Tactile signing

According to our practical knowledge with various modes of tactile signing, we give recommendations how to develop and how to practise tactile signing in congenitally deaf-blind persons. Firstly, we give some information about the use of tactile signs by persons that had already mastered a linguistic system before switching to tactile signs, i. e. deaf people who later in life went blind. Then we review different ap-proaches for establishing tactile communication in congenitally deaf-blind persons. In our view, each of the competing approaches has its own advantages and disad-vantages; in the decision-making process several factors must be considered, par-ticularly the personal level of communicative development, his or her access to the meaning of signs, the need to facilitate the communicative flow, the importance of reciprocity and symmetry in the actual communication situation. We give a preliminary list of open questions that should be tackled in the future.