sign language

[Guest guest]

I Agree with you 100% I too taught my 2 year old sign as a way of

communicating. He now has a huge sign vocabulary and is a sweet happy boy.

His frustration is gone. He is starting to say some sounds that are

appropriate . Please everybody out there. Give your children a voice. Teach

them to sign. Use a picture exchange program it can help with speech and

sign.. I know of a great one if interested. Keep teaching your kids!!! They

all deserve the best we can give them.

Tracey

[Guest guest]

Subj: Re: [ ] sign language

Date: 5/7/01 6:42:50 AM Central Daylight Time

From: lin4

I am writing to you to recommend a picture exchange program I developed for

my son . I had been introduced to Pecs, Boardmaker and others but was

not happy with them, and I was unable to afford them. . I was determined to

provide my son a voice, a language even though he was unable to speak. I

decided to produce my own magnetic picture exchange system that he could use

any place at any time to communicate his wants and needs. These pictures are

realistic and clearly able to be defined. We then began teaching him the sign

for the picture he was showing us. would see the picture, hear it

orally and then learn the sign. It has been amazing. He has opened up so

much. He now has language.He is signing, and making some sounds. He is trying

hard . His frustration has been eliminated and our whole family is

benefiting. Recently 's therapist, Speech and OT as well as

Developmental have begun using them. They have been recommending it to their

other clients. Children with speech delay, autism, verbal apraxia, and other

communication disorders are benefiting. It is great for schedules, picture

boards, and basic communication. I keep a set on the refridgerator one in

his room and one in the bathroom. He can now tell me what he wants to eat,

what toy he wants to play with, if he needs something, even the weather

outside.They have so much in their mind that needs and wants to come out.

Please let me know if you are interested in hearing more. I would be happy to

mail you a copy of the pamphlet and some sample magnets for you to see. I

really believe in this system. My son is my life and I know how

difficult it is when your child is hurting. I know this works.I hope you give

it a chance.

Thanks for your time.

Keep smiling,

Tracey

[Guest guest]

I was glad to see the positive messages on using sign language. My 2 1/2

year old is beginning to show signs of frustration when we can't get what

she is trying to say. She really has no complete words right now except for

the word " me " and that took a lot of time and effort to accomplish. For

everything else she attempts a syllable or sound but can not combine two

sounds.

I took a book out of the library on simple signs for kids up to 3 yrs old

and have started using some with her. So far it is positive and she does

attempt to say the word simultaneously. My question is does anyone have a

GREAT resource they recommend --- book or otherwise on learning sign

language and teaching it to your apraxic child as well as the rest of the

family? Thanks.

[Guest guest]

A WONDERFUL WEB SITE IS " WWW. HANDSPEAK.COM " . THEY COMBINE WRITTEN

INSTRUCTIONS WITH MOVING PICTURES. THEY ALSO HAVE SECTION JUST FOR BABY

SIGN LANGUAGE. MY SON IS 28 MONTHS AND CAN EASILY DO " MORE " , " JUICE " ,

" MORE " , " EAT " , AND " ALL DONE " . WHAT A GREAT RELIEF!!

>From: " Lamar, " <veronica.lamar@...

>I was glad to see the positive messages on using sign language. My 2 1/2

>year old is beginning to show signs of frustration when we can't get what

>she is trying to say. She really has no complete words right now except for

>the word " me " and that took a lot of time and effort to accomplish. For

>everything else she attempts a syllable or sound but can not combine two

>sounds.

[Guest guest]

For Amy and other people who are afraid sign languag will hinder speech. There

is no proof that children are languaged delayed because they know how to sign.

In both cases of infants and language delayed kids signs are replaced with words

as soon as the child is capable of speaking. In my 3 year olds regular

preschool (my son is apraxic) they include sign language as well as spanish

words and even some Japanese words while some exchange students were visiting.

None of this impairs the other kids ability to speak. On the other hand my son

is unable to say any Spanish or Japanese words and only uses a few signs. His

speech however through the school year has dramatically improoved and now for

the first time we can actually have a conversation. All communication is GREAT!

