A Parent's Guide to Hearing Loss

Produced by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program

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Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE)

Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE) — sometimes called Pidgin Signed English (PSE) — is a building block that has developed between people who use American Sign Language (ASL), and people who use Manually Coded English (MCE), using signs based on ASL and MCE. This helps them understand each other better.

In CASE, American Sign Language (ASL) and Manually Coded English (MCE) are blended together. CASE is flexible, and can be changed depending on the people using it.

Other building blocks can be used with CASE. Often, finger spelling is used in combination with CASE. Finger spelling is used to spell out words that don't have a sign — such as names of people and places.

Glossary

American Sign Language (ASL): ASL is a visual language. It is a complete language. It is much more than making gestures or "pictures in the air." ASL has its own vocabulary and grammar that is different from English. Signs and sentences in ASL are made using handshapes (for example, a pointing handshape, or the fingers spread out to show the number 5), moving the hands and arms (for example, in a straight line, or bouncing), and different facial expressions (for example, frowning or raising your eyebrows). You can share feelings, abstract ideas, and make jokes using ASL. You can take ASL classes and start teaching your baby even while you are still learning it yourself.

Manually Coded English (MCE): Manually Coded English (MCE) is made up of signs that are a visual code that stand for the words of the English language. Many of the signs (hand shapes and hand motions) in MCE are borrowed from American Sign Language (ASL). But unlike ASL, the grammar, word order, and sentence structure of MCE are similar to the English language.

Finger Spelling: Finger spelling is a building block that uses hands and fingers to spell out words. Hand shapes stand for the letters in the alphabet. Finger spelling is used with many other building blocks; it is almost never used by itself.

For more information or to order additional copies of "A Parent's Guide to Hearing Loss" visit CDC's website at www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/ehdi.