Tiny Signers Handbook

Transcription

Sign communication
with babies and toddlers
H an d b o o k
Sign communication with babies and toddlers
Handbook
TINY SIGNERS project
Editors:
Živa Ribičič, Mojca Polak Williams, Andreja Trtnik Herlec
Authors:
Marjeta Domicelj, Franz Dotter, PhD, Vicki Gilbert, Gabrijela Gregorič,
Anica Justinek, Christine Kulterer, Svetlana Litvinaite, Tatjana Novak, PhD,
Mojca Polak Williams, Živa Ribičič, Andrea Rohrauer, Barbara Schuster
Proofreading:
Andreja Trtnik Herlec, Katja Vrtačnik Garbas, PhD
Translation:
Katja Vrtačnik Garbas, PhD, Andreja Trtnik Herlec, the Project team members
Languages:
English, British Sign Language
Graphics:
Mithila Shafiq
Photography:
Janja Hribar, Svetlana Litvinaite, Klemen Jeke, Jan Kraigher,
Mateja Lunar Jemec, Bojan Mord, Anja Musek, Tatjana Novak,
Peter Potočnik Hönigsman, Živa Ribičič, Lisa Zoechling
Logo:
Mateja Lunar Jemec
Cover photo:
Lev Dolgatshjov, ©123RF Limited
Graphic design and layout:
Anja Musek
Circulation:
50 copies
Publishers:
Zavod za gluhe in naglušne Ljubljana, Ljubljana and EuroVia, Leeds, 2012
CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji
Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana
376-056.263-053.2
81’221-053.3
616.28-008.14
SIGN communication with babies and toddlers : handbook / [authors Marjeta Domicelj .... [et al.] ;
editors Živa Ribičič, Mojca Polak Williams, Andreja Trtnik Herlec ; translation Katja Vrtačnik Garbas,
Andreja Trtnik Herlec ; graphics Mithila Shafiq ; photography Janja Hribar ... et al.]. - Ljubljana :
Zavod za gluhe in naglušne ; Leeds : Eurovia, 2012
ISBN 978-961-90560-9-7 (Zavod za gluhe in naglušne)
1. Domicelj, Marjeta 2. Ribičič, Živa
262781952
Tiny Signers, project number: 510622-LPP-1-2010-1-SI-COMENIUS-CMP
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This handbook reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be
held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
The manual is free of charge.
Contents
0
Introduction
1
1
The ‘Tiny signers’ project
1.1
Aims and objectives
1.2
The project partners
1.3
The project development
3
3
4
6
2
The ‘Tiny signers’ curricula
2.1
The training programme in Lithuania
2.2
The training programme in Austria
2.3
The training programme in Slovenia
2.4
The training programme in United Kingdom
2.5
Evaluation of the training
19
27
28
29
32
33
3
The rationale of using sign communication with babies
3.1
Language acquisition
3.2
Developmental stages of language acquisition
3.3
‘Baby Sign’/Sign communication with babies
3.4
Methods of ‘Baby Sign’
3.5
‘Baby Sign’ vs. sign language for a bilingual hard-of-hearing or deaf child
3.6
Speech therapists and ‘Baby Sign’ or sign language
3.7
Conclusion
3.8
Notes
3.9
References
39
39
42
44
47
52
53
54
54
54
4
A short history of sign languages of the deaf
4.1
History of the Slovenian sign language
4.2
Some facts about the British Sign Language
4.3
The history of the deaf education in Lithuania
4.4
A short history of sign language and deaf education in Austria
57
60
61
63
66
5
How to use sign communication with babies and toddlers
69
6
Specific adaptations required when signing with deaf and hard of hearing children
6.1
Communication and language development
6.2
General adaptations for a deaf adult
6.3
Rules to use a sign language interpreter
6.4
Adaptations for a deaf baby
6.5
References
73
73
74
75
75
78
7
Examples of sign communication elements
7.1
Example of a lesson plan
7.2
The manual alphabet in the British Sign Language
7.3
Example of a song
7.4
The list of words with graphics
79
80
81
82
83
On behalf of the Comenius Tiny Signers project co-ordinator,
Ljubljana School for the Deaf and the Conference Organizing
Committee, I congratulate all those who have contributed to
our successful international project and helped to bring to
fruition this special handbook.
Thank you.
Živa Ribičič, the Project co-ordinator
Ljubljana, Slovenia
2012
Introduction
This handbook is one of the main products of the Comenius Multilateral Tiny Signers project and is aimed
at presenting the models of early language acquisition of both deaf and hearing children below the age
of three using sign language in childcare/educational settings in different countries of the consortium.
The methods have been successful in increasing the awareness of the sign languages and their usage in
early child care settings. They have also been successful in developing improved models of collaboration
between the different actors, including parents, national deaf associations, nurseries, educational
authorities, child care professionals, teachers and policy makers. The key element of the success of the
initiative has been that local and national solutions have been developed in order to ensure sustainability
of the initiative in each of the participating country as well as wider.
Our experiences have shown that the sign supported learning approach based on official sign languages
of the countries is a tool which can enable the recognition of sign languages, can enable the babies and
toddlers to express themselves freely before their spoken language abilities enable them to do so, and
thus settle in kindergartens and other child care settings easier. Furthermore, it enables inclusion in the
early childhood classroom between deaf children (including those with cochlear implants) and hearing
children. Equally the development has shown many additional individual benefits of all of the involved,
e.g. child care professionals, teachers, parents of hearing as well as deaf and hard of hearing children,
as well as children themselves. The approach has led to the rethinking of learning practices, as well as
resources, environments and staff competences in continuation to work towards the creation of the
inclusive societies with special schools for the deaf and hard of hearing being resource centres for these
developments.
During our work we have been opening many doors, and broadening the horizons and creating
cooperation in the areas which are less likely to experience change, for example:
• We were developing a unique method to communicate with preverbal babies and toddlers based
on the national sign languages, which benefits both the hearing and deaf communities, which is
new to most EU countries.
• Instead of the usual further measures for integration of the deaf and hard of hearing, we are
focusing on creating inclusive environments as such, through the use of sign language in the
early child care for all.
• We were reaching outside the usual well set methods of interactions between the deaf and the
hearing in societies and creating links and roles between deaf and hard of hearing and hearing
people in which the deaf as the native speakers of sign language are in the role of teachers of
hearing, offering them the gift to communicate with babies and toddlers at a very early stage.
• The deaf teachers or other deaf specialists in sign language are active partners in the working
groups. Because of that our project is unique for involving several national sign languages: the
Lithuanian, the British, the Slovene and the Austrian sign languages,
and last but not least
• The project was focusing on the area of preschool education which is organised very differently
across Europe and is less likely to be the subject of joint European projects.
Our consortium is characterised by a variety of actors from four different European countries and
eight (the official national spoken as well as sign languages) different linguistic environments, whose
nature and the field of activities have provided the professional coverage of the issues addressed. Our
consortium is therefore a complex group of organisations (and individuals) with different profiles in the
1
Sign communication with babies and toddlers Handbook
field of pre-school education, special needs education, linguistics and project management skills. Each
of the partner of the consortium has formed a unique method of introducing baby signing which can
serve as a reference to potential other interested parents/child care professionals in the countries of the
consortium as well as broader.
This handbook is aimed at teachers, future child care professionals, childcare professionals working in
the preschool settings with the children below the age of three (the hearing as well as the deaf), as well
as childminders, experts in the area of preschool education, and last but not least parents of primarily
preverbal babies and children who wish to improve the quality of early childhood provision through
signing with children below three years and thus contribute to the development of children’s literacy
skills as well as social and emotional wellbeing.
The handbook is structured into three parts:
1. The presentation of the project and the overall project development, the examples of country
specific approaches of how baby signing has been integrated into the educational settings as well
as broader. In the continuation, there are the training programmes which were developed within
the project. In order to offer the picture of the immediate impact of the professionals these are
then followed by the summary of evaluation reports. This part is mainly aimed at presenting the
bottom up approaches which have been developed in the partner countries, and as such offers
ideas and motivation for the policy makers and child care professionals who wish to introduce
the approach in the new environments.
2. The second part offers the introduction of the sign language, the history of the sign languages,
the guidelines on how to use it and specific adaptations required when signing with the deaf and
hard of hearing children.
3. The third part represents a country specific part and is composed of the examples of lesson
plans, the example of signing a song work sheet, the British sign language alphabet and 100
graphics from the British sign.
The second and the third parts are aimed at child care professionals who are interested in starting signing
in their classrooms.
Mojca Polak Williams and Živa Ribičič
2
1
The ‘Tinysigners’ project
Mojca Polak Williams
The main reason for the project ‘Tiny Signers’ was to create possibilities for communication for deaf, hard
of hearing and hearing children in the very early stages of their life and to overcome the gap which exists
in this field in the majority of European countries.
Namely, 90% of parents with a new born with a hearing loss, who decide for a surgery to implant the
hearing aid do not learn the sign language because they expect the child to hear after the operation
(Verdonik et al, 2008). The operation can, however, be performed only after the baby’s first birthday and
until then the babies are often left without any communication in the period when the basis for later
communication is established. It is also assessed that the development of listening and speech skills in a
child with a cochlear implant (e.g. after the surgery) will be optimal if such a child lives in an environment
rich in auditory and speech stimuli e.g. integration into mainstream kindergartens. To ensure success of
such integration the professionals at these institutions need to be educated and trained. However, the
recent studies (Verdonik et al, 2008) have shown that professionals are not sufficiently prepared to deal
with the issues of integration and to cope with different needs the child with a cochlear implant may
have. A successful way to answer the needs of these babies has been met through the developmentof
the baby sign language and the teaching of it to babies and their parents and carers which shows benefits
to hearing as well as hard of hearing and deaf babies. The inclusive initiative was developed in the UK
Yorkshire region, and within the project we wanted to spread the initiatives further also to Slovenia,
Lithuania and Austria.
1.1 Aimsandobjectives
The overall objective of the project was to implement an innovative approach with hearing and deaf
babies through the development and use of baby sign language and thus improve the quality of early
communication and language learning in the participating countries of Slovenia, Austria and Lithuania
and to further develop the community of signing babies in the UK.
One of the main objectives of the project was therefore to train teachers, trainers and Child Care
Professionals (CCPs) in preschool education in baby as well as toddler sign language and help them deal
with the issues of integration of hearing impaired children.
Furthermore, the project aimed at setting up structures which will integrate the courses into mainstream
curriculum in preschool education, to provide an efficient framework for the sustainability of the project
at the national as well as the European level.
Therefore, the training courses for teachers, CCPs and other experts in early child development were
implemented, as well as courses for parents of hearing and deaf babies (through pilot testing). In order to
provide an efficient framework for the sustainability of the project at the national as well as the European
level they are being integrated into the mainstream curriculum in preschool education. Initial steps have
been taken towards the accreditation of the transferred learning packages.
The baby/toddler sign language courses were developed using the national sign language, which required
close cooperation between deaf communities, child care and special needs professionals, curriculum
authorities, kindergartens and schools.
3
The project facilitated the use of sign language by parents, carers and the next generation of sign language
users. Besides, the project also aimed at increasing the awareness and communication with deaf and
impaired people in the corresponding communities and thus creating an encouraging environment in
which hearing as well as deaf babies and toddlers would thrive.
1.2 The project partners
The partners in the project were the following:
LjubLjana schooL for the Deaf (ZGnL), the promoter
School for the Deaf is the central Slovenian institution for the education of deaf, hard of
hearing and speech impaired children and adolescents (from the age of one), founded in
1900. The founder is the Government of the Republic of Slovenia.
The main tasks are to educate children from the time of the diagnosis until they have
completed their studies at secondary school level. The primary goal of the school is the
optimal development of the child’s abilities in all areas, with special emphasis on the
development of language (the Slovenian language and the Slovenian Sign language),
communication, hearing and speech. Language is essential for the comprehensive development of a
child. Therefore, the primary goal is the development of a child’s language skills from the very early
ages. The speech and language impaired children are educated with emphasis on speech and language
development applying the holistic approach and team approach to education, training and rehabilitation
and working with the parents. The staff are both hearing and deaf teachers.
unIVersItY of KLaGenfurt, the centre for sign Language and Deaf communication
(ZGh)
The University of Klagenfurt was founded as a reform university in
the 1970s. It has now about 600 employees and 7,500 students. The
Centre for Sign Language and Deaf Communication (abbreviation:
ZGH) has authored materials for the Austrian Sign Language
(courseware and grammar) and was engaged in several national and
EU projects on deaf issues as a partner or as a coordinator. The ZGH
has five hearing, five deaf and one hard of hearing co-workers. ZGH
aims at improving the situation of deaf and hard of hearing people
concerning education and job chances. It has experiences in sign language teaching and research (sign
language courses, grammar of OEGS - the Austrian Sign Language, Curriculum for the education of deaf
sign language teachers), deaf user needs, deaf education concerning written language (e.g. English for
the deaf) and computer skills for the deaf.
For more information see http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/zgh.
the LIthuanIan rehabILItatIon centre for Deaf anD harD of hearInG
(rKrs)
The Lithuanian rehabilitation centre for deaf and hard of hearing is an active implementing body of the
Lithuanian Association of the Deaf. It unites over 4,000 members. The organization acts at the national
level of Lithuania presenting needs and equal rights of deaf people in different fields of life (education,
culture, social issues etc.). The organization today has over 30 employees (professional sign language
4
interpreters, social workers, project managers, employment coaches and others) that promote local,
national and international projects in the field of deaf people integration.
The Lithuanian Association of the Deaf has over a 70-year history of activities. Together
with social partners and public bodies it implements the rights of deaf people on a
legal basis (legislation), public basis (social activities for communities), educational
basis (promoting sign language legislation and usage at schools and other public
places) etc.
euroVIa, educational research
EuroVia provides services in the field of educational and training services. The
organisation provides competence and needs analysis and capacity building for
educational providers at national and European levels. Areas of training provision
include training in the assessment of prior learning, how to implement measures
for the integration of the socially excluded youth into the mainstream education
provision, training on institution building and also on implementation of active
learning approach. However, it also provides links between educational, training,
and employers organisations and the European aspects of their work. Partners within the organisation
have a wide range of experience in projects within the lifelong learning programme, including acting as
project promoters, coordinators, and evaluators within individual projects, as well as providing evaluation
services for National Agencies and the European Commission.
natIonaL InstItute for Vet sLoVenIa (cPI)
CPI is the central development and advisory institution for VET in Slovenia. It was
founded by the Government in 1995. Preschool education is according to the
Slovenian classification within the VET, and thus under the authority of the CPI. The
basic tasks include the creation of professional starting points and methodologies for
development in VET. Within the institute they develop methodologies for module
structured and competence based VET curricula for secondary vocational and
professional education and training. Other basic activities include monitoring and
evaluation of curricula, final exams and didactical approaches. One of the permanent activities is the
training of teachers, mentors and school management, providing all support in the process of the new
curricula implementation. It is also a national reference point for qualifications, quality assurance and
the national qualification framework. It cooperates with other EU institutions and in different networks
(ReferNet, TTnet, SEVET Net), working groups and international projects.
the schooL centre ruDoLf MaIster KaMnIK (ŠcrM)
The School Centre Rudolf Maister Kamnik consists of the grammar school, high school
of economics and secondary school for the education of educators in kindergartens.
Adult education where people can take different community based classes and courses
is also located at their premises. The building itself is designed to accommodate
physically challenged -handicapped students. Therefore the main values that they
are trying to point out are respect, tolerance and solidarity. The centre has got a long
tradition. This year they are celebrating the 60th anniversary of grammar school and
the 30th anniversary of the high school of economics. During these years they have taken part in many
projects and they have undergone many changes in their programmes. The programmes are language,
science or economy oriented, there is a project class called The European Class and the programme for
educators in kindergartens, where baby signing initiative has been introduced.
5
babIes can sIGn
Babies Can Sign (BCS) is an independent teaching organisation based in West
Yorkshire, England, offering services to children (up to the age of eleven) and their
parents/carers, as well as to childcare professionals. The institution’s main aim is
to enhance communication with young children through the use of sign language.
As well as working with preverbal children, hearing and hard of hearing (aged six
months to two years), they work in many other settings, including but not limited
to nurseries, preschools, children’s centres, schools and libraries. To deliver the services BCS works with
the North Yorkshire County Council. Babies Can Sign sessions are taught by qualified and experience
signers, using the British Sign Language signs.
1.3 Theprojectdevelopment
One central ambition in the Tiny Signers project was to organize joint learning in the project between
the evaluators, co-ordinators, the promoter, the partners (the national project leaders), the teachers,
educational experts, either hearing or deaf in all the participating countries involved. In addition, it has
to be stressed out that when creating networks and during the daily cooperation between hearing and
hard of hearing people, the deaf people as experts, native speakers of sign language and teachers of
hearing people all of the partner organisations reached out of their normal ways of thinking and working.
To support this development we used the interactive learning approach which was done together with
- not on – the participants. Several questionnaires and working tools were produced to support the
process.
In this way the research could get a perspective from the ‘inside’ which is useful both for the scientific
documentation as well as for the development of a good practice. A part of the project meetings was
organised as seminars where countries’ developments, different results and practices were presented
and discussed. The data about the testing of signing with babies and toddlers in inclusive classrooms was
collected during the last part of the project by the participants, through case studies and study visits.
This also ensured a continuous dissemination of results among the partner countries.
The starting point was the participants’ immediate experience. They were then throughout the project
free to discuss and reflect on what they saw in the project. However, the evaluation of the project aimed
to go deeper than that. The ambition was to develop immediate understanding at a deeper and more
analytical level. The participants were invited to develop and analyse the collected material together
with evaluators and participants at meetings throughout the process. They were the co-researchers
throughout the project. At the beginning it was too early to decide on the coming topics or research
areas. Using the interactive approach, this was decided as the different stages developed. They may differ
from country to country or they may be the same.
1.3.1 Slovenia
context
Pre-primaryeducation(1-5 years) is an integral part of the educational system. Pre-primary provision
integrates centre-based child care and early general pre-school education. The programmes are carried
6
out by public and private preschool institutions, preschool units attached to primary schools, and
childminders. The Ministry of education, science, culture and sport is in charge of the training of the staff,
programmes and aids to particular groups of children. The municipalities are the main founders, funders
and direct providers of services.
Attendance is optional. Children can be admitted from the age of eleven months until they enter
compulsory education at the age of six. Due to the maternity leave of 365 days most Slovenian children
are included in either kindergartens or childminders settings by the age of one.
Qualificationofthestaff:Pre-schoolteachersat the pre-primary level qualify for the traineeship position
after obtaining a qualification Bachelor degree for pre-school teachers. The traineeship period lasts for
6-10 months of training at a work placement and ends with a Teacher Certification Examination, which
finally qualifies them for a permanent position.
In addition, kindergartens also employ assistant teachers, who are the holders of high school childcare
diplomas. The same traineeship requirements apply for them before they become fully qualified.
Specialneedsinpreschooleducation
Provision of special needs education in Slovenia follows a multi-track approach towards inclusion, which
means that a variety of services between mainstream education and special education settings are
offered.
The principle of ‘inclusion’ prevails also in preschool education. Most children have been integrated into
mainstream education settings.
Provision in mainstream kindergartens consists of special educational support through special
arrangements and an adapted programme with equal educational standards as prescribed in the
curriculum (adaptations are provided, so the SEN child can participate in the programme). In addition,
special classes are offered in pre-school institutions.
Special institutions offer special education programmes for pupils with moderate and severe disabilities.
The most specific programme in special institutions is the so called tutoring programme, which includes
various contents: social skills, interest and motivation, preventive disciplinary strategies, compensatory
measures and positive behaviour management.
Thedeafandhardofhearinginpreschooleducation
In Slovenia the babies’ hearing screening is performed shortly after they are born. There is not an early
intervention programme developed yet, but parents can attend school for parents where also signing
communication and sign language are presented.
The majority of parents of babies born with a moderate to profound hearing loss decide that their
children will receive a cochlear implant. They have a surgery soon after the age of one and receive a
cochlear implant in one or two ears. The costs for the surgery is covered by health insurance. From the
year 1996 till 2010, 137 children had a surgery in Slovenia, among those 19 with multiple disabilities. 104
children were pre-lingually deaf. A lot of parents decide to include deaf children with a cochlear implant
in special settings for the deaf for intensive rehabilitation (sign language is included) and children are
enrolled in mainstream kindergartens after the age of four. Deaf culture and the use of sign language are
deprived because of those reasons.
In special education for the deaf the same national curriculum is followed as in all other kindergartens
across the country. However, the teaching approach is adapted to deaf and hard of hearing children. Also
the number of children in a classroom with deaf and hard of hearing children is smaller, up to six children
as opposed to twelve children in other classrooms.
There are only a few deaf children who do not have the surgery and usually they are from deaf families.
Their first language is the Slovene sign language and they are educated bilingually with two preschool
teachers with a good knowledge of signing.
7
An interpreter visits a group of youngest children from the age of one to three and teaches them basic
signs within the Tiny Signers project using the method presented in this handbook.
A sign language interpreter is used in kindergarten on field trips or at other kindergarten activities.
Children with hearing parents come to a kindergarten without the knowledge of signing. Besides, parents
are suggested not to use signs and rather wait until the operation is performed. Children are without the
access of language until they start to comprehend speech with the help of a cochlear implant.
the development
There are three partners from Slovenia, which are all strong players in the Slovenian educational
environment. First, there is the promoter, ZGNL, which is the central Slovenian institution for the education
of deaf, hard of hearing and speech impaired children. Then the CPI, which is the institution of the
National Institute for VET (according to the Slovenian law, it is responsible also for preschool education).
Its tasks include the creation of professional basis and methodology platforms for the development of
curriculum in secondary vocational and professional education. The third partner is the ŠCRM, which is
one of ten schools in Slovenia which offer programmes to child care professionals.
The activities of the partners have partly focused on the preparation of the reference materials (the core
curriculum, the evaluation and project management) at the project level. However, the participation of
three partners has resulted also in the extensive development of the activities in Slovenia, where the
bottom up approach has been combined with the top down one and has resulted in the movement of
the toddler and baby signing across the country.
Before the beginning of the project there was just one organization involved in Baby Signing aimed
at hearing babies and their parents. They used the made up signs and mainly concentrated on the
presentation of the reference materials to the parents of the hearing children. There were no courses for
deaf and hard of hearing babies and their parents. Furthermore, there were also no courses offered for
the professionals working in mainstream kindergartens and/or school environment. Equally, there were
no materials for babies and parents (either deaf/hard of hearing as well as hearing) available using the
signs from the Slovenian sign language. The development in Slovenia, similarly as in Lithuania, therefore
took steps in a few directions.
An extensive area of work was the development of different models of training courses for babies, parents,
as well as courses for child care professionals, using the Slovenian sign language. All three organisations
were involved. The core curriculum was developed (under the responsibility of CPI), which was followed
by the 105 implementation curriculum (please, see the Chapter 2), prepared by ZGNL and ŠCRM. The
course was offered as an optional course within the open curriculum in the ŠCRM within the pre-service
training. 34 students took the training which lasted through the whole school year 2011/12. Within and
around the course the Slovenian partners organised several dissemination and valorisation events.
Among others there was ‘Vzgojiteljada’, a festival organized for all schools running the programme for
preschool teachers. It was organized by ŠCRM. ZGNL and CPI also participated. One workshop for students
was prepared by the teachers and the theme was Sign communication for toddlers. Students learned
signs, basic theory and presented one signing song at the end of the festival to all other participants.
Also the deaf students from ZGNL participated and helped to teach the signs. The workshop was a great
success and headmasters from other schools were interested in the new curriculum for toddlers.
Within the Slovene association for the deaf and hard of hearing and deaf clubs in Slovenia a presentation
was made at a humanitarian run organized by ZGNL on 11th of October 2011. ZGNL organized a
humanitarian run called Chestnut run. All teachers, children and students joined and representatives
from The Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and clubs came, too. Also a lot of parents and
other people joined in. It was a great opportunity to present the Tiny Signers project. Students from
ŠCRM performed two songs in sign language and with a puppet Miha. The event was filmed by The Deaf
Association and broadcasted at their Internet TV.
8
Equally, in February 2011 and 2012 the project was presented to parents and future students of childcare
at ŠCRM. The students have an experience of the curriculum and they could present signing for toddlers
as a method and also the songs. For ŠCRM it is added value to have Signing for toddlers within their
school curriculum.
The largest dissemination activities were organised alongside the placements in kindergartens. Namely, a
part of the training course is also the placement in the local kindergartens. Therefore, in March students
went to a placement in local kindergartens (8) and two of them in the Slovenian bilingual kindergarten in
Klagenfurt. As they already had 60 hours of training following the curriculum within the TS project they
had a task to present the project to kindergartens, parents and children. The level of the presentations
varied, with four not having time to deliver the presentation. However, a few managed to present the
signing and also raised further interest. The presentations were most successful in the kindergarten
which are already involved in signing through the training events of the CPI.
The second scope of training activities is related to the in-service training for the childcare professionals
launched within the network of the Slovenian kindergartens. The CPI (within the scheme for professional
development of teachers, run by the Ministry of education, science, culture and sport) launched the
eight hours programme of in-service teacher training for childcare professionals. Initially there was one
training event planned for twenty childcare professionals, as also envisaged in the Tiny signers project
proposal. However, due to a very good feedback and a vast interest, two further events were organised
and carried through. The number of the professionals trained therefore rose to sixty-five. The participants
come from different areas of Slovenia. Due to the further increased interest, CPI has already prepared
for the Ministry of Education the Tiny signers II training course with three repetitions for the school year
2012/13, as well as additional three courses of the Tiny signers for the new participants.
Some members of Slovene project team at work (by Peter Potočnik Hoenigsman)
9
Furthermore, there was a course of sign language organised aimed at the employees of the ŠCRM and
CPI with the following topics: basic signs for babies, history of the deaf, communication in sign language,
difference between sign language and communication with signs. The course was run by a deaf teacher
and a translator of the Slovenian and the Slovenian sign language. A DVD with basic signs was produced.
In addition, there was also a course for the staff of the ZGNL organised to implement the method of topic
based signing across the college. They considered using this approach also when working with other
target groups.
The third scope of training events is the training for parents of deaf and hard of hearing as well as hearing
babies/toddlers, which was organised by ZGNL.
Special workshops for deaf and hard of hearing children, the goal of which was to identify special needs
and adaptations needed for courses of baby signing, were also organised. Workshops for children who
are in special settings were held in ZGNL. Workshops were held from November to May (together 10
hours). The adaptations for deaf and hard of hearing children are further explained under the chapter
Specific adaptations required when signing with the deaf and hard of hearing children (Chapter 6).
The course was organised in May 2012 and brought together a group of parents and babies. There were
nine parents, one grandmother and seven children from the age of six months to twenty months. There
were three workshops. Different topics were covered: basic signs, signs for relatives, animals, food and
emotions. We also explained the theory of signing with babies and toddlers. Participants were really
interested and motivated. The workshops were led by Živa Ribičič and two assistants, a deaf person and
a hearing kindergarten teacher. There was also one child with a cochlear implant. All parents were very
interested in workshops and they wanted to proceed with the process of signing. Therefore, they decided
to meet again in June 2012 and talk about the progress and open questions.
ZGNL put a lot of effort in producing relevant and attractive training materials to be used while working
with babies and toddlers in teaching them baby sign language using the Slovenian sign language. This
work resulted in the development of photos of 140 signs of the Slovenian sign language to be used at the
courses with babies/parents, as well as childcare professionals. Furthermore, a colourful booklet with
100 first basic signs for children, parents and childcare professionals is on its way. The signs in the booklet
are categorised into topics with explanations and rules to support the teaching. ZGNL has also started
with a small library with reference materials of teaching the Slovenian sign language to kids.
It is important to state that the ŠCRM has already reached the decision to run the course also next
year, the development in kindergartens where signing for babies and toddlers was introduced this year,
will equally take place next year with additional training events, monitoring activities, as this is already
agreed with the Ministry of education, science, culture and sport for the next school year.
1.3.2 United Kingdom
context
Every year, approximately 8,000 children are born with different degrees of deafness in the UK. A much
smaller number lose their hearing through other causes such as meningitis.
90% of deaf children in the UK are born to hearing families with little or no experience of deafness and
sign language. National Deaf Children’s Society (NCDS) has shown that good communication in the early
years can help prevent future mental health problems and raise the chances of students to achieve
better grades at GCSE.
United Kingdom (ENG/WLS/NIR): Some settings in the private and voluntary sectors provide for a wider
age-range but provision for under-3s is not shown as, even though it is accredited, it is not funded. There
10
is a limited level of funded provision for under-3’s, but this is not shown in the figure either, as there is
no general entitlement.
United Kingdom (SCT): it is up to local authorities to provide monetary assistance for the care of 0-3 year
olds if they wish so but they are under no central obligation to do so.
GeneralPreschooleducation(3-4 years) is a non-compulsory part of the UK’s education system. There
is no legal requirement for children to start formal education until the term in which they turn five. Preprimary provision integrates centre-based childcare and early general pre-school education. Preschool
education exists in both public and private institutions, pre-school units attached to primary schools (free
of charge),and private preschool classes at private day nurseries (cost to parents). All children who are
3-5 years old are entitled to 15 hours per week of free preschool education.
United Kingdom (ENG/WLS/NIR): Some settings in the private and voluntary sectors provide for a wider
age-range but provision for under-3s is not shown as, even though it is accredited, it is not funded. There
is a limited level of funded provision for under-3s, but this not shown in the figure either, as there is no
general entitlement.
TheEarlyYearsFoundationStage(EYFS) was launched in the UK in 2007 and first implemented in 2008.
All practitioners outside the home MUST follow this framework for ALL children from birth to five years. It
follows a play based approach. Learning goals are set and assessed for each child within this framework.
Each child has an Early Years Foundation Stage profile which follows them through childcare/education.
Qualificationofstaff:Preschoolteachers
There are various routes into pre-school teaching in the UK. These are varied and complicated. Practitioners
do not need to have a qualified teacher status to work in a pre-school. There are currently numerous
academic and vocational qualifications that people can study towards – BTEC National Diplomas, e.g. in
Children’s Learning and Development or NVQs (National Vocational Qualification) in Childcare. These
are not compulsory but desirable and enable individuals to gain better positions. Individuals can gain a
degree standard in nursery education within a Day Nursery, then carry on and gain entry to the Early Years
Foundation Degree. This can lead on through various routes to the Early Years Professional Status (EYPS)
qualification. The aim in all children’s centres by 2010 and in all private, voluntary and independent full
day-care settings by 2015, is to have an EYPS qualified practitioner leading the curriculum for children
and families.
Preschooleducationforchildrenwithspecialeducationalneeds(SEN)
Provision of special needs education in the UK follows a multi-track approach towards inclusion, which
means that a variety of services from mainstream education and occasionally segregated settings are
offered. The principle of ‘inclusion’ prevails also in preschool education. The majority of children have
been integrated into mainstream education settings. For some children with special educational needs,
including those who are deaf, the local education authority issues a statement of special educational
needs. This is a document which sets outs the child’s learning needs, and what support the local education
authority will give the child’s school, to help them to reach their learning potential. Each child is given an
IEP (Individual Education Plan) which sets out information about the targets the child is working towards
and what support will be put in place to help them achieve these.
Deafpre-schoolchildren
NDCS found that only 22.1% of deaf pre-school children attained a good level of attainment compared
to 60% of hearing children. Therefore twice as many deaf children failed to achieve a good level of
development compared to children with no SEN.
Cochlearimplants
Out of the approximately 800 UK children who are born deaf each year (as well as the smaller number
who lose their hearing through meningitis) less than 40% (approximately 300 children) had implants. This
11
is very different from many other European countries.
Hearing impaired service: Each local authority (LA) in England and Wales, the Education Service in
Scotland or the Education and Library Board (ELB) in Northern Ireland, has a hearing impaired service
(also known as sensory support service) to provide services to deaf children and their parents. The
support can be in the child’s home, at nurseries and playgroups or in school. It also offers information,
advice and support to nurseries, playgroups, schools and colleges that teach deaf children.
Teachersofthedeaf(qualified teachers who have taken further training and are qualified to teach deaf
children) provide support to deaf children, their parents and family, and to other professionals who are
involved with a child’s education. Some teachers of the deaf are based in schools – others are known as
visiting or ‘peripatetic’ teachers of the deaf (who travel to the child’s home and playgroup or nursery or
pre-school). They offer support, advice and information to families and those working with deaf children.
Pre-school or early years teachers of the deaf have specialist training to work with very young children.
For many families, the child’s teacher of the deaf may be the main person responsible for co-ordinating
the early years support service for the family.
The use of sign language in pre-primary education: There is no formal application of the use of sign
language with children in pre-primary education in the UK. Some nursery and pre-schools (both private
and state funded) do use sign language but it is very much on an ad hoc basis. The individual school will
make the decision. This is usually based on either having children who are deaf or have other additional
communication needs and they already use sign language or it is deemed that it would be useful. Then
once again it is their decision as to which signs or version of sign language to use, and there is very
little guidance on this. Some SENCOs and speech therapists advocate the use and some do not. Some
nurseries/pre-schools choose the American Sign Language (this is usually because the first resources
which come up on sites such as Amazon are in the ASL, but this is not always clear), many use MAKATON
(a sign system developed after the BSL specifically for children with learning difficulties, combined with
symbols to aid communication) and some use the BSL. Some areas have even developed their own
versions, e.g. in Somerset, they also use Somerset Total Communication.
the development
The main UK partner, Babies Can Sign (BCS), is an independent teaching organisation based in West
Yorkshire, which offers services to children (up the age of eleven) and their parents/carers, as well as to
childcare professionals with the main aim to enhance communication with young children through the
use of the British Sign Language. The initiative is very well accepted in the region and is implemented in
settings including, but not limited to, nurseries, pre-schools, children’s centres, schools and libraries. In
order to deliver the services BCS has worked in close cooperation with North Yorkshire County Council.
The main task of the UK partner was therefore to share its knowledge and skills with other partner
countries, prepare some of the core materials to assist them, and to further expand the baby signing
community in the UK. As the other developments (the training and learning materials) are part of the
next chapter of the Handbook, only the activities related to further development of the service in the
North Yorkshire region and wider in the UK are going to be described here.
The BCS built its work in the project upon the existing contacts. They found it very helpful to have
excellent relationships with many local networks and organisations. However, it was also not difficult
to find new organisations who were interested in training of their childcare professionals, regardless of
whether they were training, i.e. childcare students or volunteers running local toddler groups. They were
very interested in the work BCS does, the expertise they can offer and were extremely keen to become
involved, which was very refreshing for the BCS.
In this respect, BCS made contacts with Leeds University, and held there a course with childcare
professionals (both staff and thirty-five students studying to be linguistics teachers at Leeds University to
introduce signing as a method of teaching a foreign language). It is hoped that further research will be
12
undertaken by students with dissertations.
A number of promotional events took place at libraries across Leeds. The events coincide with the Deaf
Awareness week, which is a major event at Leeds Central Library. This was in conjunction with the Leeds
Deaf Children’s Society. BCS also works with the National Deaf Children’s Society. This includes being
involved in a fun day for deaf children in the region, doing demonstrations of the Tiny Signers techniques
and disseminating further information about the project signing sessions.
Furthermore, in May 2011 a course took place with childcare professionals (NVQ Level 3 in childcare)
at Leeds City College, which is the largest college in the city (with more than 40,000 students in all of
the courses). The result of this event was the decision to introduce an optional fifteen-hour module
for Level 3 BTEC National Diploma in Children’s Care, Learning and Development students, beginning in
January 2012. It is intended that it will eventually lead towards accreditation. BCS in cooperation with the
head of the childcare courses and course tutors developed the curriculum for the course. Vicki Gilbert
(Babies Can Sign) taught a ten-week course/module for twenty child care students. Covering topics such
as deaf awareness, benefits of signing with babies and children (particularly in a childcare setting), sign
acquisition, how to introduce the signs to children in different scenarios and links with the Early Years
Foundation Stage. They expressed an interest in further training.
Another important connection was made with the Pre-school Learning Alliance, which is the UK’s largest
early years membership organisation and voluntary sector provider of quality and affordable childcare.
It is an educational charity representing the interests of 14,000 member settings who deliver care and
learning to over 800,000 UK families. Their goal is enhancing quality provision and delivery in childcare
settings. BCS agreed to deliver two training sessions for thirty people in total working with local children
in preschool settings and to spread the techniques used in the project to as many preschool children and
settings as possible locally.
In addition, also the Bradford Under 5’s Association (BUFA) was contacted and engaged in the training of
their staff. The BUFA is commissioned by Bradford Council’s Early Childhood Services to support all Under
5’s groups – toddler and play groups with the mission to enable young children to gain a better start
in life. They are the main support organisation, aiding training and development for preschool groups
in Bradford. It was agreed that there will be a training event organised for those running local groups
offering the training to 15 participants to enable them to use the Tiny Signers techniques.
BCS further plans to contact the Accreditation Bodies such as CACHE (Council for Awards in Care,
Health and Education), www.cache.org.uk, the leading specialist in vocational qualifications and their
development. CACHE qualifications are used in over 1,000 colleges in the UK. The intention is to approach
them with the possibility of the course material being accredited for future use with students. This would
enable the legacy of the project work to continue and colleges and training providers to be able to ‘drawdown’ funding, so as many students as possible can benefit.
BCS was very satisfied with the fruitful contacts and the extensive development. They assess this was
partly due to the established reputation of BCS but also due to the professional materials which were
produced as part of the project to help ‘sell’ the work to others, e.g. the glossy project leaflet, which
enabled them to get beyond the initial contact.
1.3.3 Lithuania
context
Pre-primary education (1-7 year olds) is an integral part of education system. Pre-primary provision
integrates centre-based child care and early general preschool education. The programmes are carried
out by public and private preschool institutions. The Ministry of Education and Science is in charge of
13
the training of the staff, programmes and aids to particular groups of children. The municipalities are the
main funders and direct providers of services.
Attendance is optional. Children can be admitted from the age of two and until they enter compulsory
education at the age of seven. The maternity leave period is optional from one up to three years. Due to
that most of the children are included in either kindergarten settings by the time they are two to three
years old.
Qualificationofstaff
Preschool teachers at the pre-primary level qualify for the traineeship position after obtaining a
qualification Bachelor degree for Preschool education or any other kind of pedagogical or psychological
education. Teachers, graduated from any other than pre-primary education qualification are obliged to
attend a so called catch-up study course at Vilnius Collage to obtain a Pre-primary educator degree.
Thespecialneedsinpreschooleducation
Provision of special needs education in Lithuania follows a multi-track approach towards inclusion, which
means that a variety of services between mainstream education and special education settings are
offered.
The principle of ‘inclusion’ prevails also in preschool education. But still the majority of children are
enrolled in special schools for deaf and hard of hearing as there is a lack of assistants in mainstream
education.
Provision in mainstream kindergartens according to rules consists of special educational support
through special arrangements, adapted programme with equal educational standards as prescribed in
the curriculum (adaptations are provided so the SEN child can participate in the program). In addition,
special classes should be offered in preschool institutions. Unfortunately, due to the lack of funding in
schools many of these services are absent.
Special institutions offer special education programmes for pupils with moderate and severe disabilities.
The most specific programme in special institutions is the so called tutoring programme, which includes
various contents: social skills, interest and motivation, preventive disciplinary strategies, compensatory
measures and positive behaviour management. All programmes are created by teachers of preschools
according to national standards but modified and mostly individualised.
Thedeafandhardofhearinginpreschooleducation
The majority of parents of babies born with a moderate to profound hearing loss decide that their
children will receive a cochlear implant. Doctors at hospitals promote this approach. They are operated
soon after the age of one and receive a cochlear implant on one or two ears. Costs for the surgery are
covered by health insurance up to 54,000 LTL (15,600 Euros). The rest must be added by parents.
From 1999 till 2010, 145 children has a surgery in Lithuania. A lot of parents decide not to include deaf
children with cochlear implants in special settings for the deaf for intensive rehabilitation (sign language
is included), but decide to integrate them as soon as possible which causes a huge damage to their
children’s rehabilitation process. Children are enrolled in mainstream kindergartens at a very early age.
Deaf culture and use of sign language is deprived because of those reasons.
the development
The National Lithuanian Rehabilitation Centre for the Deaf and hard of hearing, RKRC, is a well established
and reputable institution with a good network of organisations, in particular in the field of education and
employment for deaf and hard of hearing people. They are the main partner for the developmental as
well as implementation tasks of the project in Lithuania. However, the project development demanded
also the enlargement of the existing networks and engagement with some new organisations. Before the
beginning of the project there was just one organisation providing Baby Signing courses aimed at hearing
14
babies and their parents, using the signs from the American Sign Language. There were no courses for
deaf and hard of hearing babies and their parents. Furthermore, there were also no courses offered for
professionals working in mainstream kindergartens and/or school environment. Equally, there were no
materials for babies and parents (either deaf/hard of hearing as well as hearing) available using the signs
from the Lithuanian sign language. The development in Lithuania therefore took steps in a few interesting
directions. The RKRC put a lot of effort in producing relevant and attractive training materials to be used
while working with babies and toddlers in teaching them baby sign language using the Lithuanian sign
language. This pioneer work resulted in the development of a DVD with 500 signs of the Lithuanian sign
language to be used at the courses with babies/parents, as well as childcare professionals. Furthermore,
a colourful booklet was prepared and published with the title ‘My small tiny signs handbook’, with 76 first
basic signs for children, parents and childcare professionals. The signs in the handbook are categorised
into topics with explanations and rules to support the teaching.
Another product was produced – a 25-card set with 100 signs for children, parents and child care
professionals. Signs were illustrated by a British illustrator.
The RKRC also started with a small library with reference materials about the baby sign language,
mostly comprising from the research materials from the Anglo-Saxon environment, yet relevant for the
development of baby signing worldwide, as well as the reference materials of teaching the Lithuanian
sign language to kids. The organization obtained a lot of knowledge on this topic and is ready to develop
the network and share good practice at the country level.
The other extensive area of work was the development of different models of training courses for babies
and parents using the Lithuanian sign language, as well as courses for child care professionals. In order
to ensure education that the courses comply with the demands of the teacher training in Lithuania the
RKRC in both cases cooperated closely with the existing private organisation as well as external experts
from the preschool. These development resulted in the course for children (deaf and hard of hearing as
well as hearing) and parents based on the Lithuanian sign language as well as a 34-hour course (16 hours
of theory and 18 hours of practice) aimed at child care professionals working in preschool education.
The preparation of the course was based on the core curriculum which was produced at the project level
(see the core curriculum document) with the main aim to prepare childcare professionals to use the
Lithuanian sign language in the early childcare classroom. The curriculum is composed of the contents
of the baby signing approach in toddlers education, deaf culture, the Lithuanian sign language, sign
language training method with the Lithuanian sign language vocabulary and the presentation of training
materials and resources. The training started in March 2012 and was delivered by Asta Paškovske and a
deaf teacher Gražina Vosylienė. All of the kindergartens in Vilnius were invited to participate and a group
of nineteen childcare professionals was formed. It has to be noted that there was only a little interest in
the beginning when the promotional activities for the course started, the reason for this being that the
baby signing is a method which the kindergartens were not familiar with. However, after the registration
for the first TC had been closed, more pre-primary education institutions got interested and even asked
for additional trainings. Due to the increased interest, there is additional training planned for fifteen
participants. Among the participants there were a lot of speech therapists working in kindergarten centres
or special preschools, five were skilled users of Sign Language. Before, they had used signs naturally and
they had been interested in using them systematically.
The training programmes and the developments around them gave the RKRC a positive impulse and
future perspective to develop the training activities further and share the method among professionals.
Another training was organized for parents of hearing and deaf children. Altogether ten parents attended
the training.
The contacts with the Vilnius College, which is a college responsible for professional childcare professionals
preparation at high school level, were established. Professionals are equally prepared for the hearing
and deaf pre-primary education institutions. The Vilnius College is motivated to launch the Tiny Signers
courses for childcare professionals on regular basis and to integrate it into the curriculum of the future
childcare professionals and pre-primary education teachers in the school year 2012/13. In this way the
15
method will be widely used and spread and will have a continuous impact on preschool education in
Lithuania.
Furthermore, a meeting with the Ministry of Social Affairs (they finance two national programmes: Sign
language interpreting and SL usage) was organised. It finances all trainings in Sign Language for the
medical staff, firemen etc. At first they had reservations about training the parents because there are
not many deaf children left as children mainly have cochlear implants. However, after the discussion
they are now considering about offering the courses to parents and babies as an option to learn another
language, which is useful for all. The Baby Sign Language approach is taken into consideration and is
included into the program of 2013-2019.
