Do you use sign with babies and children under 8 years?

If so please complete the attached survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QM3BVJD 


This survey is being conducted to gain an understanding of resources and materials that you, as a parent, carer or professional, would find useful in supporting your learning and making signing more accessible, interactive or memorable in your home or workplace. 

Please do share this with anyone who uses signing in any context with children under 8 years as every response provides us with valuable insight into future projects.

If you enter your email address at the end of the survey, you'll be entered into a draw to win some fantastic signing resources from BSL Early Years author, Cath Smith.

Smart Signing in Nurseries & Early Years

What is Smart Sign? 

This is based upon Makaton supplemented by BSL where necessary. Our programmes are designed to work on essential interaction and communication skills. All our programmes are developmentally based and are written by me, Libby Hill, a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with advice from colleague, Franky Shepperson a Highly Specialist SLT who is fluent in BSL and Makaton.  They have been piloted and thoroughly evaluated before being used extensively in nurseries and also with children with communication delay including children with ASD. We are also developing a programme for use with bi-lingual children.

Baby Smart Sign

In nursery the group leader will sit with staff and babies and sing interactive songs. Turn-taking, attention, listening, eye-contact and recognising their own name are all important aims of the session.

There will be opportunity to discuss signs around the baby room and how to add sign to everyday commands e.g. ‘Shall we change your nappy?’, ‘It’s time for lunch’.

Toddler Smart Sign

This involves teaching the 2-3 year olds simple vocabulary from a 6 week programme in a circle-time style. This is topic based, as evidence shows they learn vocabulary more effectively this way. We have some songs and a story to follow the topic. The aims here include attention, listening, turn-taking, eye-contact, receptive skills and vocabulary development. The main aim is to teach the staff signs so they can supplement understanding.

Pre-School Smart Sign

This age group just love learning the signs so the vocabulary for the topic can be taught directly and they will be highly involved in signing to the adults. There is still room for a story and a couple of songs. Aims here include attention, listening, receptive language and expressive language skills, as well as eye-contact.

Smart Sign in Reception & KS1

A programme of vocabulary which the children learn to sign as well as to understand. We use stories and songs too. The aims are to aid receptive and expressive skills as well as narrative.

We can also do specific sessions for parents or staff.

For more information: www.smarttalkers.org.uk

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Teaching Children a Second Language - Add Sign Language to the mix?

  

Second guest blog written by:  Christina Schabow,Speech & Language Pathologist MS CCC-SLP, and owner of Baby Sign Language in Play 


An increasing number of families are realizing the benefits of introducing their children to second (or more) languages from an early age.  In this day in age it is becoming more and more possible to raise children bilingually.  What an incredible gift! Choosing and sticking with a plan for what is best for your family in regards to how to go about creating a bilingual home life can be quite challenging.  When I bring up signing with a baby/child, a concern I often hear from parents who speak more than one language at home is “Will adding yet another language to the mix (American Sign Language) be too much?  Won’t this be confusing for my child?!”
While this is a very natural way to feel, the answer is NO!  In fact, using ASL signs with a childof any age who is learning more than one spoken language actually aids in the acquisition of the second language.  This happens for a couple of reasons:

• Signs serve as a visual cue of the new word’s meaning - Signs are often visually representative of the concept they represent.  For example, when you sign BALL and say “pelota”, the sign is a great cue as to the meaning of the word because the sign for BALL actually looks like a ball!  This is true for many signs.

• Signs serve as bridges helping children to find commonalities between language- In other words, a child may learn very early on that when you put your hands together (like the sign fore MORE) that means MORE!  When you ask your child in the second language  “Quieres Mas?” the first several times you might get a look from your child like “huh?!”  But if you say “Quieres Mas?” while signing that familiar sign MORE, a lightbulb will go on!!  Instead of “huh?” your child will likely be thinking  “I’m really not sure what mom just said, but I know that sign means MORE and yes, I want MORE!”  Over time as he hears “Quieres Mas?” and simultaneously sees the sign MORE, he will connect meaning to the phrase, increasing understanding and thus use of the new language.

Adding signs to the mix will not confuse your child!  It facilitates the process of understanding and using a new language.  The is not only true for babies but for older children as well!  This is just one of the many benefits of signing with a child!

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Signing as part of good practise

The 3 Horn End Nurseries at Stafford, Hixon and Rugeley enlisted our services again to devise a specialist signing programme. Suzie Bancroft Nursery Manager says “Our view is that communication is fundamental to early learning and confidence”.  This training has helped staff to assess and improve their own skills when developing children’s speech and language. The programme also ensures the staff introduce signing as necessary in a developmentally appropriate, functional way.

At Horn End, they promote the use of sign language with all children as part of providing a language and literacy rich environment, filled with words, and books, to develop children’s new ideas and growing minds. 

In the Baby Smalls group I helped the staff identify which signs were important to add to comments or instructions that the staff were giving to the babies which helps their understanding and ability to express themselves before they can talk, as well as singing and signing. The pre-school group Toby Talls have had a specially devised programme to encourage their vocabulary and general language skills as they learned important signs while the Tommy Thumbs enjoyed singing and stories with sign. It was fantastic fun but the staff and children learned so much.

One of the outcomes of this project is the development of the communication policy in the nurseries to include daily signing with the children as this promotes their understanding, expressive language and speech development from a very early age.

I'm producing a rhyme and sign CD with favourites from the Horn End nurseries including traditional songs and some devised specifically for the purpose.

If you would like to know more about this then please call Suzie on 01785 609699 www.hornend.co.uk   or Libby on 0844 704 5888 www.smalltalk-ltd.co.uk

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'Signing is not recommended,' says the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists' Councillor for Research and Development

I'm very angry that  the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists have made a decision on a matter of importance without recognising ANY proper research or the views of members and their experiences on the subject. On this occasion it's Baby Signing coming under their radar. They have stated that the RCSLT does not recommend signing with babies despite decades of Speech & Language Therapists using it with children and families with very positive outcomes.

The RCSLT refute the evidence by Karen Pine and her team, from the university of Hertfordshire, who showed without doubt that it helps children from disadvantaged backgrounds. She doesn't make wild claims e.g.that it enhances IQ as some of the American studies, but makes valid and sensible conclusions from suitable regulated and professional research.

It is a fact that we need to hi-light and reinforce ANY and every positive communicative practise between parent and baby and its this which is so makes signing so powerful. If a parent is signing (and talking at the same time) they are more likely to be watching and listening to their child and being more aware of both their interaction and their child's response.  This should be praised and encouraged and not condemned.

It looks like I need to write to Nursery World with a case study proving that its very positive to use sign with your baby! I don't need the RCSLT's approval or their recognition to be confident that it works... I KNOW IT DOES as a parent who used it with her own children and as a fully qualified, very experienced professional. Watch this space!

P.S. Thank you RCSLT for publishing the article about me in this months Bulletin.... lol!

Signing in Nurseries

We're delighted to be doing some signing more work with the excellent Horn End nurseries. We start this week with Stafford and next week at Rugeley and Hixon.

We can do signing sessions for all age groups and training on functional signing for staff and parents.

We call our signing 'Smart Sign' which is based on Makaton with some supplementary BSL. We've had some amazing results recently at other places too such as Midway Academy in Uttoxeter and in the kindergarten at Vernon Lodge Preparatory School in Stretton, near Penkridge, where the children picked up the signs so easily.

We're looking forwards to introducing Smart Sign for babies and toddlers at Hixon Children's centre too this week. I'll keep you posted with progress, and of course, photos of the little ones!  

For more about our signing sessions www.smarttalkers.org.uk or for other nursery-based programmes
www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk