If you’re a hearing parent who has just learned your child is Deaf or hard of hearing, you’ll quickly encounter a soup of acronyms: ASL, SEE, PSE, sometimes Cued Speech, sometimes “total communication.” Doctors, teachers, audiologists, and well-meaning relatives may use these terms as if they’re interchangeable. They’re not.
This is a short, honest guide to the three you’re most likely to hear: ASL, SEE, and PSE.
ASL: American Sign Language
ASL is a complete, natural language with its own grammar, vocabulary, and history (we wrote more about that here). It is the native language of the American Deaf community. It evolved from French Sign Language and indigenous American sign systems, and it has nothing to do with English structurally.
In ASL, sentence order, facial grammar, and spatial referencing all carry meaning. A skilled ASL signer can express ideas quickly, poetically, and with nuance that simply doesn’t map onto English word-for-word.
When you’ll see it used: in Deaf schools and Deaf cultural settings; in interpreted events for Deaf audiences; in Deaf-led media; at home in families that have made ASL their primary household language. This is what fluent native Deaf signers use among themselves.
SEE: Signing Exact English
SEE (sometimes written SEE-II for the most common version) is not a language. It’s a system that uses signs in English word order to make English visually accessible. It includes signs for English-specific things ASL doesn’t have separate signs for: articles like “the” and “a,” word endings like “-ing” and “-ed,” and English idioms.
SEE was created in the 1960s and 70s by hearing educators who wanted to teach English literacy to Deaf children. The reasoning was: if Deaf students see English on the hands, they’ll learn to read and write English more easily. Whether SEE actually achieves that goal is debated by researchers — many studies suggest ASL-first instruction produces equal or better English literacy outcomes, in part because ASL provides a strong language foundation that English literacy can build on.
When you’ll see it used: in some school programs (especially older ones), in some homes where hearing parents are learning to sign alongside their child, in some early-intervention services. Less common in the Deaf community itself.
PSE: Pidgin Signed English (or “Contact Signing”)
PSE is what naturally happens when Deaf and hearing people communicate in mixed settings. It’s sometimes called contact signing by linguists because it resembles other contact languages — like pidgins that arise where two language communities meet.
PSE generally uses ASL signs but follows roughly English word order, with some ASL facial grammar and some English mouthing. It’s not formalized; different signers do it differently. A fluent ASL signer might shift into PSE when conversing with a hearing person who is still learning, the same way you might use simpler vocabulary speaking to a child or a non-native English speaker.
When you’ll see it used: in mixed-hearing-and-Deaf workplaces, at family gatherings where signing skill varies, in many educational settings, and very commonly in the “real world” once a hearing family has been learning to sign for a year or two. It’s often a transitional system on the way to full ASL fluency.
So which should your family use?
The honest answer is: it depends, but the Deaf community’s recommendation is clear and worth knowing.
Most Deaf adults, Deaf educators, and Deaf advocacy organizations recommend that families learning to sign focus on ASL, even though it’s harder for a hearing person to learn than SEE. The reasoning:
- ASL gives a Deaf child access to an entire language community of native speakers — SEE does not.
- Research suggests strong ASL skills correlate with strong English literacy later, not the reverse.
- ASL allows for the full range of human expression; SEE is constrained by English structure.
- Most Deaf adults sign ASL, so a child raised on SEE may have communication barriers with the broader Deaf community.
That said, real families operate in the real world. A hearing parent learning ASL from scratch will likely sign in PSE for years before becoming fluent. That’s okay. The most important thing isn’t which system you use perfectly — it’s that you’re signing with your child at all, every day, with enough volume that your child develops a strong first language.
A word about “total communication”
You may also hear this phrase. “Total Communication” is a philosophy (not a language or system) that argues Deaf children should be exposed to whatever combination of signing, speech, lipreading, and writing serves them best. In practice, this often means schools and parents use a mix — some ASL, some PSE, some spoken English with visual support, sometimes Cued Speech.
Critics argue Total Communication can dilute a child’s exposure to any single language, slowing fluency. Advocates argue it’s realistic and child-centered. The research is mixed and the right answer probably depends on the specific child and family.
What we tell hearing families
Don’t let the acronym soup paralyze you. Pick a starting point, start signing, and adjust as you learn. If you have a choice, start with ASL because it’s the language of the Deaf community your child will grow into. If you’re already using SEE or PSE because that’s what your early-intervention program taught you, that’s not a crisis — keep signing, and broaden into ASL over time.
The Deaf community is generally welcoming of hearing learners who try. Imperfect signing done with consistency and warmth beats perfect signing done rarely. Start today, and let your child help teach you as you go.