1.3.4 Austria
context
Pre-primary education/Early child care: Types of institutional ECEC differ primarily according to the age
of the children. ‘Krippen’ (public crèches), kindergartens and parent-toddler groups are, in principle,
available to children who are 0 to 6 years old. Non-centre based services are also provided by child
minders and ‘Kindergruppen’ (playgroups). Approximately 70% of all ECEC facilities are operated by local
authorities, the remainder being offered by parishes, non-profit associations, companies and private
persons. Kindergarten is the most widespread service available, accounting for 86.7% of all children in
institutional care settings. The remaining 13.3% are distributed across ‘krippen’ (crèches) (5%), child
minders (3.5%), mixed age facilities (3.1%), and parent-toddler groups (1.7%). However, only less than 9%
of children below the age of three access the available services.
Qualification of staff: Kindergarten and crèche groups are staffed by kindergarten pedagogues (60.4% of
staff) and some 30% of ‘Erzieherinnen’ (care assistants). Approximately 25% of the assistants are trained
pedagogues. The remaining 10% of the staff have completed different training or may have none. Child
minders and parent-toddler group staff, like staff in kindergartens, are normally trained, and must take
into account age-specific and individual child needs.
Training requirements: Kindergarten pedagogues (Kindergartenpädagioginnen) receive a 5-year training in
‘Bildungsanstalten für Kindergartenpädagogik’ at 24 ECEC Training Institutes or ‘Fachschulen’ (secondary
education level) across Austria. To work in a kindergarten or a crèche candidates must have demonstrated
success in the Diploma exam and secondary school leaving examination (matriculation). Kindergarten
pedagogues generally work in kindergartens with children, 3-6 year olds. They may also work – often in
the positions of direction – in crèches for children who are between 0-3 years old, but the majority of
staff in crèches are ‘Erzieherinnen’ (educators, social pedagogues) who are trained in ‘Bildungsanstalten
für Sozialpädagogik’. ‘Erzieherinnen’ work essentially in crèches, kindergartens / ‘Hort’ (leisure centres
or classes for children), which children attend in the afternoon to do their homework and spent some
leisure-time. ‘Erzieherinnen’ working in crèches took special modules to prepare them for work with
infants and toddlers. Special needs kindergarten pedagogues have additional training, enabling them to
work with children deemed to have developmental problems or disabilities. Kindergarten assistants may
work at kindergartens or crèches without training, but many kindergartens employ ‘Erzieherinnen’. In
principle, child minders must also be trained in Austria. Child minders linked to the Austrian Federation of
Child Minders complete a relevant, short training course, but training requirements differ widely across
provinces. Training ranges from 30 hours in Lower Austria to 468 hours with a professional examination
in Styria. Although the training of both ‘Kindergarten pädagoginnen’ and ‘Erzieherinnen’ is of high quality
in the ‘Fachschulen’, concern is expressed about the level of training – which, at the secondary upper
level, is among the lowest in Europe. Current demands on the profession, e.g. the greater diversity of
children, higher education expectations of parents, and the need to promote equality of opportunity for
women in work – all suggest that kindergarten pedagogues need a tertiary-level, professional education,
16
which, in turn, would lead also to higher quality standards in services.
Parental leave: Parents may take up to three years of supported parental leave, if both parents take at
least six months. Most fathers do not use this entitlement, reducing the leave in those families to 30
months, and since 1996 to 24 months. Mothers receive 16 weeks of maternity leave, required to be taken
before and after the child’s birth. A cash benefit that replaces full wages is paid for this period. There is
protection from dismissal during a long parental leave (up to two years), and for up to four weeks after
returning to former positions. A generous Child Benefit is also paid to low-income families for 30 months
– or to 36 months if both parents claim. Parents can also take a paid, job protected leave to care for a sick
or a handicapped child under the age of 12.
Specialneedschildren
Children with disabilities: Special needs kindergartens, operated by ‘special education kindergarten
teachers’, provide programmes promoting children and providing therapy.
Children may also be served in through ‘integration groups’, whereby children with special needs are
included in mainstream kindergartens. In general integration groups contain15 children, 3-5 of whom
may have been medically evaluated as having special needs.
However, there is no legal entitlement to inclusive child care and there is insufficient data available
to document the level of access, need, or support to children with disabilities in either child care or
kindergarten. Consequently, levels of access for these children differ widely across the provinces.
Proactive federal involvement is lacks in this and other important fields.
Provisionsofchildcarefordeafandhardofhearingchildren
Provision for deaf and hard of hearing children in Austria is disregarded. There is no systematic education
or training for people working in child care provided by the authorities responsible for Early Years
furtherance or kindergarten, and there is also no curriculum for bilingual education to be implemented
in institutions regularly. There are only single activities in some kindergartens and schools. Here you can
find some examples:
One Kindergarten in Vienna (Gussenbauergasse; 9th district) works with a bilingual concept. In the groups
there are deaf or hearing impaired and/or hearing children of deaf parents together with hearing children.
They and the childcare professionals, one of them is a deaf person, use German and Sign Language.
Please see:
http://www.bizeps.or.at/news.php?nr=11465
http://derstandard.at/1271377735255/Gehoerlose-Grammatik-mit-Fingerspitzengefuehl
http://www.plig.at/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=32
At the federal institute for the deaf in Vienna there is at least one bilingual integration group. Please see:
http://www.big-kids.at/sites/kindergarten/kggruppen.htm
At a special kindergarten in Styria FÖZ two native signers are employed. Please see: http://www.soziales.
steiermark.at/cms/ziel/4822957/DE
There are some providers for play-groups which use sign language:
http://www.kinderhaende.at
http://www.babyzeichensprache.com
http://www.oegsbarrierefrei.at/default.asp?id=5
the development
The development in Austria was greatly influenced by the fact that there is no general national information
centre for parents with deaf children. Furthermore although there are six schools for deaf children across
the country, the sign language is not generally used. Therefore when leaving education deaf children
17
have low literacy skills. One of the main tasks of the Austrian partner, The University of Klagenfurt, the
centre for sign language and deaf communication, ZGH, is to improve the education of deaf and hard of
hearing people and to teach and research the Sign Language.
Equally, in Austria sign language courses for deaf and hearing babies, their parents as well as for child
care professional are a very new thing.
The University of Klagenfurt, ZGH, therefore decided to work in close cooperation with ‘Kinderhaende’,
the organisation which began its work in 2005 and offers training courses in sign language for deaf
children and families. ‘Kinderhaende’ is based in Vienna, but there are plans to further develop centres
in other locations across Austria. The view of ZGH is that it is important to gain the recognition in Vienna
first. The main idea behind the creation of ‘Kinderhaende’ was the general lack of provision for deaf
children. ‘Kinderhaende’ now also has an information centre for families with deaf children and also
offers training for professionals. Courses are now offered to a wide range of age groups, up to the
age of 14. Classes are held for both children and parents and plans are in place to offer the courses to
teachers. They use the Austrian sign language. The teachers are both hearing and deaf persons with skills
in sign language teaching, sign language interpreting and pedagogy. For the Tiny Signers project they
took over some training tasks as well as the task to prepare the training programme for future childcare
professionals. In autumn/winter 2011/12 they were subcontracted and offered courses for babies and
parents. In June 2012 Kinderhaende taught the Module Sign Communication with Toddlers at the BAKIP
in Vienna. Although it was initially agreed that the training should be carried out as a part of a regular
pre-service training programme in the last semester in one of the classes for childcare professionals, the
school teachers then decided to give the opportunity to learn basics about this topic to more students.
Therefore, the training module was held at the end of the semester, during the school’s project days for
which the interested students could choose to sign up for the Sign communication with toddlers module.
At the end the students were split up into three groups, with 40 participants altogether. Each of the
groups profited from a full training day, with the hours varying from 6 to 9. The students were between
the age of 15 to 19 and were all enrolled in pre-service secondary education. Each of the training events
was held by Andrea Rohrauer, Dipl. Päd., (the hearing) and Barbara Schuster (the deaf). Some of the time
she was teaching alone and was simultaneously interpreted by Andrea Rohrauer and for some time the
two trainers were teaching together as a bilingual team doing take-overs. This worked especially well for
the units including games, songs, rhymes and practical information. The presence of a deaf person in the
teaching team was highly rewarded, with a few students now being motivated to learn the whole Sign
language, one even saying she would like to become a sign language interpreter (please read more under
the Evaluation of the training events, Austria, www.tinysigners.eu).
Furthermore, the Kinderhaende also work closely with some kindergartens in Vienna. They are trying
to extend their area of work and have also made contacts with the regional training institution for
kindergarten in Klagenfurt and they are quite interested in it, too.
They are also interested in providing courses for the target groups in the future. For ‘Kinderhaende’ the
project is an opportunity to improve their work through the exchange with experts from other countries
and to get in contact with different institutions (e. g. for childcare professionals and external financiers).
In addition, for funding the project, for co-operation in different working groups, etc. ZGH has a constant
contact with the Austrian Federal Ministries. Some years ago a discussion about the integration of sign
language in the education of childcare professionals started. This discussion was refreshed with the
Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture (SC Nekula) within the start of the Tiny Signers
project in order to implement sign language in the Austrian curriculum system. The head of ZGH, Franz
Dotter, is invited to participate in the working groups in 2012.
The discussion and working groups in the Austrian Ministry could be more fruitful than in the past
because the products developed within the project (materials, curriculum, guidelines etc.) can be used.
They also build the basis for new methods in education. This altogether represents a link to help the deaf
community to solve problems of the deaf community and/or discuss issues of equal participation of deaf
people in the society.
18
2
The ‘Tiny signers’ curricula
The main educational resources that were developed within the project are: the Catalogue of Knowledge
for Sign communication with Toddlers as the core document based on the QA (Quality Assurance)
framework for education and training, and the country specific training programmes. The Slovenian
partner which is the national educational institute for curriculum development, including the preschool
education, i. e. the CPI (Centre for Vocational Education and Training) took up this role and together with
other Slovenian partners (ZGNL, ŠCRM) and EuroVia prepared the catalogue of knowledge based on the
core competences. It can be used in all countries across Europe, either as a whole or in part. It is aimed at
the teachers of the students in preschool-education training programmes. However, it can also be used
as a foundation for the development of training courses for childcare professionals, depending on the
needs in a particular country. In the project, each of the partner countries used it as a basis to prepare
their own training programme/s which were then implemented. They are all presented in this chapter
and can be used as a guide for other teachers.
CATALOGUE OF KNOWLEDGE
Module title: Sign communication with toddlers
THE AIMS
The student will:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
realize the importance and the possibilities of sign communication with toddlers,
develop a positive attitude to sign communication with toddlers,
develop sensitivity for the understanding of nonverbal communication with toddlers,
learn to use basic sign communication,
transmit acquired sign communication skills in practice, i. e. in learning situations when working
with toddlers,
correlate acquired knowledge from other professional modules with the knowledge from this
module,
deepen the understanding of the complexity of language development,
learn about the possibilities to intercalate sign communication in the implementation of the
curriculum on the levels of planning, implementation and evaluation of educational activities,
realize the importance and the historic development of sign language for the deaf community
and the importance of sign communication for other groups of people with special needs,
follow the principle of equal opportunities and respect for diversity among children,
follow the principle of process-development approach to educational work,
follow the principle of active learning and providing opportunities for verbalisation and other
ways of expression,
deepen the knowledge of the factors of positive engagement with parents and cooperation
between kindergarten and family.
19
COMPETENCES
The student:
1. is able to understand the importance of knowledge / skills of sign communication with toddlers;
acquires the basic knowledge of sign communication with toddlers;
2. is able to teach sign communication to toddlers;
3. is able to reasonably intercalate sign communication in the implementation of the curriculum;
4. is able to involve the parents in the learning of sign communication.
THE OBJECTIVES
The student understands the importance of knowledge / skills of sign communication
with toddlers
Knowledge
Application of Knowledge
Attitude
(Informative goals)
(Formative goals)
(Views, beliefs, values)
Knows the history of the development
and characteristics of sign language in our
country and in the world.
Describes the key ‘events’ in the history of
sign language in the world and in our country.
Lists the basic characteristics of sign
language.
Positive attitude towards sign
communication is based on the awareness
of the human ability to communicate and
interact with other people.
Knows and understands the possibilities
and limitations of sign language for living,
learning and work of the deaf community.
Explains the importance of sign language as
a means of expression and communication
in everyday situations with the deaf and
hearing.
Clarifies the role of sign language in the
process of education of the deaf.
Explains the possibilities and constraints of
sign language for the employment of the
deaf.
It includes respect for and appreciation of
diversity and openness to learning different
modes of communication.
Knows and understands the options and the
use of sign communication with children
with special needs (Down’s syndrome,
autism, ...).
Explains the importance of sign
communication as a means of expression and
communication in everyday situations with
people with special needs.
Clarifies the role of sign communication in
the process of education of children with
special needs.
It includes respect, interest and
consideration of different modes of sign
communication, regarding developmental
needs of different target groups.
Knows different kinds of sign communication
with toddlers, and their advantages and
limitations.
Explains different modes of sign
communication with toddlers:
• communication by using the signs of the
sign language of the deaf community,
• communication by newly invented signs,
• the combined mode.
Positive attitude includes the adoption
of the national sign language of the deaf
community for sign communication with
toddlers.
Knows the benefits of sign communication
with toddlers.
Explains and justifies the benefits of sign
communication with babies and toddlers:
• intense communication between
children and adults,
• greater attention of the child to gestures
and facial expressions in adults and to
their own gestures,
• it is easier to express and communicate
the child’s needs and wants,
• mutual enjoyable experience for children
and adults in singing songs, telling
stories and fairy tales, riddles, etc., by
simultaneously showing the key words
and concepts in gestures (sign language
signs),
• control of impulsive behavior and
gestures in toddlers,
• decreasing undesirable behavior, such as
outbursts of anger, violence, biting peers,
• encourage speech development.
It includes an interest in child development
and an awareness of the role of adults in
supporting the toddler in his effort for nonverbal and verbal expression of feelings,
needs and wants.
20
The student acquires the basic knowledge of sign communication with toddlers (can use
sign communication)
Knowledge
Attitude
(Informative goals)
(Formative goals)
Knows 500 to 600 signs of the Slovenian Sign
Language.
Shows the signs.
Understands simple messages in sign
language.
Conveys simple messages in sign language.
Positive attitude includes the interest in
learning something new, tenacity in learning
and the joy of acquiring a new linguistic
mode of expression.
It includes respect for the Slovenian Sign
Language.
Knows the importance of language
development during the early years.
Explains the importance of positive language
environment in the early years.
Positive attitude includes an awareness
of the crucial importance of quality
encouragement of language development
during the early years.
Knows limitations to sign communication
with toddlers, and the resources for further
learning of sign language.
Understands the difference between sign
communication with toddlers and the use of
sign language, and is able to explain where
his or her skills can be upgraded.
Positive attitude and respect for the
Slovenian Sign Language.
Knows the importance of simultaneous
(concurrent) use of sign communication
and speech when communicating with
toddlers according to the method of signing
keywords.
Explains the importance and describes
an example of simultaneous use of sign
communication and speech with toddlers
according to the method of signing
keywords.
Positive attitude involves an awareness of
the integrity of a toddler’s perception and
expression.
The student can teach sign communication to toddlers.
Knowledge
(Informative goals)
Attitude
(Formative goals)
Knows and understands the process of
teaching sign communication to toddlers.
Explains the phases of learning sign
language:
• observation,
• recognition and understanding,
• first attempts and imitation,
• first signs,
• vocabulary building,
• ‘Eureka’ in signs.
A positive attitude is based on an
understanding of the development-process
approach. It includes an interest in individual
characteristics of children and the joy of
observing and monitoring children’s learning
and progress.
Knows the ‘principles’ (rules) for teaching
sign language.
Enumerates and justifies the basic principles
of sign communication with toddlers:
• it should be fun,
• eye contact between the adult and the
child,
• use signs and speech simultaneously,
• always pronounce the word that is
shown as a sign,
• give the toddler the opportunity to
see an object or activity we are talking
about ,
• use signs that fit the child’s stage of
development,
• use vivid facial expressions, especially
for expressing emotions,
• always use correct signs,
• repetition,
• responsiveness,
• patience (tolerance, respect for diversity
among toddlers in learning).
Based on the desire to establish emotional
contact with individual children.
It includes playfulness and sense of humour.
It includes the awareness of the importance
of nonverbal expression and willingness to
voluntarily express oneself nonverbally.
21
The student can use meaningful sign communication in the implementation of the
curriculum in the group.
Knowledge
Attitude
(Informative goals)
(Formative goals)
Knows the importance of integrating
sign communication in the process of
planning, implementation and evaluation of
educational work.
Explains the importance of weighing
the options and ways of integrating sign
communication in planning, implementation
and evaluation of an educational activity.
Plans sign communication according to
the abilities and previous knowledge of
the children and according to the aims and
content of the planned activities.
Carefully observes the responses of children.
Reflects his/her own work and adapts it to
suit the current circumstances.
Analyzes and evaluates the progress and
results of an educational activity.
Takes into account the findings of the
analysis and evaluation in further planning.
A positive attitude is based on the awareness
of the developing toddlers’ minds and their
desire and ability to learn about the world
by exploring and making sense of it.
It is based on understanding the role of
adults in their support to toddlers in this
effort.
It includes aptitude towards monitoring the
toddler at learning and making progress.
It includes awareness of the importance
of planning for the quality of educational
activities.
It includes awareness of adapting work to
the different perceptual styles of children in
the group.
Correlation with the areas: language,
vocabulary, literature, written language.
Closely monitors the child’s non-verbal and
verbal communication and introduces sign
communication in communication with the
child:
• uses signs for the words that the child
already knows,
• uses signs for the words guessed from
the child’s nonverbal attempts of
expression,
• uses signs for new words,
• includes sign communication in telling
rhymes, fairy tales and stories,
• along with writing and reading the
words the student also shows the
signs so that the children learn about
the possibility of expressing the same
content via multiple channels: speech,
gesture (sign) and writing.
It includes the awareness of the possibility of
sign communication to overcome barriers to
communication in multilingual groups.
It includes the awareness of the possibility
for a better quality communication with
children with special needs.
Correlation with music.
Sign communication enriches singing the
songs that children already know.
Teaches the children new songs along with
the use of sign communication.
Simple, well-known children’s songs are
enriched with sign communication.
Creates new children’s songs supported by
signs.
of personal creativity and expression.
Correlation with the daily routine.
Describes the possibilities for including sign
communication in daily activities:
• greets and communicates with the
child upon arrival and departure from
kindergarten,
• selects the signs and includes them in
discussions during the preparation of
meals, during meals and during cleanup
after meals,
• selects the signs which are included
in the preparation for the nap, for
the calming down before the nap
and for the waking up and getting up
afterwards,
• selects the signs and includes them in
the discussions during the time for care
(changing, bathing, dressing, toilet
training).
The positive attitude includes the interest
and awareness of the role of adults in
supporting the social interaction of toddlers
and promoting adaptation to different
circumstances.
↓
22
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Knowledge
(Informative goals)
Attitude
(Formative goals)
Correlation with play.
Displays how the elements of sign
communication can be introduced into play
by the pre-school teacher as a teammate in
symbolic play, motor, table, or design games.
It includes the belief about the important
role of sign communication for the
development of social skills.
Correlation with the areas of activities within
individual themes and projects.
Explains the use of sign communication
options in dealing with various themes and
implementing projects.
Describes a concrete example of a theme
or project and its possibilities for the
inclusion of sign communication, such as:
conversation, singing songs, reading fairy
tales, storytelling, drama, etc.. (e. g.: My
family, Jobs, Water, Waste Management,
Pets, Fruits, In the meadow, Vehicles, Ball
games, The house, Seasons, etc.).
It includes the belief about numerous
possibilities of meaningful integration of sign
communication in themes and projects.
The student is able to involve the parents in the learning of sign communication.
Knowledge
(Informative goals)
Attitude
(Formative goals)
Knows the role of parents in sign
communication with toddlers.
Can present to the parents the advantages
of sign communication for the toddlers.
Can present to the parents the method
of learning sign communication for the
toddlers.
Can present to the parents their role in the
process of introducing sign communication
to toddlers:
positive attitude towards sign
communication,
careful observation of the child at home
and monitoring his progress in sign
communication,
supporting the child in its attempts to use
signs.
Knows and respects the parents’ right to be
informed about the child.
Regularly exchanges information with the
parents about their child’s progress in
learning sign communication:
• informs them about the child’s response
to sign communication in the preschool
and about the child’s progress in
learning signs,
• receives information about their child’s
use of sign communication at home,
• exchanges information on the parents’
own experience in sign communication
with their children.
23
of a shared responsibility by the parents and
the kindergarten for the children’s welfare,
learning and progress.
It includes the belief that sign
communication facilitates the child’s
transition from family to kindergarten.
of sign communication as a link in bilingual
families.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES OF THE CATALOGUE OF KNOWLEDGE
MODULE HOURS: 105 hours (duration: 45 minutes)
Credits: 5 ECTS
Mandatory Evaluation Methods
Abbr.
SCwT
Open curriculum module
Sign Communication with Toddlers
Oral
Written
Other
Yes
Practical demonstration
PROVIDERS’ QUALIFICATIONS
Abbr.
SCwT
Sign Communication with Toddlers
Provider
Teacher
Qualifications
Bachellor Degree or 2nd cycle of Bologna programs
(Social Sciences or Humanities) and additional
qualification (complementary skills) for sign
communication
SPATIAL REQUIREMENTS AND EQUIPMENT
Playroom: a general classroom or playroom with mats (rugs) for sitting on the floor
Equipment and Teaching Aids:
• a doll/handpuppet (about 60 cm, 40 cm) (Signing Sam) with bigger hands (in the form of mittens/
gloves for adults),
• plush dolls/ characters from stories, rhymes...( about 30 cm),
• hats, usable items, toys, sound-producing implements, etc.
• a device for making soap bubbles,
• thematic picture books (word, gesture, image / photo for each concept),
• colouring books in the form of leaflets (serial sheets A4 format, landscape orientataion) with
• individual signs in rectangular frames (10 signs per A4),
• picture books with added photographs of the signs for key nouns, adjectives, numerals or verbs,
• a portable magnetic board for putting on the floor (folding, one side whiteboard, other side felt),
• magnet capital block letters,
• round bathroom rugs/mats (yellow for example) for sitting and declaring places for each child,
• a portable CD player,
• a camcorder,
• a PC,
• an LCD projector,
• CDs with recordings of children’s, folk and popular songs,
• an informative brochure for the parents,
• handouts for the parents (a list of new signs, rhymes, lyrics of the songs, stories etc.).
SPECIAL CONDITIONS
Abbr.
