of deaf children who are also autistic at St. Mary's School for the Deaf, Buffalo, New York (Young, Note 15). These children appear to perceive signs with understanding but have difficulty in producing signs themselves (a situation somewhat comparable to hearing autistic children who cannot express themselves in speech). It has been observed that the children gain satisfaction when the teachers manipulate the signs, molding the child's hands into the shapes and movements or actually making signs on the child's body (for example, the sign for PEACH made on the child's face). This seems to simulate for them the expressive activity of signing, perhaps enabling the child to experience the effect of "internalizing" the signs. From these observations we might infer that these children are able to encode concepts as signs, the locus of the difficulty being at the expressive level. In the total communication approach, there is the possibility of finding the media or modifications that best correspond to the individual child's residual strengths. Observations in schools certainly confirm that total communication is relevent to the needs of additionally handicapped children . It is significant that in the experimental study of combined oral and manual communication reported by Brill and Fahey (1971), most of the preschool children in the program were deaf from maternal rubella. The experience of a British study is also noteworthy. When onehanded fingerspelling was introduced into a school curriculum , it was decided at the initial stage to exclude two classes of children with severe additional handicaps. However , although they were not taught formally in the class- Implementation 115 room, "it was observed that the children were soon using fingerspelling proficiently to communicate with other pupils out of the classroom" (Savage et al., 1981, p. 168). Higher Education The need for total communication is likely to increase, rather than diminish, at the stage of higher and further education. Deaf students who have maintained progress at school because of combined teaching methods will probably continue to need access to both oral and manual media of instruction at college or university . It is also possible that of those deaf students who have made good progress through oral means because of the teaching, resources, and curriculum of a special school, some might choose the additional support of simultaneous communication in the more open environment at higher education level. The United States is well endowed with postsecondary programs for deaf students. By 1980, there were two federally established national programs, Gallaudet College and National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technologyj four federally established regional programSj and at least a further thirty-five postsecondary programs, as well as four graduate programs for deaf students (Rawlings, Trybus, and Biser, 1981). In general, these colleges or programs provide special services which include instruction through both oral and manual communication, either by direct use of simultaneous communication by the teachers or through interpreters. Special services have been developed in other countries. There are five programs in Canadian colleges. In Britain, support services have been set up in a number of colleges of further education and at the University of Durham. In Denmark , there is the National School for Continuing Education . In terms of total communication support, the essential requirements for developing programs include special classes (with direct teaching through simultaneous communication ), interpreting services, and training in manual 116 Total Communication communication for the staff (and also for those deaf students who come from oral schools). Parents It is one thing to advocate very early exposure to signing; it is quite another proposition to expect all parents of young deaf children to sign fluently. There are studies which suggest linguistic benefits for deaf children brought up by deaf parents using sign language. But such children are a minority. In the United States approximately 90 percent of hearing-impaired children are born to parents whose native competence is in spoken language (Rawlings, 1973). Knight (1979) has pointed out that for sign language to assume anything approaching the level of native competence in the home environment, "the parents and other family members would not only have to learn a new language , but do so in an extremely short period of time.... It is doubtful whether this would ever occur to any significant degree" (p. 10). He considered, however, that it is not so much just formal sign language that must be used, but a language form that allows adequate communication between parent and child. Freeman et al. (1981) also recognized that parents cannot usually learn formal sign language quickly enough to use with their own child at the crucial stage. For this reason, they accept that a form of signing approximating English is more likely to be mastered. But even the learning of a signed English system presents difficulties. Bornstein (1979) stressed that "a sign system must be learned by members of the family during the very time it is used with a child in the home" (p. 156), but that this is no easy task. He pointed out that learning Signed English, the simplest of the contrived systems, requires an immense investment of time and energy by a family. He recorded that in the parent guidance program of one school using total communication , after six months of weekly home visits, about 50 percent of mothers could use simple sentences in signed English and another 40 percent could sign words, but only about half of the fathers could sign. Implementation 117 At the earliest stage, full competence in signing might not be essential. At the outset, the child's exposure might be to a small lexicon of signs that come from sign language. If there is close coordination between work at school and guidance to parents, it could well be possible for parents to keep reasonably abreast of this developing lexicon and the early syntactic processes. The experimental work described by Brill and Fahey (1971) at the California School for the Deaf followed such , an approach. The