>

[Guest guest]

Tracey- Sounds great what you have done for your son. I am a speech-language

pathologist working in the schools with 3-6 year old children. Many of the

children on my caseload have autism.

We use Boardmaker and PECS often and I find them very helpful. I'm always

interested in learning of other programs which are helpful for me to use at

school and for parents to use at home.

I'd appreciate it if you could send me a pamphlet also. What is the name of the

program? You developed it on your own. My address at work is as follows:

Sherry Zordani, Speech-Language Pathologist

Dorothy DeLacey Family Education Center

1470 Kings Road

Carpentersville, IL 60110

I'd really appreciate it if you could send information. I will share the

information with my colleagues as well. Thanks in advance.

Sherry Zordani, M.S., CCC/SLP

>

> I am writing to you to recommend a picture exchange program I developed for

> my son . I had been introduced to Pecs, Boardmaker and others but was

> not happy with them, and I was unable to afford them. . I was determined to

> provide my son a voice, a language even though he was unable to speak. I

> decided to produce my own magnetic picture exchange system that he could use

> any place at any time to communicate his wants and needs. These pictures are

> realistic and clearly able to be defined. We then began teaching him the sign

> for the picture he was showing us. would see the picture, hear it

> orally and then learn the sign. It has been amazing. He has opened up so

> much. He now has language.He is signing, and making some sounds. He is trying

> hard . His frustration has been eliminated and our whole family is

> benefiting.

[Guest guest]

I guess I need to clear up what I was saying about sign

language.

First, I was not implying that sign language is bad in

anyway. My apraxic son used sign language prior to

spoken language and the communciation was great! I am

all for sign language when language is delayed!

I was, however, speaking about two of my close friends

who have " typically " developing children who are both

approaching their second birthday. Both of these

mothers have been using sign language as a means to

communicate with their children because it is

the " trendy " thing to do. When we all get together to

play, my 1.8 year old who doesn't know sign language,

has a spoken vocabulary of 100+ words. Their children

sign to communicate rather than use words. It is my

personal opinion only, but I do not think this is so

great.

I just wanted to clear this up that I was not saying I

thought sign language was a bad thing at all!

-Amy

[Guest guest]

There has been recent discussion about the use of signs, and I can't

resist commenting. I am not afraid of signs. I frequently use

signs/gestures to elicit speech from children with motor-speech

disorders and the technique works very well. I have seen several

apraxic children produce their first word in combination with a

sign/gesture. I often have to assure parents that I am not teaching

the signs as an alternative to speech but am using the signs to help

elicit speech. I think signs are a great tool for helping children

with impaired speech production improve and to help give them a way

to communicate/interact until therapy has begun to make them verbal.

However, I agree with Amy 100%. There is no reason to begin teaching

preverbal children with no symptoms of an impairment to sign.

Children without impairments have been developing normal speech

through recorded history without being taught signs when they are

preverbal. As far as there not being research indicating that this

early signing causes a delay, I have 2 points: 1) The technique of

doing this is new so I'm not sure when the research could have been

done; 2) There's also no research indicating that this technique

improves the speech/language of children without an impairment.

Regarding the comment by one parent that unimpaired children in her

apraxic child's 3-year-old class use signs with no adverse effects,

these children probably were not taught to sign until they were in

this class, which is much different than being taught to sign

preverbally. So basically, I feel that signs are very useful in

helping children with motor-speech impairments but I am opposed to

teaching unimpaired, preverbal children to sign.

Nicosia, CCC-SLP

[Guest guest]

I believe that SLPs universally would agree with Nicosia's overview of when & how to use signs. I, too have been an SLP for as many years as & have worked with special P-K youngsters (Down, autistic, apraxic, PPD, etc.), & up. His assessment is so good I'd recommend anyone to print it out & refer to it at your parent meetings, discussions. etc.

