Use of hand shapes to stand for letters of the alphabet, to spell out words. Fingerspelling is often used by people with ear and hearing problems when they are being taught using a total communications approach, but it is avoided by those teachers of the deaf who believe that no form of manual communication should be used.
A method of communication used by persons with hearing or visual impairment in which words are spelled out letter by letter rather than depicted with single signs as in American Sign Language. Finger spelling can be done visually as well as tactually.