How sign language can benefit a therapy session. Read our Guest Post from Jessica of Figuratively Speeching

Today we have a great guest post from Jessica from Figuratively Speeching. I wanted to hear how other SLPs are able to use sign language in their practice and therapy... new perspective.

As an SLP, one of my major goals is to improve a child’s ability to communicate through functional means, which is not only through verbal communication. Functional communication allows children to get their messages across using spoken words, printed words, gestures, sign language or through accessing a communication device. 

I incorporate sign language every day with my students, whether they are in Early Intervention, preschool, or are school age. Signs are wonderful to use as visual cues to assist students in staying on task, help with following directions, requesting and when questioning students during activities. They also help build vocabulary in nonverbal or minimally verbal children, as well as provide cues to assist in recall of newly learned vocabulary in older children. Children learn best when multiple senses are engaged and experiencing life. By adding sign language to a child’s communication options, you are giving them the opportunity to hear the word (when it is spoken), see the word (when watching it spoken, as well as signed) and perform the word by signing it. This multi-sensory form of communication helps children acquire vocabulary more quickly and efficiently. One of my Life Skills students is working with preschool children, and she is interested in teaching them how to communicate through sign language, so we practice once weekly. When going into homes for Early Intervention, I bring articles about the benefits of sign language. Here is one handout from United Way.

This next one is from Super Duper’s Handy Handouts:
 
Encouraging Spoken Language Through Signs

Finally, here is a link to a page with more than 90 common signs for children that I share with parents to assist in carryover. What is wonderful about this site is that each sign has its own video, and the instructor explains what to do while she signs: 
              


Most parents are receptive to having their children learn sign. It is amazing to see how easily they pick up sign. 

 I had the opportunity to use the March ASL packet from Hear My Hands last month (click here). Here is a collage with some of the included activities: I have to say that I love Signing Simon (that adorable boy in the blue shirt)! 
                    

 The graphics are wonderful and clear, and the packet encompassed vocabulary that I used throughout the month of March. I loved that there were receptive and expressive language tasks. By the end of the month, my students were able to identify and use most of the signs from the packet. 

 Not only do I teach my students sign, but I also teach basic signs to their teachers. The teachers can then incorporate the signs as visual cues to gain attention, and use as “secret” signals to my students. My students love these signals, because it helps them focus, and provides a nonverbal cue that does not call attention to them. I hope you will try to incorporate some sign language into your speech sessions. It is something different to do, and fun to learn for everyone!


Thank you Jessica. Don't forget to check our her blog (click here) and show her some Facebook love (here!) 

Jessica wrote about some hand outs to give to parents .. great ideas! Don't forget to check out our Tips and Games page for some great posts on benefits!

Guest post: Meet Shea & see her family's approach to successful early communication... ASL!

Today we have another guest blog post from Beth, Shea's mommy, from the new blog Signing with Shea. Read about young Shea's journey of learning sign language and why her parents decided to use ASL as her mode of communication. Watch their daily videos of Shea's new sign language development!

My husband and I are hearing.  Our daughter, Shea, was born deaf.  We've taken many steps to ensure communication between the three of us as a family, including learning ASL and teaching our daughter.  We are by no means fluent....we are learning as we go.  Every day is a challenge; and every day is a blessing.

Shea at the farm signing TRAIN to daddy during the ride.

One day while Shea & I were doing our weekly grocery shopping, I realized how interested everyone was in "talking" to Shea.  As soon as people find out that she's Deaf (usually because they are watching us sign), they want to know how to tell her this or how to sign that.  Shea is very outgoing and just naturally draws people to her.  I thought that this would be a great way to teach not just ourselves, but everyone at least a little sign language!  So, Signing with Shea was born.

We started out on Facebook posting a new sign daily, along with a description, for people to learn.  Basically we thought this would be helpful to our family and friends in learning to sign.  Little did we realize the wonderful response we would have from complete strangers, both hearing and Deaf.  What started out as a handful of "fans" has now grown to over 250!  Along the way, many people have shared their own stories with us, and many more have asked how we do it.  How do we keep our sanity through having a toddler who screams at the top of her lungs occasionally because she does not know what it means to be loud.  How do we make time to learn all the new signs that we need to learn?  How do we get information and how do we know if we're making the right decisions for Shea?  So, I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog, and a website.  

On our blog, we write openly and honestly about issues we've faced, emotions we've dealt with and decisions we've made.  My thinking was that even if this helps one family to know that they are not alone in raising a Deaf child to grow up and be a healthy, happy, well-adjusted member of society, then we've done a good thing.  We've learned that deafness is approached as something that "must" be fixed.....and we, personally don't feel that our daughter needs "fixing"....and we want other parents to know, too, that their child is not broken just because he/she is deaf.  So, in many ways it is also cathartic for me to be able to write about all the things we've faced and overcome in the past and all the trials and tribulations yet to come.

We created the website as a way to try to put resources together in one spot where people can go to find information, because I know that when we were first informed that Shea was Deaf, we had no idea what to do or where to go for help.  This is still in the very beginning phases - the website hasn't even been live for 2 weeks yet - but we plan on putting a video ASL dictionary on the site at some point in the not-too-distant future.  The site will serve as a "jumping off" point - as place to start - for people who wish to learn more about ASL, Deafness, Deaf Culture and more.  From the site, visitors will be able to contact us directly, link to informational websites, view ASL videos and more.  It's very important to know that, no matter what you are facing in life, someone else has walked before you, and yet more will walk behind....be sure to follow carefully and where you can tread safest for your family, and lead as best you can for those that come after you.

Many thanks to Kristy for asking me to do a guest blog.  Thanks for all your support, as well.

Thank you Beth. I look forward to reading more about Shea and your family's journey through her communication development and language growth! Go check out her blog at http://www.signingwithshea.com/ and her Facebook page!

Guest post from Katie at PWW365. Hear her perspective on sign language benefits!

Today we have a great guest post from Katie from Playing With Words 365 on her thoughts on using sign language with her children. Our blogs met each other about a year ago and we realized we had the same interests in sign language! 

In graduate school (for communication sciences and disorders), I did a research paper on the benefits of signing to hearing babies. What I found during that time was pretty amazing (I outlined the many benefits of signing to hearing babies in 9 Reasons to Teach Sign Language to Your {Hearing} Infant or Toddler on my blog.) I knew that I would be signing to my own children whenever I was blessed with them. Fast forward a few years, and there I was, a mommy to my first child, my daughter E. I started signing to her around 8-9 months here and there. By 12 months we were signing a great deal more and she was starting to sign back! She pretty much stuck to signs that served her functions like more, milk, and eat. But signing really helped her communicate her needs to us before she had the ability to do so well verbally. As she started to talk more and more, she slowly stopped signing and there was a natural end to her use of signs.

(My daughter signing "more" at almost three)

Then I had my son. I was more motivated than ever to sign to him, and started signing with him around 7-8 months old. At age two, my daughter became fascinated with signing, so I started teaching the signs to her as well. We signed during meal times, story time, bath time, and watched one Baby Signing Time video each day to help learn more signs and practice. Before we knew it, my son Ev was signing up a storm! Unlike my daughter who used the signs in a very get-what-I-want way, Ev loved to sign to interact with us and show us things of interest. He would sit and "read" Brown Bear, Brown Bear to himself, as he signed the names of all the animals.

(My son signing "fish")

Ev picked up signing quickly and efficiently and we ended up being extra thankful for sign. Why? Because, as ironic as it is, his speech was developing a little on the slow side. Ev has always been an excellent communicator, but his speech skills have taken a bit longer to develop than his older sister's. It is not a wives' tale that boy's can develop a bit slower than girls, but it has been interesting for me, as a speech pathologist, to witness this personally. Anyway, because we were signing to him, Ev always had a way to communicate to us. He was able to get his needs met and share his interests with us without frustration as his motor skills developed and his speech slowly improved. Had we not been signing, I am afraid things could have been very different. Now here we are, a year later, and my two year old son is now using speech as his primary mode of communication.

As with my daughter, he naturally started signing less as he began speaking more and now he rarely signs. Sometimes I will sign something and he will sign it back but mostly he "uses his words" so to speak. I am thankful that we used sign with him, and we are planning to sign to our next child, due this summer, as well. You can read HERE many of the posts I have written about signing to hearing children, including how to pick the signs to use with your children, tips on weaving it into daily activities, and more!

Katie is a a mom to two little ones, E (4) and Ev (2) and a licensed and credentialed pediatric speech-language pathologist (when she finds the time). She blogs over at Playing With Words 365, sharing information about speech and language development, intervention strategies, therapy ideas and tips, and shares a little about her family and their life too. You can follow along on Facebook or Pinterest for more speech and language ideas and tips.

Do you have a story about starting sign language with your little ones or maybe even your bigger ones (they don't have to be young!). I'd love to hear about it!