At the time, there was dissatisfaction with the levels of educational achievement of deaf children, as difficulties with syntax and morphology were impacting their writing skills.
In addition, a discrepancy between hearing and deaf children in regards to knowledge of normal language development was noted.
[5] With growing concern over the low levels of literacy and other academic skills attained by the majority of deaf students, manually coded sign systems began to develop.
First published in 1972 by Gustasen, Pfetzing, and Zawolkow,[1] SEE-II matches visual signs with the grammatical structure of English.
Unlike ASL, which is a real language and has its own unique grammar system, SEE-II is intended to be an exact visual model of spoken English and allows children with hearing loss to access grammatically correct English, just as all hearing children receive in educational settings.
[2] ASL is a complete, unique language, meaning that it not only has its own vocabulary but its own grammar and syntax that differs from spoken English.
[9] The reason SEE-II signs vary from ASL is to add clarity so that the exact English word meant for the conversation is understood.
For example- the sign for "car" in ASL is two "S" hands gesturing as if they are holding onto and moving a steering wheel.
Currently, the average deaf or hard-of-hearing student graduating from high school reads at approximately the third- or fourth-grade level.
The advocacy group Hands & Voices argues that SEE-II is easy for English speaking parents and teachers of deaf children to master because they do not have to learn a new grammar, and that it provides support for individuals who utilize cochlear implants, helping them match the SEE-II handshapes that they see with the hearing and speaking that they utilize.
Deaf Community members born in the 1980s were most often raised on some form of signing and speaking and do so in their adult lives.
[15] The system assumes that since examtion is not a word in English the observer will fill in the missing parts, and students demonstrate this through their intelligible speech daily in programs where SEE is used (Northwest School for Hearing-Impaired Children in the Seattle area).
In the United States, about two-thirds of teachers who have deaf or hard of hearing students instruct with some sort of sign language or manually coded system; this can include ASL, SEE-II, SEE-I, or Signed/Manual English, or a combination thereof.
[20] Opponents point to the logistical disadvantages of trying to promote the mainstream use of a manually coded system, which is not a real language, and dispute that SEE-II offers advantages to warrant educational resources which could be put toward encouraging universal adoption of ASL.