This book examines critically three broad categories of communication approach which are currently advocated by the different schools of thinking concerned with the socialization and education of deaf children. These are: the "auditory-oral", the "total communication" and the "bilingual approach". In each case the claims for the approach are identified, the arguments offered for are assessed and the counter-claims made by the critics are presented. The research relating to the efficacy of each approach is reviewed and the validity of the available evidence is examined. The unresolved ideological and political features of the debate are also discussed.

This book is addressed primarily to teachers of the deaf, student teachers of the deaf and parents of deaf children. It should also be useful to professionals such as speech therapists and educational psychologists who work with deaf children.