Total Communication is an educational philosophy, not a single defined method. The term refers to using a combination of approaches to communicate with a Deaf child: signing, speech, lipreading, fingerspelling, amplification, and written language. The idea behind it is to use whatever works.

In practice, most programs using the Total Communication label use some form of signed English alongside spoken English, often at the same time. This is called simultaneous communication, or SimCom.

In a Total Communication classroom, the teacher typically speaks and signs simultaneously. The signing system is usually a form of Manually Coded English, such as Signed Exact English (SEE), rather than ASL, because the goal is to represent English words in signed form. Students may also use hearing devices.

What Total Communication looks like in practice varies considerably from school to school. The label is applied to programs with very different levels of actual signing, from robust to minimal. The term alone does not tell you how much signing your child is actually receiving or at what quality.

Schools running TC programs need staff trained in the signing system being used and willing to use it consistently across classrooms and grade levels. Consistency is where TC programs most often fall short. A program that signs heavily in early grades but pulls back as students advance gives children an inconsistent language foundation.

Families may find TC an accessible entry point if they are not yet proficient signers, since spoken English is familiar. Whether that spoken-plus-signed model actually provides your child with full language access depends entirely on the quality and completeness of the signing.

Research on simultaneous communication (speaking and signing at the same time) has raised a consistent concern: producing both at once is difficult, and the signing typically suffers. When a teacher or interpreter signs while speaking English, the signed output tends to be incomplete: dropped grammatical markers, reduced complexity, gaps. A classroom study of simultaneous communication found that English grammar was often poorly represented in the signed channel when speaking and signing at the same time (Marmor and Petitto, 1979, Sign Language Studies, 23, 99–136).

A child in a SimCom-heavy Total Communication program may not receive complete English through hearing (depending on their hearing loss) and may not receive complete signed language either. The result can be incomplete access to both.

Total Communication as a philosophy is not the same as a well-implemented bilingual program. The two are sometimes confused, but they produce different language environments for children.

Strength of evidence: mixed. Total Communication has a long history in Deaf education. Research on simultaneous communication quality raises genuine questions about how consistently full language access is delivered in TC settings.

“Isn’t using everything the safest choice? Why not use every tool available?”

Using multiple modalities makes sense as a goal. The concern is with how they are implemented together. Signing and speaking at the same time is difficult to do completely and consistently. If the signing in your child’s program is incomplete, if grammatical information is regularly missing from what they see, they may not be receiving full access from either channel. More is only more if the quality is there. Ask about the quality of signing, not just whether it is present.

A school that calls itself Total Communication but where signing is minimal or inconsistently used in practice. Ask to observe a class.

Staff who are not fluent in the signing system they use. Ask specifically: at what level are your teachers assessed for signing proficiency?

No formal assessment of how much signed language your child is actually receiving and understanding. Language testing should cover both modalities.

Signing that fades in higher grades because fewer staff have the training. Ask whether the program supports signing through middle and high school.

Ask schools: How fluent are your teachers in the signing system you use? How do you assess students’ language development in both spoken and signed modalities? What does signing look like in a full school day?

• Communication approaches: overview
• ASL / English bimodal bilingual
• Manually Coded English / SEE
• Monitoring language and academic progress
• Language testing: what it covers and why it matters

This page provides general information, not legal or medical advice. Verify your state’s specific rules and programs, and consult a qualified professional for guidance specific to your child.