Planting the Seeds for Early Learning...

Using Signs from American Sign Language to Promote Early Brain Development, Language Acquisition, and Literacy!

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 Special Needs
 
Children with special needs gain a means of expressing themselves and connecting with their care giving adults, as well as with typically-developing children familiar with ASL signs. Signing can help create an educational environment where all children can successfully learn and socialize, no matter what special needs they may have.

 

Signing is the primary language used by the Deaf community and is an integral part of Deaf culture. ASL will most likely be the primary language for children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

 

Signing provides a means of communication for children with various types of language delays or impairments, including:

  • Down Syndrome

  • Autism

  • Cerebral Palsy

  • Apraxia of Speech

  • Aphasia

  • Learning Disabilities

  • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Signing provides a means of communication for children with various types of medical conditions or situations, including:

  • Tracheotomized Infants and Children

  • Delays of Prematurity

  • Short-term Illnesses

  • Post-surgical conditions that inhibit normal speech

  • Side effects of chemotherapy resulting in an inability to speak

 

 Special Need 

Support Team

Reading Disability

Blackburn, D., Vonvillian, J., and Ashby, R. (January 1984). Manual Communication as an Alternative Mode of Language Instruction for Children with Severe Reading Disabilities. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 15, 22-31.

Carney, J., Cioffi, G., and Raymond, W. (Spring 1985). Using Sign Language For Teaching Sight Words. Teaching Exceptional Children.214-217.

Down Syndrome

Claire Dovovan, S-LP(C)
Disability Solutions, January/February 1998, Volume 2, Issue 5, p. 1, 3-7 Available online at www.csdsa.org/arttsl.asp

Miller J F, Sedey A, Miolo G, Rosin M, Murray-Branch J (1992) Vocabulary acquisition in young children with Down syndrome: Speech and sign Paper presented at the 9th World Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Mental Deficiency. Queensland Australia August 1992.

Gibbs, E.D., Springer, A.S., Cooley, S.C. & Aloisio, S. (November, 1991). Early use of total communication: Patterns across eleven children with Down Syndrome. Paper presented at the meeting of the International Early Childhood Conference on Children with Special Needs, St. Louis, MO.

Apraxia of Speech

Square PA, (1994) Treatment Approaches For Developmental Apraxia Of Speech. Clinical Communications Disorders, 4(3):151-61.

Sharon Gretz: Using Sign Language With Children Who Have Apraxia of Speech: Available online at www.apraxia-kids.org

Autism

Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D., from the Center for the Study of Autism, Salem, Oregon writes: "Many aberrant behaviors associated with autism and other developmental disabilities, such as aggression, tantrums, self-injury, anxiety, and depression, are often attributed to an inability to communicate to others. Signed Speech may, at the very least, allow the person to communicate using signs and may stimulate verbal language skills. When teaching a person to use sign language, another possible benefit may be the facilitation of their attentiveness to social gestures of others as well as of themselves".

Dr. Edelson's article is available online at http://www.autism.org/sign.html