Tactile Approaches
Tactile signs and symbols are used by people who are deaf/hard of hearing who also have visual impairments.
Tactile Signing
With tactile signing, the person who is deafblind places his hands on the back of the hands of the signer to read the signs through touch and movement.
Haptic communication is a form of non-verbal communication that is presented through touch. Pro-Tactile uses haptic communication to give information including emotions, conversational feedback, and audience reactions, as well as environmental information, tactile classifiers, and tactile mapping.
Tracking
Tracking or hand tracking, when used in reference to signing, occurs when the person with severe vision loss places his or her hand(s) on the wrist(s) of the signing partner. This technique enables a person to use the kinesthetic sense to understand where to direct their gaze to follow the signer's hand. Enough information may be gained from the orientation or general location of the hand to recognize the sign without seeing it clearly. (ADAMSLS)
Tactile Fingerspelling
Manual fingerspelling is used to spell out every word. The person who is deaf blind places his hands over the hand of the signer to read the fingerspelling.
LORM Alphabet
The LORM Alphabet is a series of touches and movements in specified locations on the hand of a person who is deafblind.
- LORM Chart
- Learn about the Mobile LORM Glove
Print-on-Palm (POP)
With POP, the index finger is used to print the message into the hand of the person who is deafblind. This can be used if the deaf-blind person is familiar with the printed alphabet.
Tadoma Method
Tadoma is a method of communication used by Deaf-Blind people, in which the Deaf-Blind person places his thumb on the speaker's lips and his fingers along the jawline. The middle three fingers often fall along the speaker's cheeks with the little finger picking up the vibrations of the speaker's throat.
Tactile Symbols
Tactile symbols are concrete representations developed for individuals who are totally blind or function as if they were totally blind and who have a practical need for a graphic language system.