On another note, I've just finished listening, for the first time, to the CD Time to Sing. It's a terrificly engaging CD, uses great rhythms & sounds, wonderful singing voices, singing at an effective rate. May I suggest that you purchase it from Super Duper Publications, instead of the Pittsburgh site, because there's free shipping: phone 800-277-8737. I don't know how long the free shipping offer will remain. No, I'm not affiliated with Super Duper. The cost through them is 16.99. I paid a total with shipping from the Pittsburgh site of $21.00. Vera Karger, M.S., CCCS, Connecticut

> There has been recent discussion about the use of signs, and I can't

> resist commenting. I am not afraid of signs. I frequently use

> signs/gestures to elicit speech from children with motor-speech

> disorders and the technique works very well. I have seen several

> apraxic children produce their first word in combination with a

> sign/gesture. I often have to assure parents that I am not teaching

> the signs as an alternative to speech but am using the signs to help

> elicit speech. I think signs are a great tool for helping children

> with impaired speech production improve and to help give them a way

> to communicate/interact until therapy has begun to make them verbal.

> However, I agree with Amy 100%. There is no reason to begin teaching

> preverbal children with no symptoms of an impairment to sign.

> Children without impairments have been developing normal speech

> through recorded history without being taught signs when they are

> preverbal. As far as there not being research indicating that this

> early signing causes a delay, I have 2 points: 1) The technique of

> doing this is new so I'm not sure when the research could have been

> done; 2) There's also no research indicating that this technique

> improves the speech/language of children without an impairment.

> Regarding the comment by one parent that unimpaired children in her

> apraxic child's 3-year-old class use signs with no adverse effects,

> these children probably were not taught to sign until they were in

> this class, which is much different than being taught to sign

> preverbally. So basically, I feel that signs are very useful in

> helping children with motor-speech impairments but I am opposed to

> teaching unimpaired, preverbal children to sign.

>

> Nicosia, CCC-SLP

--

[Guest guest]

I don't particularly think it's important to teach infants sign but I don't

believe it delays their speech either. We are not teaching these speech delayed

kids true sign language but just a few random words. It would be like worrying

that if you say amigos or si that the child would than choose to speak Spanish

instead of the English they hear every day. Kids constantly hear their native

language and that is what they choose to speak as soon as they are capable. On

the other hand, shortly after I began learning signs last summer we ran into a

disabled girl in the park who couldn't verbalize. Thanks to knowing a few signs

we were able to understand she was asking to see the baby. I still say all

communication is GOOD! Dawn

[Guest guest]

Well...I found it more quickly than I had anticipated.

http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm

Best wishes,

--- In @y..., " Robyn " <mysticcreek@a...>

wrote:

>

> I know this has been discussed before but where is the best place

[Guest guest]

Robyn -- We have been teaching my nonverbal 2.2 yr old sign as a way of

helping him relieve his stress at not being understood -- just a few signs

have made a huge difference in his behavior. The Babysign site

(www.babysign.com) is focused on teaching sign to infants and looks like it

is aimed at parents trying to raise superbabies, but if you can get past

that, the materials are very helpful for anyone who wants to teach sign to a

young child. They sell a package with a video (the first part is the

" marketing " pitch but then it has a video dictionary of maybe 200 signs).

There also is a book dictionary of signs and a handy laminated card you can

carry around that shows maybe 50 of the basic signs. The signs they

illustrate are well-chosen -- basics relating to every-day life for a small

child. For an on-line ASL sign language dictionary, I use www.handspeak.com

-- you can look up words and a video clip shows you how to make the sign.

We have simplified some signs that he had trouble with --for example, we

turned some 2-handed signs into one handed (like " milk " ) and we modified

some signs that he had trouble forming, like " water " (it is supposed to

involve three extended fingers but we do it with one). We were having

problems at meal time with him communicating choices, so we started with

" more " , " all done " , " eat " , " drink " , " water " , " milk " , " up " , " down " , " out " ,

" hot " , " cold " and some food names. It took us a week or so of really

consistent use before he seemed to get it, but now he seems to pick and

choose the signs he wants to remember and use. He seems to want names for

things, so that has been our second wave of learning. He also seems eager

to use signs when listening to kiddie song tapes, although he has not really

mastered any yet. (His older brother learned some songs with accompanying

signs in kindergarten and is trying to teach him.) The hardest part is being

consistent in using the signs all the time as we speak.

-----

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