Activities
Provider
Students in the group
Number of hours
SCwT
Sign Communication with
Toddlers
Training for basic sign
communication
Teacher
Up to 32
35 hours of lectures
SCwT
Sign Communication with
Toddlers
Training for teaching sign
communication to toddlers
Teacher
16
70 hours of practical
exercises
24
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
The following assesssment criteria are to be taken into consideration:
• appropriateness of use, consistency of use, accountability, responsiveness and initiative during
all stages of the practical demonstration,
• the preparation of the candidate, playroom and the target group,
• the use of props,
• the practical demonstrations of sign communication with the group,
• the written preparation and documentation,
• analysis of the practical demonstration and discussion (oral exam).
CRITERIA ELEMENTS
•
•
•
•
Design and plan preparation 20%
Practical performance 60%
Documentation 5%
Oral exam 15%
Students from Slovenia with puppets signing ‘chocolate’ (by Janja Hribar)
25
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND OTHER RECOMMENDED LITERATURE
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•
•
•
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•
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•
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•
Kurikulum za vrtce v prilagojenem programu za predšolske otroke, komisija za prenovo vzgoje in izobraževanja otrok s posebnimi
potrebami, Ljubljana, Strokovni svet RS za splošno izobraževanje, 92. seja z dne 22.6.2006
Acredolo, Linda, Goodwyn, Susan: Znakovni jezik za dojenčke : originalni program znakovnega jezika za dojenčke : vodič za starše,
Kranj : Znaki, 2010 (Zagreb : Avernus Adria).
Anthony M., Lindert R.: Signing Smart with Babies and Toddlers, 2005
Daniels Marilyn: Dancing with Words (Signing for Hearing Children’s Literacy), 2001
Debevc, Matjaž, Peljhan, Živa , Spasovski, Janko , Dugonik, Bogdan : http://www.test.uni-mb.si/Zgodgluhih/default/s0011.htm :
Zgodovina gluhih [1760-1880] : učni pripomoček za učitelje, študente in učence pri poučevanju
Garcia, Joseph: Sign with your baby, 2001
Ivasović, Vesna : Ali slišimo gluhe? : na koliko decibelih? Mestno društvo gluhih, 2005 (Ljubljana : Jerebic).
Komac, Vito, Gašperič, Matej, Jaklič, Aleš: Učbenik slovenskega znakovnega jezika [Elektronski vir] / Ljubljana : Zoom Promotion :
Fakulteta za računalništvo in informatiko, 2001
Multimedijski didaktični pripomoček za učenje in poučevanje znakovnega jezika [Videoposnetek] / avtorji oz. zbiratelji besedišča
skupina za razvoj znakovnega jezika ; kamera Gorazd Orešnik, Ljubljana : Zveza društev gluhih in naglušnih Slovenije, 2009.
Multimedijski praktični slovar slovenskega znakovnega jezika [Elektronski vir] / besedišče Andreja Žele ; koordinatorka projekta Jasna
Bauman, Ljubljana : Zveza društev gluhih in naglušnih Slovenije, Združenje tolmačev za slovenski znakovni jezik, 2003.
Murray, Carol Garboden: Simple Signing, 2007
Peterson, Trish: Hands on Literacy, 2007
Podboršek, Ljubica, Krajnc, Katja: Naučimo se slovenskega znakovnega jezika : učbenik za slovenski znakovni jezik 2, Zveza društev
gluhih in naglušnih, 2010
Podboršek, Ljubica, Krajnc, Katja: Slikovni slovar slovenskega znakovnega jezika 1 : dodatek k učbeniku Naučimo se slovenskega
znakovnega jezika, Zavod za gluhe in naglušne Ljubljana, 2010.
Podboršek, Ljubica, Krajnc, Katja: Naučimo se slovenskega znakovnega jezika : priročnik za učitelje , Zveza društev gluhih in naglušnih,
2010
Silberg, Jackie: Miselni razvoj dojenčka in malčka, Igre za spodbujanje umskih sposobnosti, Učila, 2003
SETS OF WORK DUTIES IN THE WORKING PLACE (KINDERGARTEN)
Use of sign communication with toddlers during:
• all activities of the daily routine and
• individual themes of the curriculum learning activities in the first age group (early years).
THE AUTHORS OF THE CATALOGUE OF KNOWLEDGE
Coordinator of the working group: Anica Justinek, CPI
Members:
•
•
•
•
Marjeta Domicelj, MSc, external expert
Tatjana Novak, PhD, ŠCRM Kamnik
Živa Ribičič, ZGNL
Andreja Trtnik Herlec, MSc, ZGNL
Edited by: Mojca Polak Williams
Translation: Andreja Trtnik Herlec
Technical design: Gabrijela Gregorič (completed in July 2011)
26
2.1 The training programme in Lithuania
Baby Sign basics for child care professionals and parents
Aimed at: Childcare professionals
Carried out on: February 29th, March 7th, March 14th (36 hours)
Carried out by: Republican Rehabilitation Centre for the Deaf
Unit
Content
Aims and objectives
Methodology
(number of hours)
Unit 1 (1 hour)
Baby Sign history and
development
To present the Baby Sign method and provide the
knowledge on it to trainees.
Presentation
Group work
Unit 2 (1 hour)
Baby sign approach in preprimary education for toddlers
(the hearing as well as the deaf)
To explain how useful the Baby Sign method can be in
the pre-primary education of toddlers, both the hearing
and the deaf.
The positive impact of the approach.
Presentation
Unit 3 (1 hour)
The deaf Culture
To present to trainees some basic elements of the deaf
culture: sign language, performance, community, deaf
awareness.
Presentation
Life testimony by a
deaf person
Unit 4 (1 hour)
The National Sign Language
To present the National Sign Language grammar and
structure.
Lecture
Unit 5 (4 hours)
The Lithuanian Sign Language
vocabulary
To provide trainees with basic skills of communication in
the National Sign language, basic vocabulary of toddlers:
Home, Playground, Family.
Practical training
Group sessions
Unit 6 (4 hours)
Sign language training methods
To present different available training methods using
Baby Signing.
To present the practical usage of these methods in
everyday work.
Presentation
Group work
Video presentation
Unit 7 (12 hours)
vocabulary
Food, Feelings, Dressing, Home environment, Animals.
Practical training
Group sessions
Unit 8 (2 hours)
Sign Language in toddlers
education process
To present the advantages of the Sign Language usage in
everyday pre-primary education.
Presentation
Video presentation
Life testimony
Unit 9 (2 hours)
Training materials: resources
and development
To train trainees on how to make individual training
materials for everyday toddler education.
Practical work
Discovering examples
Practical experience
Unit 10 (8 hours)
vocabulary
Street, Songs, Communication.
Practical training
Group work
Total 36 hours
27
2.2 The training programme in Austria
Tiny Signers – Basics on how to use single signs of the Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) in Austrian
kindergartens and nurseries for pre-lingual communication and the prevention of speech delay
Aimed at: Kindergarten pedagogues in training
Carried out in: June, 2012
Carried out at: BAKIP 8, Lange Gasse 47, 1080 Wien, Austria (a school of 5 years training to become a
kindergarten pedagogue/nursery pedagogue
Carried out by: kinderhände, Dipl.-Päd. Andrea Rohrauer + Barbara Schuster
Unit
Content
Aims and objectives
Methodology
Unit 1 (2 hours)
Introduction to kinderhände
and the EU-Project Tiny Signers
Language acquisition of babies
and toddlers
Differences of speech
development and language
acquisition
Advantages of using signs with
babies and toddlers
10 easy ways of how to use
signs in your daily work
Getting to know the training organisation and scientific
relation.
Understanding the linguistic process a baby/toddler is
going through.
Acquiring the needed knowledge to use signs with the
children you work with.
Learning the possibilities of using signs with all children.
Getting confident in using the signs.
Lecture
PowerPoint
Presentations
Discussion and
brainstorming
Working in groups
with flashcards
Unit 2 (2 hours)
Introduction in the Austrian Sign
Language (ÖGS)
The differences between the
LBG and ÖGS
Names signing
Improving visual concentration and eye-handcoordination.
Learning the structure of a sign and how to do it.
Learning what is a language and what is a tool.
Learning cultural aspects of the language and the
cultural group which is using it.
Lecture
PowerPoint
Presentations
Quiz
Discussion
Work in pairs
Visual games
Work in groups
Unit 3 (3 hours)
100 signs
Games using the signs
Songs using the signs
Learning the first 100 signs for daily communication
with babies/toddlers.
Learning tools for daily work.
Getting creative and flexible in using signs in different
games and songs.
Games
Songs
Work in pairs
Work in groups
Short group
presentations
DVD short clips
Unit 4 (2 hours)
Introduction to the grammar of
the Austrian Sign Language
Introduction to the deaf culture
Learning the difference between single signs and a total
language.
Learning three basic grammatical topics, theoretical and
practical.
Learning the differences in grammar of questions,
sentences, commands.
Learning how to use facial expressions with the signs.
Getting an overview of the deaf culture and its main
characteristics.
Learning tricks to communicate with a deaf person.
Lecture
Work in groups
Work in pairs
Quiz
Discussion
(number of hours)
Total 9 hours
28
2.3 The training programme in Slovenia
Aimed at: Students of pre-school programme, 2nd year
Carried out at: Šolski center Rudolfa Maistra, Kamnik (a school of 4 years training to become a kindergarten
pedagogue/nursery pedagogue)
Carried out by: Živa Ribičič, Gabrijela Gregorič
Unit
Content
Aims and objectives
Methodology
(number of hours)
1 hour
Sign languages
Describes the key ‘events’ in the history Presentation
of sign language in the world and in
Question and Answer (Q and A)
our country.
Student investigation, written
presentation and feedback
1 hour
Basic characteristics of sign
language
Lists the basic characteristics of sign
language.
1 hour
The importance of sign language Explains the importance of sign
for deaf and hearing people
language as a means of expression and
communication in everyday situations
with the deaf and the hearing.
Student investigation
1 hour
The role of sign language in
education
Clarifies the role of sign language in the
process of education of the deaf.
Explains the possibilities and
constraints of sign language for the
employment of the deaf.
Presentation
Discussion
1 hour
Sign language and people with
special needs
Explains the importance of sign
communication as a means of
expression and communication in
everyday situations with people with
special needs.
Clarifies the role of sign communication
in the process of education of children
with special needs.
Presentation
Discussion
3 hours
The benefits of sign
communication with toddlers
Explains different modes of sign
communication with toddlers:
• communication by using the signs
of the sign language of the deaf
community,
• communication by newly invented
signs,
• the combined mode.
Explains and justifies the benefits of
sign communication with babies and
toddlers.
Presentation
Discussion
Small group work
24 hours
Signs of the Slovenian sign
language
Knows one hand finger alphabet,
knows 500 to 600 signs of the
Slovenian sign language.
Shows the signs.
Different teaching methods to learn
the signs, e.g. through songs, in pairs
or groups, e.g. sign charades, videos
Signed songs and stories
10 hours
Simple messages in sign
language
Understands and conveys simple
messages in sign language.
Demonstration and giving examples
Discussion
Use whilst on placement
Role play
10 hours
Sign language and sign
communication for toddlers
Understands the difference between
sign communication with toddlers and
the use of sign language, and is able to
explain where his or her skills can be
upgraded.
Presentation
Small group work
Discussion
Feedback
Work in small groups
Feedback
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29
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Unit
Content
Aims and objectives
Methodology
(number of hours)
8 hours
»Key words method«
Explains the importance and describes
an example of simultaneous use of
sign communication and speech with
toddlers according to the method of
signing key words.
Small group work
Discussion
Feedback
6 hours
The phases of learning sign
communication
Explains the phases of learning sign
language:
• observation,
• recognition and understanding,
• first attempts and imitation,
• first signs,
• vocabulary building,
• ‘ Eureka’ in signs.
Presentation
Discussion
Small group work
4 hours
Integrating sign communication
in planning educational
activities
the options and ways of integrating
sign communication in planning,
implementation and evaluation of an
educational activity.
Discussion
Small group work
Feedback
6 hours
Communication with a child
Closely monitors the child’s nonverbal and verbal communication and
introduces sign communication in
communication with the child, includes
sign communication in communication
with a child.
Discussion
Small group work
Feedback
2 hours
Teaching sign communication to
toddlers
Knows and understands the process
of teaching sign communication to
toddlers.
Discussion
2 hours
The basic principles of sign
Enumerates and justifies the basic
principles of sign communication with
toddlers.
Discussion
Small group work
Feedback
2 hours
Correlation with kindergarten
curriculum
the options and ways of integrating
sign communication in planning,
implementation and evaluation of an
educational activity.
Discussion
Role play
8 hours
Correlation with music
Sign communication enriches singing
the songs that children already know.
Discussion
Role play
2 hours
Correlation with the daily
routine
Describes the possibilities for including
sign communication in daily activities.
Discussion
Role play
2 hours
Correlation with play
Displays how the elements of sign
communication can be introduced into
play by the pre-school teacher as a
teammate in a symbolic play, motor,
table, or design games.
Discussion
Role play
2 hours
Correlation with the areas
of activities within individual
themes and projects
Explains the use of sign communication
options in dealing with various themes
and projects implementing.
Discussion
Role play
2 hours
Sign communication with
toddlers and parents
Can present to the parents the
advantages of sign communication for
the toddlers.
Discussion
Role play
↓
30
↓
Unit
Content
Aims and objectives
Methodology
(number of hours)
2 hours
The role of parents in sign
Can present to the parents their role
in the process of introducing sign
communication to toddlers.
Discussion
Role play
2 hours
The exchange of information
with parents
Regularly exchanges information with
the parents about their child’s progress
in learning sign communication.
Discussion
Role play
Total 102 hours
Students from Slovenia signing and singing at a charity event (by Tatjana Novak)
31
2.4 The training programme in United Kingdom
Signing with Babies and Toddlers in preschool settings
Aimed at: Level 3 Students BTEC national Diploma in Children’s Care, Learning and Development
Carried out at: Leeds City College, Leeds, Yorkshire
Carried out by: Vicki Gilbert
Unit
Content
Aims and objectives
Methodology
(number of hours)
Unit 1 (1.5 hour)
The deaf awareness
To gain basic awareness of the number
of deaf people (especially children) in
the UK, methods of communication,
organisations which can assist deaf
people (especially children, e.g.
National Deaf Children’s Society) and
to gain basic awareness of the national
sign language.
Presentation
Student investigation, written
presentation and feedback
Unit 2 (0.5 hour)
The history of Sign Language
with babies and children
To be aware of the history of signing
with both preverbal hearing babies and
deaf children.
Presentation
Unit 3 (1.5 hour)
Benefits of signing with babies
and children
To gain a thorough understanding
of the reasons why it is beneficial
to use sign language as a method of
communication.
Presentation
Small group work
Discussion
Feedback
Unit 4 (1 hour)
Benefits of signing in a childcare
setting
To be able to justify why it would be
beneficial for children and staff in a
childcare setting to use sign language.
Small group work
Discussion
Feedback
Unit 5 (4.5 hours)
Basic Sign Acquisition
To learn at least 100 basic signs
required for use in a childcare setting
(also the alphabet and additional
appropriate ones).
Different teaching methods to learn
the signs, e.g. through songs, in pairs
or groups, e.g. sign charades, videos
Unit 6 (1.5 hour)
Techniques and strategies for
introducing the signs to the
children
To develop a set of ‘tools’ to use when
using sign language with the children
in their care.
Discussion
Role play
Unit 7 (2 hours)
Aid children to learn sign
language
To enable the children to know what
signs to use and in which context when
trying to communicate.
Discussion
Unit 8 (1 hour)
Using signs in different
scenarios in the childcare
setting
To be able to select and use
appropriate signs in a variety of
scenarios in the childcare setting.
Role play
Small group work looking at different
scenarios, e.g. outdoor play, circle time
Unit 9 (1 hour)
Links with the Early Years
Foundation Stage
To understand how sign language
can meet the requirements of the
framework including cross curricular
links.
Presentation
Small group work on the examples of
how signing meets different aspects
of the six areas of learning and
development
Total 15 hours
32
2.5 Evaluation of the training
Marjeta Domicelj
In the partner countries, the training for sign communication with toddlers was implemented in
various ways as regards the number of hours, the content emphases and the participants. The module
or course lasted from a few sessions (in Lithuania and United Kindgom) or days (in Austria) to a yearlong implementation of the module within the child-care program of the secondary (15-18 years of
age) professional school (in Slovenia). Most of the training was given to the students in the secondary
professional school for child care, and there was some in-service training for child-care professional staff
and for the teachers in secondary professional schools for child care. In all of the countries the courses for
the parents and toddlers were also held. Monitoring focused on the implementation of the module Sign
communication with toddlers for students in secondary schools for child care. Monitoring was carried
out indirectly, through the questionnaires for the teachers and students. We wanted to know what
knowledge, skills and attitudes related to sign communication they acquired during the training and how
the lessons took place. In addition, we wanted to know whether the module is achieving the general aims
of the project ‘Tiny Signers.’ At this point, we present the findings based on the questionnaires completed
by the students. The total number of returned questionnaires was 92, namely 29 from Slovenia, 16 from
Lithuania, 13 from England and 34 from Austria.
For the students, we prepared a questionnaire with ten questions, by which we wanted to determine
what were their views of knowledge acquisition (questions: 1, 3, 4) and skills (qq.: 2, 5), what was the
impact of training on the formation of their attitudes to the training content (qq.: 1, 3, 6, 9, 10), and what
was their wellbeing like during the sessions (qq.: 7, 8). See the Questionnaire at the end of this chapter.
The puppet Miha has big hands and attracts children when signing (by Živa Ribičič)
33
STUDENTS’ ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
Why do you think that sign communication with toddlers is an important skill for working with young
children?
The students’ answers to the first question were grouped into five categories. Most students defined
the importance of sign communication with toddlers in terms of children – it will make it easier for the
toddlers to express their needs and desires. Only in this category we can see the responses of students
from all four participating countries. Some students from England and Austria emphasized that sign
communication will help shy children and non-native speakers of English or German. There followed
the responses in which the students explained the importance of sign communication for children’s
development, especially language and social-emotional development. The following two categories were
very close in the number of responses. The first combines both the children’s and the adults’ perspectives:
communication between adults and toddlers will be easier. Some students from Slovenia emphasized the
advantage of sign communication where a deaf child is included in a group of hearing children. The last
category includes the answers that particularly highlight the perspectives of adults.
What is your progress like in the acquisition of signs?/ How quickly do you learn signs?
Students’ answers to this question were classified by content into the following categories: step by step,
very quickly, very well, and other. The vast majority of students responded that they learn signs very
quickly or very well. Other students were moderately satisfied with their learning of signs: ‘At every
session we get to know quite a few new signs or we revise them« or ‘In the beginning it was difficult, but
now we learn pretty quickly.’ Only three students were not satisfied with their results. They wrote that
they were slow or only learned a few signs.
What other skills or knowledge, apart from learning signs (gestures), did you attain during this module?
Students’ answers varied a lot, but we were able to form five different categories into which we grouped
the answers. In addition, there were major differences in how the responses accumulated in individual
categories. The first category of ‘Knowledge about the deaf and hard of hearing, knowledge about the
deaf community and sign language’ is the strongest in overall responses, but the differences between
the countries are significant. In Slovenia, 20 out of 29 students responded that they have obtained this
knowledge, in Lithuania 5 out of 16 students, in Austria 7 out of 34, but none in England. In contrast, in
the second category, i.e. ‘How important is sign communication with toddlers and new knowledge about
the education of children’, the total of 15 responses consisted of ten from England, three from Lithuania,
two from Austria and none from Slovenia. Interesting differences among the partner countries also
reflected in the following two categories, which appeared only in the students from Austria and Slovenia.
In the category of »The importance of expressive facial expressions and body language in general’ (a
total of 14 responses), there were 12 students from Austria and 2 from Slovenia. In the category ‘How to
teach sign communication to children’, which consists of 12 responses, 7 responses were from Slovenia
and 5 from Austria. The category ‘Other’ includes individual responses, some particularly interesting:
‘We did a lot of group work and learned more about teamwork’ (3 such answers), and »Fresh ideas«. The
differences among the responses of the students can be explained mainly by the different organizational
forms of training in each country. Thus, in Slovenia the training took place within a compulsory specialist
module in the program of secondary technical-vocational school for child care, three hours a week
throughout the school year. This means there was more time for in-depth learning of broad topics related
to sign communication. The high frequency of responses by the students from Austria who stressed the
importance of expressive facial expressions and body language in general, is not surprising, since only in
Austria the training was implemented by a deaf and a hearing trainer/teacher. The students in Slovenia
also had several opportunities during the module for meeting and communicating with the deaf.
Which other professional module/course contents or knowledge do correlate with those obtained
during the module Sign communication with toddlers?
There is a marked difference between the students in Slovenia in comparison with the students from three
other countries. Most students in these three countries see the correlation of sign communication with
34
the theoretical modules/courses in the field of education (pedagogy) and psychology: 10 from England,
14 from Austria and 7 from Lithuania. Only three students from Slovenia answered that the module Sign
communication with toddlers correlates with the module Curriculum in the pre-school group, which
provides theoretical foundations and practical guidelines, i. e. the specific expertise for the planning and
implementation of educational work in kindergartens. Slovenian students see the correlations especially
with music, communication skills, children’s games and creative projects.
During which activities in the kindergarten could you use sign communication with the toddlers?
The students’ answers to this question were clustered in three categories and ranked by the number of
responses. The first category was ‘At all activities’ followed by ‘During sharing time in the morning, i.e. the
morning circle’. By far the most students responded that they would be able to use sign communication
in all activities in the kindergarten, i.e. in daily routines (eating, resting, hygiene) and in planned activities
of all kinds (music, storytelling, drama, sports, games). In the second place there followed the category
»At various activities’, which reveals the potential use of sign communication in a variety of planned
activities such as singing songs, telling stories, learning about animals and others. In the third category,
the answers underline the importance of sign communication in the morning circle, when the children
deal with more personal questions about their wellbeing, experiences etc.
How does learning Sign Language affect your personal life?
More than four fifths of the students with substantially different responses stated that the learning of
sign communication also affects their personal lives. These responses were arranged in three categories.
Most of them belonged in the category of ‘Well, useful, practical use’, such as: ‘Very well. Sometimes I
use signs when I talk to someone«, »I will benefit in case I work with a deaf child in a kindergarten’, ‘I can
use sign communication quite often because I know some people who are deaf’, ‘Well, because I can also
talk a little with the deaf’, etc. Looking at the number of the students’ answers from each country in this
category, we can see that most were from England and least from Austria.
There follows the category of ‘Getting to know and better understand people who can’t hear’. A positive
impact on the students’ attitudes towards the deaf was proven by the following examples of responses:
‘I realize how important it is mimicry, and how people live who do not hear’, ‘I can understand the deaf
much better now, as signing puts us in their situation’, ‘A lot, because now I know more about things of
which I had not even thought of ‘, ‘I can better imagine how others perceive the world around us. ‘
A special category are the responses of the students from Austria, who wrote about learning about the
importance of sign language, and the motivation to continue learning sign language: ‘I realized that
communication in general, either speech or sign language, is one of the most important things in life’, ‘I
want to become a sign language interpreter’. We believe that these responses reflect the impact of the
participation of the deaf trainer.
How did you feel during the module Sign communication with toddlers?
Rating
Number of responses
Total
AT
SLO
LT
UK
1
0
0
0
0
2
0
1
0
0
1 (1,1%)
3
1
1
0
1
3 (3,2%)
4
7
1
4
1
13 (14,1%)
5
14
5
3
8
30 (32,6%)
0 (0,0%)
6
7
8
5
24
44 (47,8%)
No reply
0
0
1
0
1 ( 1,1%)
Average score
4,1
5,1
5,0
5,6
5,24
Table 1
The students rated their wellbeing during the module on the scale from 1 to 6, 1 meaning very poor, and
6 very good.
35
Data in the table show that they felt very good on the course for sign communication with toddlers.
Looking at individual countries, we see the highest ratings by most students from Austria and by few
students from Slovenia; the same is true for average ratings. We conclude that the relatively lower score
in Slovenia may be influenced by the fact that the module was a compulsory (mandatory) part of the
secondary school program, which is followed by the assessment of knowledge in the form of grades,
whereas in Austria the students participated voluntarily, according to their interest and desire.
What is your favourite activity during the module Sign communication with toddlers?
By the frequency of responses there stand out two categories: ‘Singing songs and learning new signs
– supporting songs with signs’ with 44 (47.8%) responses, and ‘Getting to know signs in a playful way’,
which is a favourite activity given by 29 (31.5%) students. Comparison between the countries showed
that learning signs along with the songs was the favourite activity for most of the students in Slovenia,
and learning signs in a playful manner for most of the students in Austria. Other responses were so varied
that we placed them in the category ‘Other’. Some examples in this category were: ‘When we pick new
words we are interested in and the trainer shows us the sign«, ‘I liked the videos and interviews, but I
didn’t enjoy signing so much’, ‘Hard to say’, ‘I liked everything’, ‘The top 10 things. ‘
Do you ever discuss with your family and friends about your experiences from the module Sign
communication with toddlers?
Answer
SLO
LT
UK
AT
Total
YES
28
16
13
32
89 (96,7%)
NO
1
0
0
2
3 (3,3%)
Total
29
16
13
34
92 (100%)
Table 2
Only three students gave negative answers. In different countries the answers are similar. Sign
communication leaves a strong impression on the students, even when they leave school or finish the
course.
Is there anything else you would like to share with us about the module Sign communication with
toddlers?
Sixty students were also asked to share some thoughts. They mostly expressed enthusiasm about the
module, either due to the significance of the module for a better understanding and communication
between hearing and deaf people, or due to its usefulness or, simply, because they like it. Some answers
and suggestions: ‘I am glad that there is a language that connects the deaf and hearing, allowing them
to live normal lives’, ‘It seems to me that this subject is needed in particular for the future, when the
children will be grouped in ordinary kindergartens, both those with and without disabilities needs and
those normal’, ‘ I’d prefer to learn how to sign in complete sentences, because it is more practical’, ‘Adults’
learning sign communication in a funny way would be possible’, ‘Sign communication is very important
for the children because it speeds up thinking and talking’, and ‘When I have a baby, I will sign with her/
him«.
ACHIEVING THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT ‘TINY SIGNERS’ THROUGH THE
MODULE SIGN COMMUNICATION WITH TODDLERS
To increase the social prestige and attractiveness of sign language
The students’ answers show that their participation in the module allows for direct acquisition of skills
for sign communication with babies, and influences the formation of different attitudes to the deaf
community, increases their sensitivity to nonverbal communication and to situation in the environment,
and gets to learn Sign Language as the value that enables the symbiosis between the deaf and the hearing.
To create an environment in which there is much less frustration and barriers for hearing and deaf
babies
36
Based on the students’ responses it can be anticipated that the acquired knowledge of sign communication
with toddlers and a positive attitude towards this method of communication, will help to create a friendly
and nurturing environment for hearing and deaf babies.
To improve awareness and communication with the deaf
The students’ answers clearly show that the module enhances their awareness of the characteristics of
the deaf community, and of the importance and possibilities of communication with the deaf.
To leave a positive and long-lasting impact within the EU
We believe that the implementation of the first three long-term aims will also contribute towards
achieving the fourth aim.
Students from the training programme in Vienna (by Lisa Zoechling)
37
Students Questionnaire for the module Sign communication with toddlers
Dear students,
The module/course Sign communication with toddlers is part of a two-year international project Tiny Signers (20112013) and you are the first students who implement the course together with your course leaders and trainers.
The project partners and course designers wish to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the module.
Therefore they are asking you to fill out this questionnaire to help them know your experiences and thoughts about
this module/course.
Please answer the following questions:
1. Why do you think that sign communication with toddlers is an important skill for working with young children?
…............................................................................................................................................................................
2. What is your progress like in the acquisition of signs?/ How quickly do you learn signs?
…............................................................................................................................................................................
3. What other skills or knowledge, apart from learning signs (gestures), did you obtain during this module?
…............................................................................................................................................................................
4. Which other professional module/course contents or knowledge do correlate with those obtained during the
module Sign communication with toddlers?
…............................................................................................................................................................................
5. During which activities in the kindergarten could you use sign communication with the toddlers?
…............................................................................................................................................................................
6. How does learning Sign Language affect your personal life?
…............................................................................................................................................................................
7. How did you feel during the module Sign communication with toddlers? Circle the rating on the scale from 1 to
6, 1 meaning very bad, 6 very good.
Element
Rating
How I felt during the module
1
2
3
4
5
6
8. What is your favourite activity during the Sign communication with toddlers module?
…............................................................................................................................................................................
9. Do you ever discuss with your family and friends about your experiences from the Sign communication with
toddlers module?
YES
NO
10. Is there anything else you would like to share with us about the module Sign communication with toddlers?
…............................................................................................................................................................................
THANK YOU for your answers.
38
3
The rationale of using sign communication
with babies
Franz Dotter
3.1 Language acquisition
The basis for language development is partially genetic and partially created during infancy. The period
from birth to the fourth or sixth year of age is considered to be the ‘sensitive phas’ when children learn
a language easily1.
A newborn child is no ‘tabula rasa’. Even during the pregnancy, certain basic requirements for learning
processes are being fulfilled; this means that ‘learning’ (committing to memory) starts already within the
uterus. There is, for instance, the following evidence for the beginning of the perceptual and cognitive
development within the uterus:
• The reflex of sucking at a finger in month 5/6 of the pregnancy: this is only possible because of
existing tactile and motor skills.
• Sound perception in month 5/6 of the pregnancy: the heart rate accelerates at a sound volume
of more than 105 dB.
• Sound perception in month 8 of the pregnancy: the heart rate slows down when two syllables
are exchanged (BABI > BIBA) after a previous presentation of ‘BABI’.
Perceptive-cognitive skills after birth:
The studies monitoring the sucking and the duration of the focusing of the gaze in combination with
head movements led researchers to assume the following skills and learning processes (I will not deal
here with the problems concerning examinations at an age when no linguistic production is available to
be checked):
• Until the end of year 1: Recognition of three-dimensionality
• Gravity (objects fall down if you let go of them)
• Objects influence each other when they touch.
Important basics of language acquisition are for instance:
• Object permanence (objects exist even when they are no longer visible)
• Connections between (linguistic) communication and daily occurrences as created by the child in
the context of its general development (perception, motor skills, etc.)
• Interaction with objects and persons in the environment (cf. Schrey-Dern 2006: 10, Zollinger
2010: 11) as a holistic understanding with all senses
• non-verbal pragmatic-communicative skills
• Play and social behavior.
Basically, one may assume that children are able to communicate and perceive language from very early
on (not just – according to some literature – from month 9 on). Otherwise their language development
from month 10/12 on could not be explained. It must be noted, however, that during early interactions
with children, their expressive spoken language skills sometimes are not sufficient to communicate their
intentions, wishes, etc. (they do this partially in a compensatory fashion, in a nonverbal way – as far as
39
that is possible -, e.g. by taking adults by the hand and leading them wherever they want to go).
Some important steps of language acquisition happen during the first year; the basics of vocabulary
and grammar are acquired during the first two to three years (cf.Penner, Weissenborn&Friederici 2000;
Weissenborn 2000, 2003; as well as the contributions in Weissenborn&Höhle 2001). Influencing factors
are the genetic determination of the language acquisition process and the cerebral development, e.g.
the lateralization of the language centres (Locke 1997; Penner, Weissenborn&Friederici 2002).
According to the fact that linguistic communication plays the central role in the socialization and the
acquisition of knowledge of the growing child, a normal language development is indispensable for an
intact socialization process, the cognitive development and for their performance in school (Interview
Weissenborn).
The same holds for natural sciences and mathematics, linguistic knowledge and reading skills (cf.Baumert
et al. 2001).
For a positive development, a rich linguistic environment and motivation foran exchange using language
are necessary both in the family context and in community institutions. Parents often show such supportive
and motivating behaviour spontaneously (cf.’Motherese’/’Mutterisch’/’baby talk’). For children suffering
from severe deprivation or isolation that experience the first contact with language years after they were
born there is a danger that their language skills (especially concerning grammar) remain below average
(cf. Curtiss 1977).
Therefore it is important for the parents, educators, teachers and therapists to:
• have a comprehensive knowledge of the internal (biological) and external (dependent on
experiences) requirements of language acquisition
• know about the techniques for the early recognition of possible risks and evidence that language
development may be affected or for an existing deviation from normal language development
• intervention at the earliest possible stage (preventive, promotional/encouraging, and therapeutic
measures).
Up to 20% of the children who are educated monolingually in German show linguistic deficits (for the
children with another linguistic background, the numbers are partially even higher). The studies at the
school entry argue that more than 30% of the children would need a promotion of language skills (cf.
Pochert et al. 2002). The origin of these linguistic deficits often lies in the language development during
the first three years. Other long-term studies are necessary (cf. Weissenborn 2001, 2003), including a
comparative evaluation of diagnostic and promotional measures.
Linguistic developmental disorders can be diagnosed reliably with the aid of tests from an age of 4-5
years on.
From the age of about 10 months, the ability of the children to discriminate the sounds other than their
mother tongue declines, but the ability to discriminate rhythmical characteristics of their mother tongue
increases during the first year.
The declining ability to discriminate the sounds not belonging to their mother tongue and the development
of segmentation preferences according to the rhythm of the mother tongue limit the second language
acquisition to a certain degree only after the fourth or fifth year (Meisel 2003). Up to the age of 3-4
years, the acquisition follows the principles of the first language acquisition very closely. During later
acquisition, certain system limitations (‘deficits’) may appear – in contrast to the first language acquisition
of the mother tongue or simultaneous bilingual language acquisition – first of all, in the phonetic area
(‘mother tongue accent’), and then in the grammatical area (Flege et al. 1995).
The children who grow up with several languages can differentiate between them from the beginning,
and they also show the same developmental stages as monolingual children (Meisel 2003). However,
this does not mean that the children have the same knowledge of both languages from the beginning.
The studies of Holowka et al. (2002) show that it is the knowledge of both languages together that
40
corresponds in quantity and quality to the skills of a monolingual child of the same age. This means that
a child who is learning a second language operates at the same point of time with fewer words than a
monolingual child. This indicates that at this early stage the capacity for language learning processes is
biologically limited. Until now, however, there has been no evidence for the conclusion – as parents often
fear – that an early second language acquisition before the age of 3 has negative consequences for the
acquisition of the first language.
...But it is essential to clarify by controlled studies whether the children who began their second language
acquisition before the age of three actually have the same language skills in their mother tongue when
they enter school as the children who do not learn a second language (Interview Weissenborn).
The second language should only be provided by native speakers of this language because the phoneticrhythmic characteristics of the language that is being acquired contain information the learners need for
building up their knowledge of the language.
3.1.1 Gestures and signs in the development of language
Within the language development of children, gestures represent an important developmental stage
(Vogt 2007: 13); with their aid, they develop strategies to get in contact with their principal care-givers:
Gestures can be regarded as movement of body parts with the aim of communicating. They reinforce or
substitute spoken messages (Vogt 2007: 13).
Gestures are already used during the first few months in the form of rhythmical and coordinated hand
movements; sometimes it is difficult to decide whether they are being used in a communicative way as
adults understand the term.
For the children with severe hearing impairment who are educated bilingually, the importance of an
early use of gestures is undisputed; a comprehensive offer of sign language gives them the chance to
learn it as their mother tongue or preferred language (Leuninger 2007: 159). However, this is beyond the
scope of Baby Sign.
They gain the attention of an adult with whom they want to interact or when they want a certain object
by using gestures, facial expressions and gaze. Some examples are indicative gaze, postures and grabbing
gestures; these may be understood as the preliminary stage to first words (i.e. actual language signs).
Children who use gestures are able to name objects at an earlier point of time than other children and
they often have a larger vocabulary (Vogt &Scheibert 2006: 181).
3.1.2 Summary
It is plausible to assume that the original language acquisition mechanisms are no longer or only partially
available after the fourth or fifth year. This means that there is a relatively narrow time slot for an
especially economic development of language.
Increased educational activities concerning language are therefore recommended for the children before
the age of 3 (also because of high plasticity of the brain during that period). The same holds for sign
language.
41
3.2 Developmental stages of language acquisition2
‘First babble phase’
The babies produce ‘the expressions of emotions, gurgling and bubble sounds (controlled through tactile
stimuli within the mouth)’. From month 4 on, we also find ‘slurping and hissing sounds, vowel sounds
and first syllables’.
‘Second babble phase’
Melodic patterns are created, and the babies consciously imitate sounds (echolalia controlled by the
hearing), produce chains of syllables such as ‘BABABA’ and a multitude of sounds, and they imitate the
rhythm of language.
Gradual assignment of verbal expressions and gestures to situations
Approximately from month 9 on, the child realizes that it can influence its environment through its
behaviour. From this moment on, gestural communication increases.
Month 9 to 12: ‘Referential gestures’
From month 9 or 10 on, the children use gestures to communicate with their environment.
Month 10 to 14: First words
Usually from month 12 on, the children produce their first words, which are often based on the
reduplication of simple syllables like in ‘MAMA’, ‘PAPA’.
Month 18 to 24: Reaching the ‘50-word milestone’
The child masters 20-50 words and reaches the first stage of forming questions (‘what’ (is that) with
the respective intonation). This leads to a significant increase in vocabulary (primarily nouns, verbs and
adjectives) and combinations of two or three words which do not (quite) correspond to grammar. At
the age of 24 months, the child masters even more sounds with complex production requirements. If
the child has not achieved approximately 50 words by the age of 24 months, it is diagnosed to be a ‘late
talker’ and shows a certain risk for a delayed language development.
Month 30 to 36: First use of ‘me’ and a large increase in vocabulary
The vocabulary keeps increasing and new words are created. The number of sentences containing
several words increases. Grammatical competence develops: the second stage of forming questions
appears (who? how? why?), simple sentences are grammatical, the first combinations of sentences and
subordinate clauses are produced. Difficult combinations of sounds are mastered.
From month 36-42 on, age-appropriate stuttering may appear through the acquisition of sentence
structures.
Month 48
The child has mastered most of the sounds of its mother tongue (with some possible limitations as
42
regards S/SH sounds and difficult combinations of consonants like KL-, GL-, DR-, BR-). The vocabulary
keeps increasing and longer sentences are created. Difficult constructions may not correspond to the
norm yet. Subordinate clauses are used.
All of these phenomena may appear in different children with a maximum variation of one year; however,
they should disappear again at the age of 4-5 years.
For hearing-impaired children, the following limitations which influence their language development in
a negative way often occur:
• Sign language, visual communication, systematic visual support of spoken language are not
offered or offered too late.
• The implicit message of many governments and institutions –as interpreted from their practice is: ‘If you are deaf, i.e. a bit retarded, then it does not matter if you begin to learn a sign language
at the age of 6 or 10 years’.
• If sign language is offered, the exposition time is often too short.
• The ‘sensitive’ phases from 0-6 years are not taken seriously.
• We fail to exploit the plasticity of young brains for language learning and general cognitive
development (e.g. phases like: ‘What is this?’at about 2 years of age or ‘Why?’ at about 4 years).
4-5 years
The child can actively use approximately 2,000 words and understand up to 20,000, and has acquired
simple grammar.
6 years
The child has mastered all standard sounds, the vocabulary is sufficient for multifaceted communication,
abstract concepts are used according to the child‘s age. The child uses approximately 5000 individual
words and grammar. The child can retell and report experiences, tell stories, and describe thought
processes.
A three months old baby making her first bubble sounds (by Anja Musek)
43
3.3 ‚Baby Sign‘/Sign communication with babies
Baby signs were developed to offer hearing babies from month 6 on a chance to communicate in a more
differentiated way, i.e. communicate their emotions, wishes and needs before they are able to do so in
spoken language, and for as long as the efficiency of spoken language production (with special regard to
vocabulary) is lower than that of sign production (König 2010: 16).
The essential argument made by the promoters of this method is that the use of baby signs leads to
an improved communication; that is, the children are more content because they can communicate
clearly, and the parents get more information about their children’s concerns because there are fewer
misunderstandings:
Sign language helps to tear down the barriers of silence and opens new worlds of communication
between a parent and a child. (http://www.allsands.com/Kids/Education/babysignlangua_rql_gn.htm)
Further arguments in favour are that it promotes the children’s cognitive capabilities (concentration,
perception and information processing, intellectual capacity up to a higher IQ) and leads to improved
social skills, emotional stability, improved self-confidence through communicative achievements,
linguistic creativity, i.e. through ‘inventing’ new signsby themselves, and a faster spoken language
development. Through the development of their fine motor skills as well as the multimodal linking of
acoustic and visual coding, they improve their memory and their imagination:
Baby Sign Language ... gives your baby the ability to express his or her important needs and thoughts.
A list of its benefits is also given here:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
promotes the development of language skills
reinforces language skills already developed
reduces frustration from not being able to express one’s needs
accelerates the development of spatial reasoning
develops the understanding of language for the communication of emotions
creates the feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment
may increase IQ
increases creative thinking
teaches (the elements of) a second language that is formally and nationally recognized (e. g. ASL)
reduces unexplainable emotional outbursts
improves early literacy skills
teaches the baby how to start (and participate in) a conversation:
Additional benefits of using baby signs are listed:
• infants quickly learn to match particular shapes or items with particular gestures
• increased creative use of language
enhanced social skills.
Some of the benefits are especially interpreted as long-term benefits (http://www.babies-and-signlanguage.com/baby-sign-benefits.html).
A ‘head start in communication’ of 1- to 2-year-olds and an elimination of many reasons for frustration,
both in children and parents, is advertised (cf.: http://www.babies-and-sign-language.com/baby-signbenefits.html and http://www.allsands.com/Kids/Education/babysignlangua_rql_gn.htm, http://www.
babies-and-sign-language.com/baby-sign-benefits.html, Bunny Fabulous 2011, Felzer 2000).
Clearly, these advantages can be used outside the family only if the caregivers are familiar with this
method. Therefore König suggests the use of ‘Baby Sign’ in crèches/nursery units in various contexts
(König 2010: 129).
44
In English speaking countries, ‘Baby Sign’ is already well-positioned in the area of commercial early
learning initiatives for non-impaired children, whereas in German speaking countries it has been
implemented for a relatively short period of time.
3.3.1 Questions
• May early signing promote the development of spoken or sign language?
• Can visual signs lead to the improved memorization of cognitive concepts?
• What is the impact of signs on different linguistic levels (morphology, syntax, vocabulary,
pragmatic-communicative level)?
• Can ‘Baby Sign’ reduce language development disorders or delays or even completely prevent
them?
• Does ‘Baby Sign’ really offer all the advantages promised by its promoters?
3.3.2 Terminology
Different terms are used for this method and the visual codingit uses, e.g. ‘Baby Sign’, ‘Baby Sign
Language’, ‘Sign Language for Babies’, ‘Infant Sign Language’, ‘Spelling’3 (German: ‘Baby-Zeichensprache’,
‘Zwergensprache’ or ‘Babyzeichen’ cf. König 2010: 16, ‘Babygebärden’, ‘Gesten’, ‘Zeigegesten’. In order to
avoid misunderstandings, I only use the English term ‘Baby Sign’ in this text.
3.3.3 A brief history of ‚Baby Sign‘
Even before the Baby Sign movement, manual communication methods and signs or sign language were
used to support speech and language therapy, in order to initiate spoken language in children with an
impairment (Doherty 2008: 300, Kiegelmann 2009: 264, http://down-syndrom-netzwerk.de/bibliothek/
wilken1.html). However, the use of signs with non-impaired hearing children is new.
Different providers of ‘Baby Sign’ have based their methods on the works of Joseph Garcia, Linda Acredolo
and Susan Goodwyn (Baby Signs 2008; ‘Baby Signs®’ by Acredolo&Goodwyn and ‘Sign with your baby®’
by Garcia are now brands, cf. https://www.babysigns.com/index.cfm?id=79 and http://sign2me.com/
index.php) that were developed in the USA approximately thirty years ago.
In the year 1982, Acredolo observed her 12-month-old daughter Katewhile playing with her, that she
used visual coding for the objects she could not name verbally yet (cf. https://www.babysigns.com/
index.cfm?id=72). For example: in the garden, Kate pointed at a rosebush and produced ‘smell’ through
a facial expression to express her request to smell the flowers (before that, Acredolo had given her roses
to smell in order to familiarize her with the term ‘flower’). Kate then proceeded to use this sign coding
also for situations where she e.g. wanted to refer to a flower in a picture in a book. When Acredolo
and Goodwyn asked some parents whether they had noticed a similar use of such (also spontaneous)
visual coding with their own children, this was confirmed (for example, a representation of ‘fish’ by
the respective mouth action). Acredolo and Goodwyn then developed the hypothesis that children
between months 9-24 begin to use visual coding spontaneously. This strategy is then often adopted by
their parents. They hypothesized that the use of such means of communication should support spoken
language development.
Joseph Garcia started his research into American Sign Language in the 1970s. He noticed that the children
of deaf parents begin to use signs to communicate already at the age of nine months, while the children
45
of hearing parents who use spoken language began to use spoken words at a later point of time. So he
examined the results of Acredolo’s ‘enhanced gesture training’. He found that the children who had
access to signs from month 6 or 7 on, started to produce them themselves from month 8 or 9 on.
Vivian König adapted the concept forthe German-speaking sphere (‘Zwergensprache’, König 2004-2012);
besides, there are e.g. ‘Schau doch meine Hände an’ (Bundesverband Evangelische Behindertenhilfe) or
‘Babysignal’ (Wiebke Gericke); cf. also Kiegelmann 2009: 264.
Target groups of ‘Baby Sign’
With hearing children, ‘Baby Sign’ normally accompanies spoken language. Its promoters also point
out that their method can improve the contact with hard-of-hearing and deaf children (cf. below), as
well as with the children with different impairments (developmental or emotional disorders, learning
disabilities, Down’s Syndrome, Autism, Aphasia, cerebral palsy, difficulties with learning or producing
spoken language, etc.).
For a respective justification of promoting the bilingual context for hard-of-hearing and deaf children
cf.Clerc’s children (http://clercschildren.com/).
In the USA, it is believed that – assuming that many persons in the social environment, e.g. caregivers
and other children use ‘Baby Sign’ as well – the whole environment of the child profits from this
communication method (for example, when the child has to go to a hospital, etc.).
Signing is fun! (by Mateja Lunar Jemec)
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3.4 Methods of ‚Baby Sign‘4
3.4.1 Usage of signs taken from the surrounding sign languages
In principle, using signs taken from the surrounding sign languages is to be recommended because this
implies access to an existing language. In the USA, children are offered signs from the American Sign
Language (ASL)5; Vivian König uses signs from the German Sign Language, respectively. Almost all of the
proponents encourage parents who are not or only a little competent in the respective sign language
to simplify signs which they think to be too complex or even to create their own in order to deal with
‘communicative emergencies’, e.g. when the respective sign of the surrounding sign language is unknown
(cf. also below). However, once a sign has been chosen, it should remain stable (i.e. it should not be
constantly modified).
The parents and caregivers are instructed how to use signs during daily activities with their children, how
to create new learning opportunities in certain situations, and also how to motivate other carers to use
signs.
Making and maintaining eye contact is essential for visual communication; furthermore, signs have to be
used systematically and frequently, similar to any other language option.
3.4.2 About the timing of the use of signs
The children of parents who use a sign language as their preferred language have been confronted with
sign language from their birth. Other children may be introduced to sign language from month 6 on, but
it is to be expected that they will not begin to produce signs before they are 8 or 9 months old. König
thinks that the best time for the use of baby signs is between month 6 and 9. Naturally, they may be used
before that – similar to spoken language – but it will take longer for them to use them productively (cf.
König 2010: 55).
At the latest, one can communicate with the infant by signs as soon as it can receptively create a stable
link between a sign (coding) and its meaning. This point in time can be established indirectly via certain
indicators (cf. also König 2010: 55):
• an interest of the child in persons and objects in its environment and in information about them
(may be perceived e.g. through its behaviour and facial expression; the respective pointing at
things will only develop from month 9 on)
• object permanence (the child knows that things which are no longer visible do not cease to exist;
this may be perceived e.g. by searching for them)
• activities which may be linked to sign use (waving, head-nodding, head-shaking, begging, etc.)
• imitation of activities (motor skills).
As soon as the child develops the cognitive skills, object permanence, causality and symbol function
during the first two years, it possesses the prerequisites for language according to Piaget (Motsch 2004:
27).
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3.4.3 Relation of the baby sign lexicon to the children’s daily life
The signs for ‘Baby Sign’ were created based on observing the interaction with children: they code
important concepts in the children‘s early perception of their environment and their interaction with
their principal caregivers (i.e. objects, actions, qualities in their daily life; cf. König 2010: 16).
An example of the use of baby signs: When we are playing in the garden, Emilia lets me know when she
is thirsty, and she shows me whether she wants some water or some milk. I can rely on that and do not
have to offer her the bottle constantly and worry whether she gets enough to drink. All at once she stops
playing, gets what she needs at the moment, and then we resume playing… (König 2010: 22).
3.4.4 Simplification of adult signs for the use with infants
Basically, it is to be expected – similar to spoken language – that children will simplify the signs offered to
them according to their motor (‘visual articulatory’) skills. As we know from spoken language research,
spoken words do not have to be simplified for the children (only the pragmatic-morphosyntactic
representation is simplified through the so-called ‘motherese’); the same holds for signs and sign
languages (cf. also Kiegelmann 2009: 264).
Nevertheless, single ‘baby signs’ are frequently offered in a simplified and isolated version (not – similar
to the spoken language that is offered parallel to the signs – in a sentence or full production), which
might allow for quick and direct learning but also requires a later modification of the sign and – if a
sign language is to be learned as well – its presentation in a natural context of the same language (cf.
the discussion of the difference in function concerning ‘Baby Sign’ for hearing and hearing-impaired
children). However, the communication process itself is not affected by the simplification of signs.
3.4.5 Feedback from the parents
By and large, the feedback is very positive. There has been almost no negative feedback, cf. also: http://
www.allsands.com/Kids/Education/babysignlangua_rql_gn.htm,
http://www.derwesten.de/leben/
partnerschaften/Baby-Signing-soll-den-Weg-zur-Sprache-ebnen-id3426843.html.
Example: A 17-month-old boy has mastered 30 signs that are now beginning to disappear in favour of
spoken language (http://www.allsands.com/Kids/Education/babysignlangua_rql_gn.htm).
3.4.6 Interim summary
‘Baby sign’ shows certain relations to early language learning and early communication: there seems
to be a time window, when the spoken language production skills of infants are inferior to their sign
language production skills, that is, when they can use signed words earlier than spoken words or, at the
very least, more signed than spoken words.
The duration of this period and how important the differences between signed and spoken perception
and production skills are, is not completely clear yet.
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3.4.7 Counterarguments
From a linguistic point of view, the counterarguments are partially non-scientific, i.e. when it is stated that
it is inappropriate to teach infants a completely new language, or that there might be a negative impact
on their natural language acquisition through such artificial interference with this process. Others simply
repudiate some of the arguments for ‘Baby Sign’, e.g. that ‘Baby Sign’ promotes cognitive skills (for a
summary, cf. Kiegelmann). The Deutsche Bundesverband für Logopädie (German Federal Association for
Speech Therapy) – which is traditionally not very much in favour of sign language - argues that promotion
can turn into a promotion mania: Children themselves communicate with the aid of gestures and facial
expression… it is more than questionable to direct the natural language acquisition process with the aid
of these rationally controlled systems so that - like a trained ape - a child uses signals which the adults can
unambiguously understand because they themselves have defined their meaning (Dietlinde Schrey-Dern,
http://www.derwesten.de/panorama/partnerschaften/baby-signing-soll-den-weg-zur-sprache-ebnenid3426843.html).
For some concerns, it should be considered that hearing children of deaf parents have always learned
a sign language and have not suffered from a smaller spoken language vocabulary than the average
hearing child. This shows that not only deaf but also hearing children develop an ability to adopt gestures
and signs from their environment in early years and use them themselves.
If it is suggested to parents to use the method of Baby Sign, many of them are concerned about a possible
delay in their children’s spoken language development. Another concern is that visual communication
methods are only useful for impaired people, especially for hard-of-hearing and deaf people, who cannot
perceive spoken language and/or produce it (https://www.babysigns.com/index.cfm?id=72).
Add to these political and moral concerns a question like the following: ‘Does the hearing population
have the right to ‛hijack‛ sign language?’ (Doherty 2008, 300).
All of these doubts can be dispelled with the current research results and it can be argued that sign
language users even profit from the use of signs by hearing people because the number of people who
are familiar with it increases. Marylin Daniels added: ‘... ASL is a legitimate language … stored in a separate
memory store in the baby or child’s brain.’ (cf. Snoddon 2000).
Kiegelmann mentions another argument partially against ‘Baby Sign’:’Baby Sign’ may be regarded in the
context of- pedagogically not always positively rated - trend towards learning activities for children as
early as possible.
3.4.8 Research results about the use of sign (language) for non-impaired
children
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP
In a long-term study, 102 test subjects were divided into three groups: the first group was the training
group in which the children were offered ‘Baby Sign’. The second group was a control group, in which the
parents offered the children more spoken language. The third group was also a control group in which
the participants did not receive any special instructions on how to communicate with their children.
The result was that the children of the training group showed advantages in several linguistic areas.
There was no evidence of any delay in language development because of signs used to reinforce spoken
messages. Other results showed that the children adopted and used signs if encouraged by their parents
and that the use of signs also stimulated their abstract thinking (Goodwyn, Acredolo & Brown 2000).
It also seems that the children profit from an early use of signs even years later. The communicative
49
development of children who grew up with ‘Baby Sign’ was generally faster than average:
The signing babies were ahead of the pack at almost every measure at every age. They were learning to
comprehend language faster. They were learning to talk faster. They were putting words together faster
and doing better on the infant IQ tests at two years (Linda Acredolo quoted at http://www.allsands.com/
Kids/Education/babysignlangua_rql_gn.htm).
Also in a study by Daniels, the children who learned the ASL signs had a vocabulary that was up to 20%
larger than that of non-signing children. The point of departure for their study was that hearing children
of deaf parents often know more than the average vocabulary.
The manual method of communication also promotes the use of spoken language. Through this ‘centering’
on language, e.g. grammatical structures can be grasped more easily.
As to communication in daily life, the studies delivered unambiguous results, namely:
Children from the age of month 6 to year 3 were offered the ASL signs in everyday communication
situations. The result showed that this means of communication may be used very well with children,
even if the parents were skeptical at first. Especially the children’s ability to express emotions like rage
and anger with signs instead of with fits of anger was remarkable (Ohio State University 2011).
‘Emotional intelligence’ is the ability to perceive, understand and deal with one’s own emotions as well
as with the emotions of other people (Rayel 2005). Early linguistic possibilities of expression help us
regulate our emotions and behavior (Vallotton 2008: 29, Lovett 2008). Vallotton studied a kindergarten
group where the educators and parents offered the children signs to reinforce the spoken messages in
various everyday situations. A comparison with parents who did not use signs showed that the parents
who used ‘Baby Sign’ were less stressed in their education, had a more loving interaction with their
children and better a condition for dealing with conflict situations.
Signs proved to provide a good means of self-regulation for children, for demanding rituals of selfregulation and for expressing their emotions, wishes and needs. Parents or educators could recognize
and fulfill the children’s needs better and make them feel that they were being understood (Vallotton
2011: 5). Vallotton assumes that signs – like spoken language signs – offer the children the possibility
to think by way of concepts. Because the former are often regarded as more ‘concrete’ (iconic) and
therefore easier to understand than ‘abstract’ (non-iconic, symbolic) spoken language words, they may
be easier to use.
Examples:
Melissa (11 months) was sitting in my lap near the gate of the snack room, waiting while her caregiver set
up her snack. Ruby (another infant) was standing in front of Melissa, holding onto the gate and watching
her own caregiver. Melissa was looking at the back of Ruby’s head, which was about an arm’s length
away. Melissa reached out her hand to touch Ruby’s hair. I said, ‘You are looking at Ruby’s hair and want
to touch it. We need to be gentle.’ I stroked my arm gently to sign ‘gentle.’ She touched Ruby’s hair with
one index finger, very lightly. I said, ‘Yes, thank you for being gentle’ (Vallotton 2008: 31).
After a snack, I carried Helene (12 months) into the nap room. As I sat down in the rocking chair with
Helene in my lap, I started to sing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’ Helene gestured ‘monkey.’ So I sang
‘Monkeys Jumping on the Bed,’ using the gestures with one hand, repeatedly until her eyelids began
to droop. I continued rocking her and let her fall into a deeper sleep before attempting to set her down
on the mat. Each time I knelt to lay her down, Helene would awaken and gesture ‘monkey.’ I sang the
‘Monkeys’ song each time until her eyelids again drooped. After the third time I was finally able to place
her down asleep on her mat (Vallotton 2008: 32).
Kiegelmann researched the levels of stress within ‘Baby Sign’ families and families that do not use this
means of communication with a questionnaire. She did not notice any significant differences with respect
to the levels of stress, but with respect to the socio-economic status of the families: ‘Baby Sign’ is mainly
used by families with a higher social status.
50
Kiegelmann does not want to confirm the assumption that ‘Baby Sign’ is the exclusive reason for signing
infants to show an improved spoken language development and higher intelligence and for suffering less
from fits of anger: the development of children who attended ‘Baby Sign’ courses was a little bit higher
than average. Kiegelmann also attributes that to the fact that parents who use ‘Baby Sign’ interact more
with their children. Her summary:
At any rate, it does not seem to harm, i.e. delay the language development. And if mother and child have
fun playing with their fingers, … Anyhow, that’s at least something to be said for that. (Kiegelmann 2009:
270)
Marshall, too, writes that until now there have been too few scientific results to prove the positive
influence of ‘Baby Sign’ (Marshall 2007: 13).
SCHOOL
Examining the influence of ‘Baby Sign’ in schools showed that its use had positive effects on both
educators and children: the educators respond better to younger children, conversations spring up faster,
and the contact with the children is more cordial (Vallotton 2011: 5). The educators feel that they know
the children better and that they achieve higher attention through signs.
Felzer (2000) presents study results showing that the use of visual means of communication has a positive
influence on reading competence: Fingerspelling has been used since the 19th century to improve reading
skills. Every letter is represented by a certain hand form. The second method (somewhat misleadingly
termed as ‘spelling’ by Felzer) codes words or phrases with signs. Fingerspelling and signs help children
with normal intelligence to learn to read before they enter school.
Vernon and Coley developed a program that assists children with reading difficulties/dyslexia through
fingerspelling and signs. The program was not published, but achieved good results during the test
phase: hearing and deaf children were taught together, using visual methods. For both groups, a positive
influence on reading, talking and writing could be observed:
Because signs are so vivid, dramatic and fascinating they may serve as a powerful motivating force in
helping youngsters want to learn to read (Felzer 2000).
In addition to its role as additional support for children with reading and writing difficulties, manual
communication is also useful for the people with a visual impairment: Fingerspelling can aid these people
in learning new words and reading them in Braille.
Signing with children has a positive effect on children and educators (by Bojan Mord)
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3.5 ‚Baby Sign‘ vs. sign language for a bilingual hard-ofhearing or deaf child
With regard to the use of ‘Baby Sign’, Doherty (2008: 300) asks: ‘What about deaf babies, are their
communication needs met adequately?’ Let us combine this question with the following statement
which is mostly uncontroversial within speech-therapy:
If a 24-month-old child does not reach the threshold of 50 words, it cannot start learning the grammatical
system on time, which means that the whole language development is delayed (Hermannsdorfer 2011:
11).
Look at the situations of acquiring a language in children with different hearing status. The children who
can hear normally can perceive daily life continuously ‘accompanied’ by spoken language. For them, the
provision of single sign words reinforcing a spoken message which they can produce earlier than spoken
words is appropriate for building an active linguistic means of communication somewhat earlier than
the spoken language one. For them, this happens in the context of their parents’ comprehensive spoken
language (or other caregivers’); it is anchored in their daily life, therefore they have already developed
a partial ‘understanding’ of certain parts of a spoken message. For them, this is only about creating an
active and relatively differentiated means of expression at a somewhat earlier point of time.
In contrast, the hearing-impaired children can receive spoken language only partially or not at all, or later
if they are successfully provided with hearing-aids. For them, the ‘automatic’ accompaniment of daily life
with spoken language holds at best for those parts that can be perceived or only for some fragments.
Sign language is essential for deaf children (by Klemen Jeke)
52
For them the possibility to develop an age-appropriate ‘understanding’ through a comprehensively
offered language and its relations to their daily life exists only in a limited way or not at all.
Therefore it is recommended to offer a comprehensive visual language to all hearing-impaired
children who can presumably perceive spoken language only in an incomplete way due to their limited
perception. This will enable them to experience the same processes of ‘developing an understanding’
like non-hearing-impaired children, based on this visual language. Spoken and visual languages can and
should be offered simultaneously, because in many cases one may not be sure how much of spoken
language a child can perceive and which learning results they can achieve. Therefore the principle of
double insurance holds: in case that spoken language can be perceived at least partially (this includes
lip-reading as a limited but existing access to spoken language), it will be available to them. In case that
a child cannot extract elements and structures from spoken language or too few of them to learn it to an
age-appropriate extent, the visual language, either a sign language or signs reinforcing spoken messages,
will be available. This will enable them to learn language in a compensatory way via the visual channel.
If the ideal situation, one or two complete languages from the beginning, cannot be realized, there is
the possibility of representing sign language – in which many hearing parents are not fluent – through
single and partially combined signs. However, during the second half of the first year at the latest, a
child-appropriate visual language which is as complete as possible has to be used (additionally), so that
the child can develop its cognitive strategies oriented towards language learning (i.e. the ‘anchoring’ of
identified linguistic elements to pre- or nonlingual perceptions/information). So if the method of ‘Baby
Sign’ is used for hearing-impaired children, it must not remain an offer of isolated or ‘key words’ as with
hearing children (they may be used as an introduction, though). Instead, it must – in accordance with
the extent of language development support necessary for an individual child – change to an actual
bilingual method during the second year at the latest, through a more or less complete visual language,
under the assumption that spoken language is used as well. In other words, the use of ‘Baby Sign’ with
hearing-impaired children must not be misinterpreted as a complete or appropriate support of language
development if the child shows a delay in spoken language development. In such cases, it is necessary
to carefully examine which kind of language development support via the visual channel may cause this
delay to disappear.
To summarize the (desirable) inclusive provisions for hearing and hearing-impaired children: after a
shared initial phase, the hearing-impaired children under these conditions (delay in spoken language
development) need additional systematic language development support in a visual language. This may
be achieved through an actual bilingual offer in an inclusive course for all children, or through a special
bilingual group for hearing-impaired children. It is desirable that the organizers of’Baby Sign’/’Tiny
Signers’ courses should also be qualified to evaluate the language situation of the hearing-impaired
children and should be able to offer a sign language as well.
3.6 Speech therapists and ‚Baby Sign‘ or sign language
In speech therapy literature, ‘language’ is often the term for spoken language only; the same is true for
web-sites on speech therapy. In some professional groups, speech therapists partially claim for their only
right to perform ‘language therapy’ and threaten any violation by lawsuit.
Beyond this position that discriminates against sign language oriented or bilingually oriented people,
there are already some speech therapists who strive to get speech therapy to accept a comprehensive
understanding of language and communication (cf. Tesak 2007) or who acquaint themselves with ‘Baby
Sign’ and sign language (cf. http://www.babyzeichensprache.com/referenzen.php). For example, Ursula
Escher-Vigiller states that ‘Baby Sign’ is a useful tool for the fostering of spoken language acquisition.
53
3.7 Conclusion
The existing research results offer at least some evidence for a positive influence of ‘Baby Sign’on the
cognitive and language development of hearing children - perhaps together with other context factors
of the ontogenesis. Probably the main reason for this is that through an anticipated possibility to realize
their own linguistic or ‘close to speech’ communication, the children using ‘Baby Sign’ learn a little bit
earlier to use a dialogic form of communication, as compared to active spoken language production. No
delays in their spoken language development could be shown. Additionally, an earlier possibility of a
more detailed communication with small children is a clear advantage for the families as a whole.
For hearing-impaired children, ‘Baby Sign’ offers even more advantages; for those with a more severe
hearing loss, it represents the necessary introduction to the use of a visual language, in order to avoid
the risk of not reaching the 50-word threshold by the age of 24 months. However, a clear warning must
be issued against offering ‘Baby Sign’ to hard-of-hearing and deaf children as a fully valid substitute for a
complete visual language.
3.8 Notes
1 - Cf.: http://www.knetfeder.de/kkp/sprache2.html, http://www.bildungsserver.de/zeigen.html?seite=2299,
http://www.sprachheilberater.de/Sprachentwicklung.htm#TabelleZurSprachentwicklung
2 - Cf. http://www.knetfeder.de/kkp/sprache2.html bzw. , http://www.bildungsserver.de/zeigen.html?seite=2299,
3 - This term means the use of signs for communication in contrast to ‘fingerspelling’, i.e. the representation of
single letters by hand signs.
4 - Cf. also the recommendations ‘Empfehlungen für die Entwicklung eines Curriculums für die Ausbildung von
Kinderbetreuer/innen bzw. Kindergärtner/innen’ of the project ‘Tiny Signers’ (http://www.tinysigners.eu/?lang=en).
5 - ASL is one of the most important languages in the USA; therefore learning signs has a much higher status with
regard to learning another language also for later use: ‘Some parents encourage a child to continue practising
American Sign Language (ASL) even after they begin speaking. ASL is the 3rd most used language in the United
States. By practising and developing ASL as a second language, your child can benefit from having this language skill
later in life.’ http://www.babies-and-sign-language.com/baby-sign-benefits.html
3.9 References
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About Baby Signing. http://www.asha.org/publications/leader/2010/101102/about-baby-signing.htm
Acredolo, Linda P. &Goodwyn, Susan W. (2000): The long-term impact of symbolic gesturing during infancy in IQ at age 8. Paper
presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies in Brighton.
https://www.babysigns.com/index.cfm?id=113
Acredolo, Linda P. &Goodwyn, Susan W. &Horobin, Karen D. & Emmons, Yvonne D. (1999): The signs and sounds of early language
development. In: Balter, Lawrence &Tamis-LeMonda, Catherine S. (Eds.): Child psychology. New York: Psychology Press, 116-139
http://www.babies-and-sign-language.com
Baby sign language. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_sign_language
Baby Signs, Inc. (2008). https://www.babysigns.com
http://www.babysigners.co.uk/i2.php?p=what-is-baby-signing
www.babysignlanguageexpert.com
www.babystrology.com
Bates, E. &Vicari, S. &Trauner, D. (1999): Neural mediation of language development: perspectives from lesion studies of infants and
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children. In: Tager-Flusberg, H. (Ed.) Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 533-581
Baumert, J. et al. (Eds.) (2001): Pisa 2000. Basiskompetenzen von Schülerinnen und Schülern im internationalen Vergleich. Opladen:
Leske&Budrich
Benefits for Babies Using Baby Sign Language.
http://www.babies-and-sign-language.com/baby-sign-benefits.html
Bibliography of Baby Signs research. https://www.babysigns.com/index.cfm?id=64
Bonvillian, John D. &Folven, Raymond J. (1990): The onset of signing in young children. In: Edmondson, W. &Karlsson, F. (Eds.): SLR
‘87. Papers from the Fourth International Symposium on Sign Language Research. Hamburg: Signum, 183-189
BunnyFabulous (2011): Baby Sign - Communicating with your Baby Through Sign Language can be Simple and Rewarding - for Both
of You. www.squidoo.com/baby_signing_time
Capute, Arnold J. & Palmer, Frederick B. & Shapiro, Bruce K. &Wachtel, Renee C. &Schmidt, Steven& Ross, Alan (1986): Clinical
Linguistics and Auditory Milestone Scale: Prediction of cognition in infancy. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 28, 762–71
Clibbens, J. & Powell, G.G. & Atkinson, E. (2002): Strategies for achieving joint attention when signing to children with Down’s
syndrome. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 37, 309–323
Curtiss, S. (1977): Genie: a psycholinguistic study of a modern-day ‘wild child’. New York: Academic Press
Doherty-Sneddon, G. (2008):The great baby signing debate, The Psychologist21, 300-303
Dr. Joseph Garcia. Stratton/Kehl Publications, Inc.. http://www.medi-sign.org/about.html
Felzer, Laura (2000): Research on how Signing helps hearing children learn to read. http://littlesigners.com/article11.html
Garcia, Joseph (2010):Baby Sign Language Research. Sign2Me. Northlight Communications
http://sign2me.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=33
Garcia, Joseph (2006): Sign with Your Baby. 9th ed. Mukilteo: Sign2me
Goldin-Meadow, Susan &MarolynMorford (1985): Gestures in early child language: Studies of deaf and hearing children. MerrillPalmer Quarterly 31, 145-76
Goodwyn, Susan W. &Acredolo, Linda P. & Brown, Catherine A. (2000): Impact of symbolic gesturing on early language development.
