Why use Signing?
Signing is often used with children and adults with developmental delays and communication difficulties, however there are added benefits to its use with all children in the early years. Signing can be used in mainstream schools to support singing and music making, assemblies, performances, storytelling, reading and the learning of new curriculum vocabulary. Learning new songs and words supported by signing provides all children with a visual prompt to reinforce what they have learnt. Plus signing supports memory and recall too. There is an added benefit for practitioners who can use signs to quietly reinforce classroom expectations such as good sitting/listening or a prompt to wait to take a turn in a group activity.
When signing is incorporated more broadly in a school setting, this allows for a far more inclusive approach. Signing becomes a ‘normal’ part of the communication toolkit and a child who requires signing to communicate has a greater opportunity to successfully interact with a range of children and adults rather than with only one or two identified individuals who they feel will understand them.
When children are learning to sign it is important that they have a good model to learn from. Children learn from what they see, hear and experience. If adults within the environment are signing, the children are more likely to sign too. I hear people report that a child is signing at home but not at preschool. This is often because at home the child is confident that they will be understood. They may be less sure that preschool staff and peers will understand their signs, particularly if they do not see others signing in the environment. When adults use signs themselves, children learn new signs and their ability to join signs into phrases and sentences also improves.
When choosing signs to teach to children it is imperative to select words which will be the most useful in helping the child’s day to day communication first. Consider what they may need to ask for (toilet/ food/ drink/ favourite toy) as well as important people in their lives. It is easy to fall into the trap of choosing words which are important to us as adults for example words which encourage politeness (please/thank you) or a word which links to an aspect of the curriculum being covered in class (addition/ measure). Keep the child at the centre and consider what is most important to them then work outwards to build on that foundation.
Praise all attempts at communication, whilst providing a good language model of signs and spoken language. Keeping signing fun in games, songs and rhymes helps with motivation and makes learning to sign a positive experience.
Signing At Boarshaw Primary
We have visible frequently used signs on communication boards around school and on staff lanyards. This is to help all pupils to communicate and join in with signing. As a school we all learn new vocabulary, songs and stories that we can sign along to. Check out our YouTube channel!
Here are some songs we have been learning, click on the song title.
Hickory Dickory Dock
Old McDonald
Sing a rainbow
