Key word signing is a technique of

simultaneous communication Simultaneous communication, SimCom, or sign supported speech (SSS) is a technique sometimes used by deaf, hard-of-hearing or hearing sign language users in which both a spoken language and a manual variant of that language (such as English and m ...

whereby the communication partner of the user will use both natural

speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...

and also produce

signs Signs may refer to: * ''Signs'' (2002 film), a 2002 film by M. Night Shyamalan * ''Signs'' (TV series) (Polish: ''Znaki'') is a 2018 Polish-language television series * ''Signs'' (journal), a journal of women's studies *Signs (band), an American ...

for the words that carry the most important information.Windsor, J., & Fristoe, M. (1991). Key word signing: Perceived and acoustic differences between signed and spoken narratives. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research, 34(2), 260-268. Key word signing puts emphasis on the pertinent words in a sentence or a phrase, rather than signing every word like you would for

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

(ASL). For example, if someone said, "Go wash your hands" the key words that would be signed would be "wash" and "hand". Key word signing is a form of

augmentative and alternative communication Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) encompasses the communication methods used to supplement or replace speech or writing for those with impairments in the production or comprehension of spoken or written language. AAC is used by t ...

(AAC) that uses manual signing as an additional mode of communication with the intention of strengthening the message.. Loncke, Filip T., Campbell, Jamie, England, Amanda M. and Haley, Tanya (2006) 'Multimodality: a basis for augmentative and alternative communication-psycholinguistic, cognitive, and clinical/educational aspects', Disability & Rehabilitation, 28:3, 169 - 174 Research suggests that

lexical Lexical may refer to: Linguistics * Lexical corpus or lexis, a complete set of all words in a language * Lexical item, a basic unit of lexicographical classification * Lexicon, the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge * Lexica ...

representations of words, including manual signing, as well as speech and graphic symbols, can be used to reinforce other lexical representations..Millar, Light, and Schlosser (2006) ‘The impact of augmentative and alternative communication intervention on the speech production of individuals with developmental disabilities: a research review’, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 49, 248-264. This indicates that the use of AAC, including manual signing and key word signing, can be beneficial for speech and language interventions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Key word signing Augmentative and alternative communication