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 24, 81-103 https://www.babysigns.com/index.cfm?id=114
Hermannsdorfer, Katharina (2011): Ein Bilderbuchprojekt zum Thema Gefühle - Eine Interventionsstudie zum Wortschatzlernen im
Unterricht. Hausarbeit Universität München
http://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/12501/1/Ein_Bilderbuchprojekt_zum_Thema_Gefuehle_ZULA.pdf
Holowka, Siobhan &Brosseau-Laprè, Françoise&Petitto, L. A.(2002): Semantic and conceptual knowledge underlying bilingual babies’
first signs and words. Language learning 52, 205-262
Johnston, J., Durieux-Smith, A. & Bloom, K. (2005): Teaching gestural signs to infants to advance child development. First Language
25, 235–251
Kiegelmann, M. (2009). Baby Signing - Eine Einschätzung aus entwicklungspsychologischer Sicht. Das Zeichen 82, 262-272
Klann J. & Kastrau F. & Kemény, St. & Huber, W. (2001): Neuroanatomische Grundlagen der Sprachverarbeitung. Eine Studie zur Schriftund Gebärdensprachverarbeitung bei hörenden und gehörlosen Probanden. (1. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Aphasieforschung
und -behandlung, GAB, 11/2001 in Bielefeld).
http://www.ukaachen.de/go/show?ID=5442506&DV=0&COMP=page&ALTNAVID=21110798&ALTNAVDV=0
König, Vivian (2010): Das große Buch der Babyzeichen. 6. Aufl. Guxhagen: Kestner
König, Vivian (2004-2012): Babysprache - Was ist das?
http://www.babyzeichensprache.com/babyzeichen.php
Leuninger, Helen (2007): Gebärdensprache und Bilingualismus. SpracheStimmeGehör31, 156-162
Locke, J.L. (1997): A theory of neurolinguistic development. Brain and Language 58, 265-326
Lovett, J. D. (2008): Infants and American Sign Language: Tiny Hand-Signs breaking strong language barriers.
http://mysmarthands.com/Site/Baby_Sign_Language_Research_Paper.html
Marshall, Chloe (2007): Continuing the baby sign debate. bulletin July 2007, 13 http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/g.morgan/CM_Baby_Sign.
pdf
Meier, Richard P. & Newport, Elissa L. (1990):Out of the Hands of Babies: On a possible sign advantage in language acquisition.
Language 66, 1-23
Meisel, J. (2003): The bilingual child. In: Bhatia, T. & Ritchie. W. (eds.) The handbook of bilingualism. Oxford:Blackwells, 91-113
Motsch, Hans-Joachim (2004): Kontextoptimierung. München: Reinhardt
www.mybabycantalk.com
Ohio State University (2011): Teaching Infants to Use Sign Language.
http://www.newswise.com/articles/teaching-infants-to-use-sign-language
Orlansky, Michael D. &Bonvillian, John D. (1985): Sign Language Acquisition: Language development in children of deaf parents and
implications for other populations. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 31, 127–43
Penner, Z. & Weissenborn, J., & Friederici, A. (2002): Sprachentwicklung. In: Karnath, H. O. &Thier, P. (Eds.) Neurospychologie. Berlin/
Heidelberg: Springer, 677-684.
Petitto, Laura A. (1988): ‘Language’ in the pre-linguistic child. In: Kessel, F. (ed.), Development of language and language researchers:
Essays in honor of Roger Brown. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 187-221
Pochert et al. (2002): Bärenstark. Berliner Sprachstanderhebung. Senatsverwaltung für Schule, Jugend und Sport, Berlin.
http://www.daz-lernwerkstatt.de/fileadmin/llw/texte/diagnose/Baerenstark_Testmaterial.pdf
Rayel, Michael (2005): Emotional Intelligence - the basics.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Emotional-Intelligence---The-Basics&id=24824
Schick, Brenda &Marschark, Marc & Spencer, Patricia Elisabeth (eds.) (2006):Advances in the Sign Language Development of Deaf
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Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Schrey-Dern, Dietlinde (2006): Sprachentwicklungsstörungen. Stuttgart: Thieme
www.signingbaby.com
www.signingtime.com
Snoddon, Kristin (2000): Sign, Baby, Sign! WFD News 13
http://www.coledavid.com/articles_html/daniels_article.html
Sprachentwicklung. http://www.knetfeder.de/kkp/sprache2.html
Sprachentwicklung systematisch begleiten.
http://www.bildungsserver.de/zeigen.html?seite=2299
Summary of the Benefits of Signing. Signing Time! Two Little Hands Productions, 2006. http://www.signingtime.net/pdf/st/
STResearch_Summary.pdf
Tabelle zur Sprachentwicklung.
Teaching Infants to Use Sign Language.Ohio State University.
http://www.handspeak.com/tour/kids/index.php?kids=teachinfants
Tesak, J. (Ed.) (2007): An den Grenzen der Logopädie. (Idstein:) Schulz-Kirchner http://www.schulz-kirchner.de/fileslp/tesak_grenzen.
pdf
The great baby signing debate. The British Psychological Society. 3 April 2008. http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_
home.cfm/volumeID_21-editionID_159-ArticleID_1330
Tiny Signers project. http://www.tinysigners.eu/?lang=en
Vallotton, Claire (2008): Infants take self-regulation into their own hands. In: Zero to Three. September 2008, 29-34 http://www.
theactgroup.com.au/documents/SelfRegulation.pdf
Vallotton, Claire (2011): Signing with Babies and Children. http://c445781.r81.cf0.rackcdn.com/wp_SigningwithBabies&Children.pdf
Vogt, Susanne (2007): Zur Rolle von Gesten im Spracherwerb. In: Tesak 2007, 11-18
Vogt, S. & Scheibert, S. (2006): Förderung von Gesten als Mitauslöser der lautsprachlichen Entwicklung. Logos Interdisziplinär 14,
179-185
Volterra, V. &Iverson, J.M. &Castrataro, M. (2006):The development of gesture in hearing and deaf children. In:Schick & Marschark
& Spencer 2006, 46-70
Weissenborn, Jürgen (2000): Der Erwerb von Morphologie und Syntax. In: Grimm, Hannelore (Ed.): Sprachentwicklung. Göttingen:
Hogrefe (=Enzyklopädie der Psychologie, Themenbereich C: Theorie und Forschung, Serie III: Sprache), 141-169
Weissenborn, Jürgen (2001): Frühkindliche Sprachentwicklung und spezifische Sprachentwicklungsstörungen. Eine neue
Forschergruppe der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). LOGOS Interdisziplinär 9, 129-132
Weissenborn, Jürgen (2003):Untersuchungen zum frühkindlichen Spracherwerb: Ergebnisse und Konsequenzen für das Verständnis
von Sprachentwicklungsstörungen. In C. Iven (Ed.) Früh genug, zu früh, zu spät? Modelle und Methoden zur Diagnostik und Therapie
sprachlicher Entwicklungsstörungen von 0-4 Jahren. Köln: Prolog (= Sprachtherapieaktuell 4), 29-47
Weissenborn, J. &Höhle, B. (Eds.) (2001) Approaches to Bootstrapping: Phonological, Lexical, Syntactic, and Neurophysiological
Aspects of Early Language Acquisition. 2 Vols., Amsterdam: Benjamins
Weissenborn-Interview. http://www.starke-eltern.de/htm/archiv/artikel/10_2004/experteninterview_weissenborn.htm
Zollinger, Barbara (2010): Die Entdeckung der Sprache. 8. Aufl. Bern/Stuttgart/Wien: Haupt
Zwergensprache - Mit Babys auf dem Weg zur Sprache http://www.babyzeichensprache.com/index.php
Workshops for babies at Ljubljana shool for deaf (by Jan Kraigher)
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4
A short history of sign languages
of the deaf
The use of visual communication in evolution
Franz Dotter
When we look at the theories about the origin of languages, we find even some hypotheses that spoken
languages may have emerged from signed ones or gesture systems, i.e. that visual communication
systems may have been the ancestors of acoustic ones (cf. Armstrong & Wilcox 2007). A more plausible
standpoint from my perspective - looking at the evolution of communication systems in different species
- is that early communication systems of evolutionary higher developed species to an overwhelming
majority show a combination of acoustic and visual means. This seems to be the case also for primates
and our human ancestors. Some proof can be found in Kendon‘s work on the still existing tight connection
between gesture, facial/corporal expression and spoken language (cf. Kendon 2010).
A hypothesis concerning the early existence of ‘sign languages’
Taking into consideration that deafness by genetic predisposition or by acquisition through disease was
a phenomenon during the whole history of mankind, it seems plausible that deaf individuals adapted
to their situation by optimising the visual part of the existing combined communication systems. Similar
to the stereotypical reactions of the hearing majority to different forms of impairments - in early times
certainly based on mythical interpretations of impairment (e.g. the role of blind people as soothsayers),
their social environment may have either adapted to their communication behaviour or expulsed them
from society. In any case we can assume that some ‘sign language’ has existed throughout the history
of mankind, showing different forms of tradition, depending on the size of deaf minorities in their
environment and their acceptance.
Visual systems used by hearing people as a proof for the exploitation of the visual
channel for communication and language
Looking back to history or to other cultures, we can find visual systems some of which can be designated
as ‘languages’ that were or are used as ‘auxiliary systems’ by hearing subjects for social or environmental
reasons:
• Mediaeval monks obliged to obey the rule of silence developed some sign systems to overcome
the impossible situation of having no communication1. The advantage was that these monks had
a tool which allowed them to communicate with deaf people.
North American Indians used a signed ‘lingua Franca’ (= a common language) in order to overcome
the communication barriers due to many different spoken languages. This language served for a
quite detailed communication, e.g. in hunting, narration, ceremonies, etc.2.
• Some cultures (e.g. Indigenous peoples of Australia) prohibit speaking in special situations (e.g.
the death of a partner or a near relative). On such occassions signing is possible3.
• Small systems of signs are used for communication in diving3a, brokerage4, among soldiers4a or
the police5 in order to either avoid any sound or to replace sound by a more adequate visual
means.
To sum up, wherever a visual communication system or language was functional for hearing people,
they doubtlessly decided to use it. It is only the ‘privilege’ of hearing ‘experts’ on deaf people with their
limited understanding of this fact that they - consciously or not - prohibited or impeded the access of
deaf people to a visual language. Such limited understanding emerged either from ignorance due to
59
the scientific state-of-the-art in earlier centuries or from an ideological orientation towards a mystified
or nationalistic ‘spoken language only’ standpoint. A part of the second reason is the stance that only
perfectly speaking individuals can be assessed as human beings.
First written records on deafness and/or sign language6
There exist several paragraphs in written documents starting from the ancient world. They can be
interpreted as proofs for the awareness of the societies concerning deaf people. More detailed
information about deafness and signing accompanied the development of education for deaf people by
visual means (at first with the children of the nobles in Spain; cf. Werner 1932). The following step was
the first school-related education system for the deaf developed by de L‛Epeé from 1760 on (cf. Reise
in die Geschichte 2001). The success of this method spread over Europe and many teachers of the deaf
visited Paris in order to learn it. For instance, the Austrian emperor Joseph II sent teachers to Paris and
founded a deaf school in Vienna that was followed by many others distributed over the whole monarchy
(cf. Dotter & Okorn 2003).
Statue showing the first school for the deaf established by de L‛Epeé in Paris (by Živa Ribičič)
60
When we set into relation world views and deaf education, we can identify two major forces of early
initiatives: firstly, the motivation to save the souls of the deaf by making the basics of religion accessible to
them, and secondly, the enlightenment movement which aimed at the development of every individual
(cf. Berger 2002). Later, nationalism led to the majority decision of the teachers of the deaf against the
use of sign languages in Milan in 1880, which was officially (and regretfully) only taken back by the
Vancouver 2010 Resolution.
The history of sign languages themselves
Concerning the history of sign languages, there are hints that de L‛Epeé and his successors used the signs
they found in deaf communities and included them into their school sign (a description of this approach
can be found in Czech 1836). It seems very clear that the autochthonous signs of the deaf would not be
sufficient for teaching. Therefore we may assume that a lot of „teaching-oriented signs’ were invented,
probably mostly by the teachers (cf. Fischer 2002). This resulted in two phenomena. The first is the
relatedness of many European and the American Sign Language to the French Sign Language (the
teachers visiting Paris also adopted French school signs). The second is that many schools seem to have
been the source of a „dialect’ of their pupils and their offspring. As regards grammar, we can suppose
that it was not possible to erase the modality based properties of the autochthonous deaf language(s),
but in the sense of language contact, some influence of spoken languages on the sign languages taught
is also plausible.
As sign languages were not regarded as languages, they remained neglected, and since 1880, even
forbidden and discriminated against. Therefore it is not surprising that many sign languages still have not
been dealt with in an adequate manner. Tervoort (1953) was the first to describe the Netherlands Sign
Language in a systematic way. Much more known is Stokoe who installed the first general description
system which was then enriched/improved by some other authors (especially Liddell & Johnson; cf.
Dotter 2001).
The acknowledgement of sign languages
As mentioned above, the status of sign languages as languages was long ignored. Following the linguistic
awareness, the political acknowledgement of sign languages started in the 1980s and is still an on-going
process (cf. Krausneker 2008, Wheatley &Pabsch 2010, Wikipedia, Recognition). In recent history, there
was an important international shift of paradigms from ‘helping’ people with special needs towards
accepting their rights (cf. Dotter 2011). This was codified by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities; its follow-ups should lead to equal rights for sign languages.
Notes
1 - Cf. http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Park/7712/Articles/MonksSL.html, http://www.benediktiner.de/
regula/RB_deutsch01.htm#Kap_06
2 - Cf.Clark 1982; http://dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Language_and_Linguistics/Natural_Languages/
Sign_Languages/Native_American_Sign_Systems, http://www.colorado-mall.com/HTML/CULTURAL/CULTURES/
NATIVE_AMERICAN/indianSignLanguage.html, http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/indian/sign_language/
3- Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warlpiri_Sign_Language
3a - Cf. http://www.desiweb.ch/tauchen/
4 - Cf. http://www.futuresbroker.com/hand1.htm
4a - Cf. http://www.lefande.com/hands.html
5 - Cf. http://members.easyspace.com/rueckner/weapons/
6 - For an overview cf. Schein & Stewart 1995: 1-28
61
References
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Armstrong, David F. & Wilcox, Sherman E.: The gestural origin of language. New York: Oxford University Press 2007
Berger, Petra: Die österreichische Gebärdensprache (ÖGS) in der Zeit der Aufklärung. Diss. Graz 2002
Clark, William P.: The Indian sign language. Lincoln & London: University of Nebraska Press 1982 [reprint from 1885]
Cžech, Franz Herrmann: Versinnlichte Denk- und Sprachlehre, mit Anwendung auf die Religions- und Sittenlehre und auf das Leben.
2 Vols. Wien: Mechitaristen-Congregations-Buchh. 1836
deJorio, Andrea: Gesture in Naples and Gesture in Classical Antiquity. Indiana University Press 2000 [Spanish original 1832, translated
by Adam Kendon]
Dotter, Franz: Gebärdensprachforschung. In: Haspelmath, Martin & König, Ekkehard & Oesterreicher, Wulf & Raible, Wolfgang (Eds.):
Language typology and language universals / Sprachtypologie und sprachliche Universalien. Band 1, Halbband 1. Berlin/New York:
de Gruyter 2001, 141-154
Dotter, Franz: Sign Languages and Their Communities Now and in the Future. 2011
http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/zgh/downloads/2011_Dotter_SLCommunities_Budapest.pdf
Dotter, Franz &Okorn, Ingeborg: Austria’s hidden conflict: Hearing culture vs. deaf culture. In: Monaghan, Leila &Schmaling,
Constanze& Nakamura, Karen & Turner, Graham H. (Eds.), Many ways to be deaf. Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press 2003,
49-66
Fischer, Renate: The dictionary of the abbé de l’Epée and his ‘methodical signs’, in: Schulmeister, R./Reinitzer, H. (Eds.): Progress
in sign language research. In Honor of Siegmund Prillwitz / Fortschritte in der Gebärdensprachforschung. Festschrift für Siegmund
Prillwitz. Hamburg: Signum 2002, 47-61
Kendon, Adam: Gesture: visible action as utterance. 4th print, Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress 2010
Krausneker, Verena: The protection and promotion of sign languages and the rights of their users in the Council of Europe member
states: needs analysis. Council of Europe 2008. www.coe.int/t/e/social_cohesion/soc-sp/Report Sign languages
Reise in die Geschichte: Von den Anfängen der Gehörlosenpädagogik bis zum Mailänder Kongress 1880. Transcript of broadcast by
‘SehenstattHören’, March, 18th 2001.http://www.taubenschlag.de/html/ssh/1040.htm
Schein, Jerome D. & Stewart, David A.: Language in motion. Washington D.C.: Gallaudet Press 1995
Tervoort, Bernard T. M.: Structureleanalyse van visueeltaalgebruikbinneneengroep dove kinderen. Amsterdam: NoordHollandscheUitgeversMaatschappij 1953
English summary: http://www.ru.nl/sign-lang/publications/vm/english_summary_of/
The Vancouver 2010 Resolution: A New Era of Deaf Participation and Collaboration
http://deafbc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ICED-Document.pdf
Werner, Hans: Geschichte des Taubstummenproblems bis ins 17. Jahrhundert. Jena: Fischer 1932
Wheatley, Mark &Pabsch, Annika: Sign Language Legislation in the European Union. Brussels: EUD 2010
Wikipedia: Legal recognition of sign languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_recognition_of_sign_languages
Acocella, Joan:The Neapolitan Finger. In: Sign Language Studies 2 (2002), 197-211
http://www.innovative-access.com/hand_signals.htm
Urubo-Kaapor, Keresan Pueblo: Sign language archeology (Supalla)
4.1 History of the Slovenian sign language
Živa Ribičič
The first school for the deaf in Slovenia was established in 1840 in Gorica and although they decided to
teach by using the oral method, teachers used signing. They followed the method of a priest named Franz
Herman, a Czech from Vienna. His book was published in 1844. His books were sent to priests around the
monarchy and at that time Slovenia was a part of the monarchy, too. The school promoted sign language
and vocational education and was led by a priest Valentin Stanič.
The Slovene sign language was secretly used in the Ljubljana school which was established in the year
1900. Twenty years before that, in 1880, an international conference of deaf education had been held. It
had a big impact on education of the deaf all over the world. A declaration was made that oral education
was better than sign education. The Slovene school decided to have oral education and for many years
sign language was forbidden and students were punished when using it. Anyway, the deaf community
always used sign language in deaf clubs and also secretly at school. After the year 1980 some educators
in the Ljubljana school ascertained that it was beneficial for deaf students to have sign language in the
learning process. Most experts at school were still against it saying that sign language affects the process
62
of learning to speak. Some experts in Slovenia still agree with this claim.
In the year 1931 the first deaf organization was established and in 1979 the first sign language seminars
were held. The first deaf TV broadcast started in 1980 and was moved to the national TV in 1984. The
first tapes with the sign language were filmed in 1984 and also two handbooks for the sign language
learning were published in 1984. In 1985 The Association of the deaf prepared an act about sign language
interpreters. Besides, a video newspaper was unique for that time. In 1986 a battle for the recognition of
sign language began. In 1996 interpreters were included into the pre-election TV programme.
After 23 years of battle the Slovene sign language was recognised in 2002, bringing deaf people the
long expected rights. They have the right to use sign language in all state institutions and they also get a
certain amount of free interpreting for their own needs.
A multimedia dictionary was published in 2003. In 2007 the association started with seminars of the
international sign language and in 2008 the Internet TV for the deaf was established. In 2010 two
handbooks for teaching sign language were published. They followed the tradition of sign language
courses which have been held in the Ljubljana school for the deaf for many years.
After 1995 there have been more systematic approaches towards bilingual education. At the moment
the Slovene sign language is used only at the Ljubljana school for the deaf (the only school centre with a
secondary school), whereas the school in Maribor uses the oral approach. The Portorož school does not
have any deaf child at the moment. After the year 2003 deaf poetry arose in the Ljubljana school and
also in deaf clubs. At the moment this part of sign language is flourishing with many different poems and
deaf poets.
In the last decade there have been a lot of researches in the field of sign language and the adaptation of
e-materials for the deaf. In addition, the research group of deaf representatives from different regions
works at the Association of the deaf and a dictionary of the sign language is available on the Internet.
The Association of interpreters has 44 interpreters with a certificate (a national vocational qualification)
at the moment. The Association of the deaf has 13 deaf clubs which includes 5295 deaf and hard of
hearing people. 1567members are deaf (almost 100% of the whole deaf population) and there are also
65 deaf-blind persons.
On the national TV there is regular interpreting for children broadcast and recently also the evening
national TV news is interpreted every day.
4.2 SomefactsabouttheBritishSignLanguage
British Sign Language is now usually referred to in its abbreviated form of BSL, just as the sign languages
of other countries are referred to in a shortened version, for example, ASL - American Sign Language,
AUSlan - Australian Sign Language, DGS - Deutsche Gebärdensprache (German Sign Language) and so on.
As recently as 20 years ago, the term BSL was not yet in regular usage, and the sign language of Britain’s
Deaf Community was regarded as an inferior system of pantomime and gesture that was not a true
language.
