Hey, signers! Have you come across YouTube shorts
or TikTok stories of people signing while they're talking?
Well, if you have, then you have seen what is called
simultaneous communication, SimCom.
In today's video, we are going to talk about the pros and cons of this technique.
So let's learn about SimCom.
Okay. Let's jump right into it.
First, let's talk about the cons of SimCom
As many of you already know, American Sign Language is a language.
But simultaneous communication is not a language.
It's just a method, by signing and talking at the same time,
it breaks away from the ASL grammar, causing it to not follow the language rules.
The signer can drop non manual signals, the facial expression
and the body language that are important to signs, causing the meaning to be lost.
At the same time our English words that we are speaking might become disjointed
because we are focusing on the signs to use to support an English word.
Putting ASL and English together at the same time
can cause both languages to be muddled.
Signs will be dropped because it's just the nature of signing while talking.
Many think there is a word for word comparison
between English and ASL, but that's not the case.
If you are SimCom’ing there might be an English word
that needs an ASL signed concept and vice versa.
Because you are staying so close to the message,
there can be more errors that occur in the signs themselves
or a concept that needs more explanation.
There is a big misconception that all deaf can lip read and SimCom.
This is not true.
Only about 30% of the English language can be lip read.
It is important to note that SimCom'ing may seem beneficial for all deaf,
but in reality it should only be used with those who request it.
Here are some reasons why SimCom is beneficial.
Remember how I just said that there might be a group of people
who request SimCom?
Or who might those people be? Well,
not all Deaf people are deaf or completely fluent in ASL.
Some are hard of hearing.
Grew up learning to read lips, which is called Oralism or laten deaf.
Because of this SimCom could be beneficial.
Think of having support by both signs
and mouthing the words and the sounds of the words themselves.
For those who need that support, this can be beneficial.
For instance, I interpret at church
for a gentleman who grew up using the oral method.
So when I'm signing at church for him,
I sign an English word order
with mouthing the words because it matches his needs.
Our church produced a testimony video about his story.
If you'd like to check it out, we've left a link in the description.
What about teaching, reading and writing skills?
Whenever I was in my Masters in Deaf Education
program, we talked about Total Communication.
When teaching deaf students to read and write Total Communication consists
of signs, fingerspelling, body language,
listening, lip reading and speech
in addition to referencing in printed form when needed.
Typically, students who use this method have hearing aids,
assistive listening devices, or cochlear implants.
Total Communication uses ASL signs while also using English signs
like 'is'. The concept of using a total communication.
Gives all aspects of communication
to teach English reading and writing skills.
As with any method of teaching, this is dependent on the student's needs
and how they respond to this teaching style.
And last, as many of you have seen on social media,
there are those who use SimCom in their videos and stories.
This allows both the hearing and the deaf to enjoy the video.
As I noted before, this is not ASL, but what it does
do is it lets you pick up on new signs
and it allows the deaf person to enjoy content in their language.
Although this is not the best method to learn ASL structure,
it is a great way to learn new signs.
I even use SimCom within our intensives and within our program.
I do this because we have deaf and hard of hearing people within our class
as well as a deaf teacher in our intensives.
We hope this gives you a better understanding of when and how
SimCom is used.
As you have heard us say before, sign language is for everyone.
Whether you are learning here on our channel through other creators,
social media, or in class, any way to learn ASL is a great way to learn.
And until next time, keep learning how to sign 🤟