Signing Exact English

Signing Exact English (SEE) is a system of sign language that strives to be an exact representation of English. It is an artificial system that was devised in 1972. It takes much of its vocabulary of signs from American Sign Language (ASL). However, it often modifies the handshapes used in the ASL signs in order to incorporate the handshape used for the first letter of the English word that the SEE sign is meant to represent. SEE can be thought of as a code for visually representing spoken English. It is used most often with deaf children in educational settings. It often finds use in the home too, however, as it is often welcomed as an alternative to ASL by hearing parents of deaf children because it does not require them to learn a new grammar or syntax. Therefore, it is easy to quickly learn for people who have already internalized English. It is not often used by adult deaf people except to communicate with hearing people who know some sign but who are not fluent users of ASL.

Advantages

• SEE sign shows fully the use of articles and prepositions to deaf children who often have difficulty learning the correct usage of these parts of the English language.
• SEE is easy for parents and teachers of deaf children to master quickly.

Disadvantages

• SEE is much slower than natural speech or ASL unless it abandons its stricture to be faithful to spoken English and becomes more ASL-like.
• SEE has no community of adult users and is not part of a flourishing culture as is the case for both English and ASL
• SEE cannot faithfully show every aspect of spoken English

Educational Controversy

As with almost every aspect of the education of deaf children, the use of SEE is mired in controversy concerning its efficacy and utility. In a way, it is a slight variation of the oralist vs. manualist controversy which has pitted those that have supported the use of sign language against those that believed in lipreading and speech therapy as the best way to educate deaf children. This debate has raged for centuries.

Supporters of ASL or the manualists claim that SEE robs children of belonging to a culture that they can fully participate in, is hard for deaf children to master and does not result in those children being competent with English. Furthermore they claim its use is a disrespectful attempt to change deaf children into hearing ones as much as is possible with great harm to the psyche of the children involved.

Supporters of SEE claim that it helps children to integrate into the wider culture and is an important part of becoming competent with English which is the key to success in the professional world as well as being integral in a person's ability to function in other aspects of the dominant culture which surrounds them.

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