Total Communication

The problem of the communication of the deaf is a fascinating one because both acquisition and use of the language of the hearing environment are extremely difficult for an otherwise normally intelligent group of people. From the beginning, tvo opposing philosophies have markedly influenced the education of deaf children and the consequent behaviour of deaf adults. The first favoured the use of the communicative means with which the deaf are familiar and at ease, viz. the manual sign, and, furthermore, promoted the development of good reading and writing skills in the language of the country. The second was opposed to all manual signing and favoured concentration on speech and lipreading. The first philosophy has since accepted the incorporation of speech and speechreading for those who can master these skills; the second one has not changed its stand-point. After a few decades of growing approval, the second philosophy nowadays meets with growing criticism, especially from newly developed disciplines like developmental psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. The first philosophy presents itself as the better approach under the new term 'total communication'. The paper gives a short evaluation of what this total communication implies.