On understanding without words: Communication between a deaf-blind child and her parents

This paper is an empirical inquiry into the nature of human communication and understanding. It is organized into three sections. First, there is an overview of the ethnomethodological critique of mainstream social scientific research methodology and the relevance of this critique to clinical behavioral research. Second, the details of an ethnomethodological study of communication practices in a family with an alingual, deaf-blind child are provided. Third, implications of the case study are presented.The author's participation in this research was supported by PSH grant HD04612 NICHD and HD-05540-02, Patterns of Care and the Development of the Retarded, Mental Retardation Study Center, U.C.L.A. Medical Center. I wish to acknowledge the efforts of various persons during different phases of this writing. The general perspective taken in this article was based upon a course of study with Harold Garfinkel and Melvin Pollner. They, Robert Emerson, Warren TenHouten, and Michael McGuire, reviewed a chapter of my dissertation containing this data. Robert Edgerton, Sylvia Bercovici and Donald Sutherland of U.C.L.A.'s Mental Retardation Study Center also helped with suggestions about initial drafts. More recently George Singer, Larry Irvin, Nancy Mandell, and George Psathas have provided support and critiques.