This article critiques the role of translanguaging in deaf education by exploring how, and under what conditions, translanguaging practices can increase learning and teaching. The article examines the premise that translanguaging constitutes an additive view of bilingualism and multilingualism for deaf learners and proposes an innovative departure from, and not a re-packing of, traditional teaching methods in deaf education. In this context, the additive aspects of translanguaging are conceptualised as ways of seeing and responding to the language resources of deaf learners and ways of teaching that recognise and foster bilingual and multilingual (sign and spoken/written) language skills. The innovative aspects of translanguaging are clarified in terms of the focus on language as a social phenomenon, the emphasis on individual repertoires and attention to the mindful use of languages in the classroom. Examples of learner and teacher translanguaging are given that elucidate what translanguaging proposes to deaf education in terms of grasping and backing the language repertoires of deaf learners and for the development of pedagogy. The article concludes by presenting the conditions under which these benefits can be realised.