mothers of preschool children exposed to signing with speech and fingerspelling were asked to attend one class session weekly with their children. The mothers were introduced to the new signs learned by their children, so that they could use the signs in the weekly class session at school. As the children were learning between ten and twenty new signs weekly, it was a reasonable expectation that parents might keep up with the expanding lexicon. Teachers When hearing parents have a deaf child, usually they have no previous knowledge of manual communication . Teachers of deaf children, on the other hand, might be expected to come to their work already proficient in signing and fingerspelling. It is especially crucial that teachers of young deaf children, who need to be conversant with both sign language and Sign-English or signed English systems, should be thoroughly prepared. This calls for adequate training in manual communication, both theoretical understanding and practical instruction, as part of the professional education of teachers of deaf children. In some countries where total communication has been introduced into schools, some study of communication has been included in teacher training courses, but full practical instruction in manual communication skills might be missing. A very real problem is the way in which courses have been organized. In Britain, for instance, the traditional pattern has been for students to complete an undergraduate degree course in an academic subject, followed by a postgraduate course in education. Then, usually after a period 118 Total Communication of teaching in ordinary schools, the students enter a further specialized one-year course in education of deaf children. Such short courses do not allow an adequate span of time for acquiring competence-especially receptive skills-in manual communication, particularly for the more mature students. A case could be made for an integrated scheme in which undergraduate academic study would be followed by postgraduate professional training, but with instruction in manual communication offered concurrently throughout the whole period of study. Changes in teacher training courses could influence the long-term development of communication skills of teachers , but in some countries the more immediate concern is for in-service training of teachers already in the schools. Fortunately, there is documentation of some experiences of schools which have undertaken such in-service training (Savage et al., 1981, pp. 158-166). In 1971, the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf at Philadelphia carried out a special program for the training of teaching and residential staff in close collaboration with Gallaudet College. Successive groups of staff from different departments of the school spent periods of intensive study at Washington, D.C., with follow-up instruction at the school. Within a year, the staff as a whole had gained reasonable working competence in manual communication skills. At about the same time, the Carver School in Maryland had made a similar change, from oral teaching to total communication, and the staff underwent a training program. Within a year, the staff and children had become proficient in signing and fingerspelling . These schools had, of course, the benefit of the wide knowledge and provision for manual communication training which has developed on an extensive scale within the United States. Such resources are not so widely available everywhere. A British school, changing from the mainly oral to combined teaching approach, found it necessary to send staff to the United States to gain working insight into Implementation 119 manual communication training prior to setting up an intensive scheme. Fortunately, there has been much positive action toward provision of communication skills training for the general public which should be of great support for teachers and parents. In Denmark, the Center for Total Communication at Copenhagen has made a significant contribution to in-service training. Instruction is available in Danish Sign Language and in signed Danish for teachers and parents (Hansen, 1980). The growth of total communication in educational practice will strengthen the position of deaf people in professional roles in the schools. "It propels individuals who are skilled in manual communication into prominence" (Bornstein , 1979, p. 164). Deaf students might come to teacher training already skilled in manual communication, but they also have a special responsibility to the concept of total communication. As hearing teachers need to become proficient in signing, so deaf teachers need to be competent in English. Not only deaf students, but also younger hearing students with aptitude for language learning, will have a special contribution to make. Bornstein pointed out the very real problem that conversely, older individuals and persons skilled with other techniques are apt to become uncertain . .. and acutely aware of their own limitations in manual communication. Needless to say, middle-age ... administrators will find it difficult to become truly fluent signers. Hence they are not likely to be as effective in monitoring this kind of change as they might be with more conventional techniques (p. 164). Professional Cooperation The challenge is to ensure that change is effected through existing as well as developing expertise. Plans might be developed for a situation in which oral and manual communication skills are the conventional techniques of all teachers of all children, but the 120 Total Communication realization of this aim will require the support of education administrators with differing backgrounds. Such is the complexity of the whole problem of language development in deaf children, that its understanding draws upon various disciplines-audiology, speech science, psychology, linguistics -in addition to education. Progress for the deaf child will require cooperation between different professionals -some competent in theory, others proficient in practice; some deaf, others hearing; some skilled in manual communication, others not. The advance of total communication , as a liberal philosophy, will best be implemented through such an eclectic approach. ...