Simultaneous communication

Manual communication has existed as a major philosophy of Deaf education since the founding of the first formal Western school for the deaf in France by Charles-Michel de l'Épée in 1755, but Simultaneous Communication strategies gained mainstream traction in the United States in the 1970s. The history of using some form of sign language in the formal education of Deaf children, known as Manualism, has been a tumultuous one. In 1880, the Conference of Milan issued resolutions against both sign languages overall, and the use of Simultaneous communication. "1. The Convention, considering the incontestable superiority of speech over signs, (1) for restoring deaf-mutes to social life, (2) for giving them greater facility of language, declares that the method of articulation should have the preference over that of signs in the instruction and education of the deaf and dumb. 2. Considering that the simultaneous use of signs and speech has the disadvantage of injuring speech and lip-reading and precision of ideas, the Convention declares that the pure oral method ought to be preferred."The Milan resolutions were widely adopted by Western educational systems, especially in the United States, for much of the subsequent century. Schools for the deaf in the United States fired deaf teachers of the deaf (contributing to the overwhelming majority of hearing teachers of the deaf with significantly limited sign language training or experience) == Studies/research ==

Proposed Advantages According to a study done in 1984, it was found that compared with haphazard instruction involving no language approach whatsoever, Total Communication was proved to be beneficial when combined with the correct approach. One study entitled "Intelligibility of speech produced during simultaneous communication", 12 hearing impaired individuals were asked to audit the audio samples of 4 hearing sign language experts who had produced recordings of a Simultaneous Communication (SC) sample and a Speech Alone (SA) sample. The 12 hearing impaired individuals were asked to then determine which speech produced was clearer. After listening to both audio samples, hearing impaired listeners agreed that both SC and SA were intelligible, which is supported by previous research. Since the intelligibility of the speech was kept on par with English grammar, the study results indicate that SC is a positive tool to use with Deaf and Hard of Hearing children as a language model and for Deaf/Hard of Hearing adults to keep using. Another study showed the difference between a control group, families who participated in an intervention program that offered services such as classes on Total Communication, private teachers for the child and a deaf adult who came to the families house, and another group of families who used TC, but did not have as much intervention as the control group. The results showed that intervention did work, and that it positively correlated with the communication skills show by the control group's children. The children showed advanced cognitive skills, including comprehension and expression, specifically related to time. When working with two separate modes of communication, the one that comes naturally for the user will be the more prominent mode. A study conducted in 1998 showed that signing and speaking at the same time results in a slower approach to instruction than if just one modality was used to express language. == Methods of Total Communication ==

Listed below are the signed communications that are used within SimCom. Since SimCom can use any spoken language, mainly English, combined with any signed mode, all communication listed below are available for use. • American Sign Language • Signing Exact English • Cued speech • Contact sign (Pidgin Sign) • Total Communication • Bimodal bilingualism ==See also==