Parents were advised not to allow their children to use signs or even gesture, as this would spoil their
chances of developing speech and lipreading skills (this is still the case in some areas) in spite of the fact
that this system was failing the majority of deaf children as described in this extract from SIGN IN SIGHT
1992:
‘A study carried out in 1979 found that most deaf school leavers had not progressed beyond a reading age
of 8.75 years. In real terms, this means that they would be unable to read the tabloid newspapers, and
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that instruction manuals, government or official forms, safety regulations, and so on, would all remain
beyond comprehension. In addition, speech quality was found to be largely unintelligible, and skill at
lipreading was found to be no better than inexperienced hearing children, dispelling the myth that deaf
people are good lipreaders.’
Large numbers of adult Deaf people remember vividly and with anger their frustration at not being able
to understand what was going on, or to express themselves through sign language.
Even when families decided for themselves to offer their children something more, and to learn sign
language, classes were virtually non-existent and there were precious few resources on the subject (the
British Deaf Association’s Dictionary of British Sign Language was not published until 1992).
Many people are surprised when they discover that sign language was forbidden in deaf education and
not used in the teaching of deaf children until about 20 or so years ago, and then not in all deaf schools.
Its use was discouraged even informally, although deaf children could not be deterred from signing with
each other in the playground and when teacher was not looking, since visual language is so important
to them. The language is developed and passed on out of necessity, and the 10% or so of deaf children
of Deaf parents, who develop BSL as a first language, bring their valued native competence into the lives
of others.
Deaf adult role models have also been rare in deaf children’s lives, to the extent that some deaf children
believed that they would no longer be deaf when they grew up, because all the adults they knew were
hearing. It was not considered appropriate to employ Deaf people in deaf schools until schools started to
adopt policies using sign language, and there are still very few Deaf teachers. Approximately 90% of deaf
children are born into hearing families who have usually never encountered deafness or sign language
before. Even today, deaf children may not have adult Deaf contact unless this is specifically sought after
and arranged - something that is not always encouraged by the medical profession or educationalists
who are the first line of contact for families.
Attitudes towards sign language started to change due to research in America in the 1950’ and 60’s,
then in Britain during the 1970’ and 80’s. Sign languages started to be recognised as full, complex visual
languages with structure and grammar very different from spoken languages. It is now recognised that
sign languages exist throughout the world, wherever groups of deaf people and children come together.
Each has its own unique vocabulary and rules, although being visual spatial languages, they have a lot in
common with each other - more in common with each other than with spoken languages. The structures
of sign language are necessarily different from those used in spoken language, as explained in this extract
from the Introduction to SIGN LANGUAGE COMPANION.
‘Spoken languages have evolved over thousands and thousands of years. They are particularly suited to
the auditory medium, expressed by mouth and taken in by the ear. Less is known about sign languages
than spoken languages and their study is still fairly new, but it is clear that sign languages have also
evolved over time to suit the visual medium, expressed by physical movements and taken in by the eye.
/../
In sign language, the physical movement of signs is slow compared to the speed of spoken words. Words
can be spoken at roughly double the rate at which signs can be produced, yet it is possible to interpret
from one language to the other in the same space of time without loss of meaning, nuance or intent.
How can this be? How can half the number of signs convey the same propositions or ideas as those
that might be spoken? The answer is really quite ingenious. Sign language relies less on ‘words’ and
more on the inventive use of space and movement - an alternative and creative visuality, devised by the
human brain to fulfil our need for language when the usual channels are not available. It involves the
three-dimensional use of space, the location of signs within that space, the speed, direction and type
of movement, the handshapes that are used, all combined with non-manual information carried by the
head, face and body. All these factors can be taken in by the eye at the same time. The order of the
message can also be very different, and might involve a completely different starting point, construct of
events, and finishing point, not unlike the old story of asking directions and being told, ‘If I were going
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there, I wouldn’t start from here.’ Things can happen simultaneously in a visual language, concentrating
detail relevant to the message into the signs in a very economic way, so that the rate of ideas and chunks
of meaning remain within the brain’s normal limits. /../
A simple illustration of these processes would be an instruction such as ‘turn right at the traffic lights’. In
BSL, traffic lights (one sign) would be signed first, followed by turn right (one sign). This not only reflects
the real order of events, a crucial and distinguishing feature of visual language, but uses classifying
handshapes to indicate lights and vehicle, which are located in space with appropriate directional
movement to suit the context. In this way, information is condensed into just two signs, enabling the
expression of an instruction that would require six spoken words. /../
The reason why it is so important to understand this type of process is that it explains some of the
misconceptions about sign language, and why Deaf BSL users find signed forms of English such a strain.
Deaf people say that when signs are used to accompany speech, they can understand each item as
it appears, but find difficulty taking in the message content as a whole when all the information is
expressed in the linear sequence of spoken language. The patterning that enables meaning to be given in
chunks is inappropriate to sign language, and has to be ‘worked out’ by the receiver. In addition, because
sign production is slower than speech, unless many items are simply missed out, then the whole thing
is slowed down. This has the effect of lengthening the units of meaning that put the message across,
making understanding more difficult.
Sign-supported English may suit some deaf people in some situations, but does not meet all the linguistic
needs of those deaf from infancy for whom English is not a first language. Furthermore, it reflects an
insistence on ‘normalisation’ (they have to learn English) rather than valuing a unique difference - and
making the difference ‘normal’.
Reference
•
Smith, C., Sign Language Companion, 1996, published at DeafSign.Com on 19/12/2000
4.3 ThehistoryofthedeafeducationinLithuania
Svetlana Litvinaite
The first information about the deaf which reached us is related to the training of the deaf.
The idea to establish the school for the deaf at the beginning of the 19th century belonged to a Vilnius
bishop Jonas Kosakovskis. It was him who acquainted the Vilniusmonks missionaries with the activities of
the Vienna Institute of the Deaf and started establishing a school with them. The school master was one
of the monks Zygmundas Anzelmas. He had a one year practice at the Vienna Institute of the Deaf and
passed his examinations as a teacher of the deaf and the hearing impaired in August 1805. In the same
year he started the training of the deaf in Vilnius. He devised a finger ABC which was published at the
publishing house of missionaries in 1806.
From 1819 the Vilnius University Council started to be concerned with the training of the deaf. This work
was delegated to the University student Karolis Malakauskas. The Institute of the Deaf was established in
1823. But in the year 1843 the functioning of the school ceased, no more detailed information about it
and the last training of the deaf survived.
In 1922 Prelate Povilas Januševičius, the chairman of the Infant Jesus Fraternity, started to speak publicly
about the necessity of teaching the blind, the deaf and other handicapped children. This fraternity,
whose activity was discontinued in 1940 when the Soviet Russia occupied Lithuania, educated and took
care of orphans with various sorts of disability. It established several forms of secondary schools and a
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professional school for the deaf in Kaunas.
From 1934 eight deaf children started to be taught in the class of handicapped children that was
established at Primary School No. 24, named after Kaunas Fort No. 8. From the same year another school
for the deaf, which was guided by monks, functioned in Kaunas for 3 years.
On the initiative of Pranas Daunys, a deaf activist P. Makutėnas, a group of physicians, pedagogues
and other public figures the organization named Lithuanian Society of the Deaf and Dumb Patronage
was established. Rev. Povilas Juknevičius was elected its first chairman. The bylaws of the society were
registered with the register of the societies of the Ministry of Interior Affairs on March 24th, 1938. The
task of the company was to establish the school-institute for the deaf.
The Institute of the Deaf started functioning at 34 Muravos street in Kaunas on September 1st, 1938.
Another institute was opened in Vilnius on February 24th, 1939. In 1940 over 90 deaf boys and girls
studied at both institutes. In the same year both institutes were joined together and transferred to the
Lithuanian Society of the Deaf and Dumb Patronage.
With the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Russia in 1940 the activities of public organizations of the
deaf were discontinued.
In 1944, on the demand of the activists of the deaf, an order was adopted allowing the deaf and dumb
societies to be organized anew. P. Mikutėnas, the leader of the deaf, was appointed as the chairman of
the society organizing committee.
He was concerned from the start with the training of the deaf: the educational establishments, training
aids and textbooks. Especially great merits in this period belong to Jonas Glembockis. He fulfilled the
duties of the chairman of the deaf and dumb society on the public basis. He initiated the creation of the
professional school for the deaf. Much place in the curriculum was devoted to the general education
– striving to at least partly finish with the illiteracy of the deaf. He also prepared and published the
elementary school textbook for the deaf ‘I Learn to Talk’, ‘Grammar Exercises’, the finger ABC in the
Lithuanian language, etc.
Nowadays there is one Secondary school for the deaf in Vilnius where education in sign language is
provided. It lasts for twelve years. There are other four schools for the deaf in Kaunas, Šiauliai, Panevėžys,
Klaipėda, where deaf children can get basic education of ten years. Education is also provided in sign
language. All teachers are obliged to learn and use sign language due to the fact that the Lithuanian sign
language is the official language of the deaf, stated by the law. There are also numbers of kindergartens
for the deaf. Besides, many children are nowadays taught in integration within mainstream classes with
the support of speech therapists and teachers of the deaf and the hearing impaired.
Sign Language History
There is not much information on the development of the Lithuanian sign language over the past
centuries. The real development of the sign language started in 1995, when sign language was officially
recognized as the native language of the deaf proclaimed by the law.
In order to solve the issues of the education of the deaf, their training and medical rehabilitation, the
Interdepartmental Surdological Centre was established in 1991. Until 1995 it joined the efforts of the
doctors and pedagogues to help deaf people at integration through sign language.
In 1995 the Lithuanian Association of the Deaf changed its priorities and turned towards sign language.
The Surdological Centre (SC) was delegated the task to research and foster the use of sign language in the
society. Since that year the SC has been obliged to prepare sign language dictionaries, methodological
materials for sign language teaching, to provide sign language courses for professionals, sign language
interpreters, teachers and the public.
In addition, also the reform of the development and education of the deaf is being carried into effect.
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Following the resolution of the Government a State programme for the use of the sign language was
prepared in 1997-1998. In order to implement it the joint efforts of the Ministry of Social Security and
Labour, the Ministry of Education and Science and the Lithuanian Society of the Deaf were mobilized. This
programme provided guidelines for activities for almost six years. The main executor of the programme
was the SC.
The next programme was launched in 2002 and lasted for six years as well. The latest programme period
started in 2008 and will last for five years. This programme gives priorities and tasks for the researches in
the field of sing language and the preparation of training materials for schools and adults. In addition, in
order to spread the knowledge on sign language it provides trainings for wider society.
A huge piece of work in the field of sign language research represents the publishing of the Sign Language
Grammar by Mantrimas Danielius. This grammar founded the basics of the sign language teaching,
learning and development. Nowadays, it’s widely used.
Further researches of the sign language are continued by the Sign Language Research Centre, which
works within the Lithuanian Centre of Education of the Deaf and Hard of hearing. Today, this centre
publishes many educational materials for schools, thematic dictionaries and a video dictionary of over
8000 signs.
The current use of SL in early education
As sign language is officially recognized as the native language of the deaf, it is obligatory used in all
schools and trainings centres of the deaf, starting from early education in kindergarten and finishing
with university.
Education of the deaf is based on bilingual teaching using signs and spoken language. Children with a
significant hear loss are taught in sign language from the very first days. Naturally, only if parents show
their tolerance and agree with this method. There is a variety of training materials to teach children signs
in cartoons and in video versions.
The use of sign language in early years of education is very important because it gives the basis for future
education: vocabulary, speech development, literacy etc.
Pre-school education is not compulsory; it admits children from one to seven years of age or to the age
when they enter primary schooling.
Pre-school education is performed by public and private pre-school institutions – kindergartens. Parents
have the right to choose the pre-school education programme for their children at a public or private preschool institution. The aim of pre-school institutions is to support the parents in bringing up the child,
to improve the quality of family life and to create good conditions for the development of the child’s
physical and intellectual abilities. Public pre-school institutions are founded and partly financed by local
communities. They are also financed from parents’ contributions (from 0 to 80%, depending on their
income), from the national budget (for specific purposes like transport of pre-school children) and from
donations and other sources.
The national curriculum for pre-school institutions is based upon the appreciation of individual differences
in development and learning, as well as on the appreciation of the child’s integrative and balanced
development. The objectives, contents and activities are designed separately for the first and the second
age-group of children.
The following subject fields are included in pre-school institution activities: physical exercise, language,
art, society, nature, study, mathematics. Interdisciplinary activities like ethics, health care, safety and
traffic education are incorporated into all those fields.
In Lithuania since 2012 the babies’ hearing is screened shortly after they are born. After that children
receive hearing aids and can go to a consultant at a school for the deaf. There is a special early intervention
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programme developed by the teachers working in kindergartens and schools for the deaf, where parents
and children receive basic information on education of deaf children. They also get acquainted with sign
language possibilities.
In special education for the deaf the same curriculum is followed, only the approach is adapted to deaf
and hard of hearing children. There are up to six children in groups for deaf and hard of hearing children.
In the last few years a big number of deaf children is operated with a cochlear implant at the age of one
year or a year and a half. After that they start an extensive rehabilitation programme which is based on
listening and achieving speech and language. A lot of children are integrated into mainstream settings
after they are four years old.
Deaf children who are not operated are usually from deaf families. Their first language is the Lithuanian
sign language and they are educated bilingually with teachers with good knowledge of signing.
A sign language interpreter is used in kindergartens on field trips or at other kindergarten activities. For
the rest of curriculum the teachers use sign language themselves.
The parents of the children with cochlear implants strictly resist the use of sign language with their
children denying the help of signs in speech development.
The method presented at pre-primary education level by teachers and trainers during the Tiny Signers
courses might change the situation.
4.4 Ashorthistoryofsignlanguageanddeafeducation
in Austria
Franz Dotter
The first Austrian school for the deaf (Taubstummeninstitut) was established in Vienna in 1779 after a
visit by Emperor Joseph II to de l’Epée’s school in Paris. This was the third government-sponsored school
in Europe, following Paris (1769) and Leipzig (1778). Daughter institutions of the Viennese Institute were
founded all over the Austro-Hungarian empire1. Confronted with competing methods: the sign-languageoriented ‘French method’ and the spoken-language-oriented ‘German method’, the Viennese institution
developed a compromise (‘the mixed method’), using written language, signs and a manual alphabet as
a basis for learning spoken language. In 1867, the mixed method was discontinued in Austria in favour of
the German method (cf. Bundes-Taubstummeninstitut Wien 1979, Schott 1995).
After 1865, deaf associations were established. Under the monarchy, many deaf people came to Vienna,
the most important centre of Austrian deaf culture. The number of the deaf in Vienna at that time has
been estimated to be 1,000, with about ten local clubs. After World War I, in the context of revolutionary
movements in Middle and Eastern Europe, the deaf also founded a Taubstummenrat which organized a
large assembly in 1919. This assembly demanded a combined method of education, including sign and
written language, reminiscent of the former Viennese method.
Interpreting the scarce information we have, the scenario seems to be that deaf education conformed to
the general Austrian pedagogical orientation of the period: it was authoritarian, regardless of whether
it followed the Viennese mixed or German oral methods. The use of authoritarian methods in (not only
deaf) education lasted until the 1960’s when authoritarianism gradually weakened. Authoritarianism led
to split results. Those pupils who could deal with the authoritarian oral method got partially good spokenlanguage knowledge. The others, suffering from the effects of the method, stopped at an incredibly basic
level of language development.
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Under the auspices of the Nazi ‘Rassenhygiene’ (race hygiene or eugenics), the genetically deaf fell
under the ‘GesetzzurVerhuetungerbkrankenNachwuchses’ (Law for Preventing a New Generation of
Hereditary Ill) from July 14, 1933. Under this law, an estimated 15,000 people with hereditary deafness
were sterilized in Germany. It is not clear, however, how many deaf people were among the estimated
75,000 victims of the euthanasia programme for the disabled. Jewish members were expelled from deaf
clubs after the ‘Anschluss’ in 1938. Jewish deaf institutions were closed by law in 1942. In spite of the
sterilization programme and the neglect of deaf schools in both financial and personnel terms, there was
a Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) deaf organization with its own periodical (‘Die Quelle’ - The Fountain) for the
‘accidentally’ deaf (i.e. deafness by disease, not by genetics).
After World War II, an umbrella deaf association (‘Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund’ (cf. Österreichischer
Gehörlosenbund 1988) was refounded, bringing together all Austrian deaf clubs. In 1963, Heinrich
Prohazka, one of the founders of the Austrian Deaf Association, still deplored the low efficiency of the
Austrian deaf organization compared with those in other countries. He identified two reasons: the lack
of self-identification by the deaf and the lack of support from authorities (Prohazka 1988). Emancipation
and a development towards self-determined life started only in the late 1980s; the change to an official
bilingual self-representation (cf. Jarmer 1997, Krausneker 2006) began with the possibilities of digital
video and internet. Apart from the fight for the acknowledgement of the Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS),
the analysis of the still partially low-quality education of deaf people was the central task of deaf and
hearing workers in the field (cf. Migsch 1987, Krausneker&Schalber 2007).
The Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) shows some regional variants (cf. the online lexicon http://ledasila.uniklu.ac.at/TPM/public/public_main.asp?sid=), standardisation (for educational purposes without trying
to elliminate the varieties) was established on a very small base during the late 1990s and is still an ongoing process.
Painting of teachers of first school in Paris demonstrating a teaching method to important visitors (by Živa Ribičič)
69
Sign language research in Austria is rather new: the first scientific project began in July 1990. The
Department for Interpreting at the University of Graz also started it in 1990, as a reaction to information
about sign language interpreting on television broadcasts in nearby Slovenia. The first issue of a descriptive
grammar of the Austrian Sign Language was published in 2002 (cf. Dotter 1999 and the home page of the
Centre for Sign Language and Deaf Communication http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/zgh).
The Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) is constitutionally acknowledged as a language since 2005, but there
are now laws which secure the rights of sign language users or their parents for any educational provision
(cf. Krausneker, in print). This means that sign language users have to go and find individual ways for the
realisation of their rights at the basis of the Austrian law which formulates equal rights for the disabled
(Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz).
Notes
1- These institutions include Prague 1786, Vácz (Hungary) 1802, Milan (Italy) 1805, Linz 1812, Brixen (Italy) and
Lwiw (Ukraine) 1830, Salzburg 1831, Graz and Brno (Czech Republic) 1832, Bratislava (Slovakia) 1833; Gorica/
Gorizia (Slovenia/Italy) 1840; Trento (Italy) 1842; St. Pölten 1846 and Celovec/Klagenfurt 1847.
References
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Bundes-Taubstummeninstitut Wien: Taubstummeninstitut Wien 1779-1979. 200 Jahre Gehoerlosenbildung. Wien 1979.
Dotter, Franz: Gebärdensprachforschung in Klagenfurt. In: Das Zeichen, 13 (1999), 356-367.
Jarmer, Helene: Bilingualismus und Bikulturalismus: ihre Bedeutung für Gehörlose. Unpublished BA Thesis. Wien 1997.
Krausneker, Verena: Taubstumm bis gebärdensprachig. Die österreichische Gebärdensprachgemeinschaft aus soziolinguistischer
Perspektive. Klagenfurt: Drava 2006.
Krausneker, Verena (in print) Österreichische Gebärdensprache ist anerkannt, in: De Cillia, Rudolf, Vetter, Eva (Eds.): Klagenfurter
Erklärung revisited
Krausneker, Verena & Schalber, Katharina: Sprache Macht Wissen. Vienna 2007.
www.univie.ac.at/oegsprojekt/downloads.htm.
Migsch, Gertraud: Die Verstummung des Widerspruchs. Ein qualitativer Beitrag zur beruflichen Sozialisation von Gehoerlosenlehrern.
Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Salzburg 1987.
Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund: 75 Jahre Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund 1913-1988. Wien 1988.
Pinter, Magret: Klagenfurter Unterrichtsprojekt: Bilinguale Förderung hoergeschädigter Kinder in der Gehörlosenschule. In: Das
Zeichen 6 (1992), 145-150.
Prohazka, Heinrich: 1963 - Ein halbes Jahrhundert Gehörlosen-Organisation in Österreich. In Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund 1988,
71-88.
Schott, Walter: Das k.k. Taubstummen-Institut in Wien 1779-1918. Wien: Böhlau 1995.
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5
How to use sign communication with
babies and toddlers
Vicki Gilbert and Mojca Polak Williams
An important aspect of sign communication with babies and toddlers is helping parents and child care
professional to support child’s development. We use the so-called key word signing approach, where
the most frequent words from the child’s every day routine are signed. The words have been identified
through the observation of experts at work in the kindergartens and relate to the topics of meal time,
dressing up, hygiene, play time, the important others (family and other) and feelings. Further words
have been identified through the review of books and songs which are most commonly used in the first
three years of child’s development. The list of signs including the graphics of the signs (100) is part of the
Chapter 7. These are the recommended signs to start with when introducing baby signs into childcare
playrooms. They are taught in sign communication courses across the countries of the project consortium.
As already explained, there are two main approaches to learning sign communication. The worldwide
spread system introduced by two American researchers, Dr Linda Acredolo and Dr Susan Goodwyne,
namely Baby signing, advocates for the so-called made up signs. However, we promote the approach
using standardized signs that was first introduced by an American researcher, Joseph Garcia. There are
several advantages of this approach, among others it involves many iconic signs from the particular
socio-cultural environment which are therefore easier to learn and bridge the gap between the hearing
and deaf environment. They can be used in childcare and other educational settings because they are
standardized. When forgotten they can be looked up again, they can be used by anyone, in childcare
and other educational settings, and furthermore they can provide an introduction to a second language.
Therefore the signs on drawings in Chapter 7 all belong to national sign languages used by the deaf and
hard of hearing people in a certain country.
There are a few tips which have to be respected while signing with babies and toddlers both in preschool
settings and at home. The ‘baby signs’ were first introduced by Joseph Garcia and are based on the years
of experience in teaching signing to parents and baby groups, and during signing in the kindergartens.
10 tips for signing
1. The signing should be FUN: Signing is enjoyable for everyone concerned. It can also be helpful in
many other situations which aren’t fun, e.g. when the baby is ill.
2. There should always be an eye contact. Try and keep the baby in your sight-line. But even when
they can’t see you fully, keep signing.
3. Always SAY the word. The words are not to be replaced by the signs, therefore say the word at
the same time as doing the sign, even emphasize the key word.
4. Show the object or activity, so that the sign is in context. Wherever possible ensure the baby/
ies can see what you are signing and talking about, e.g. show them the milk bottle as you take it
out of the fridge.
5. Use relevant signs, always keep them relevant to the situation. Whether you are reading a book,
or talking about grandma; when she is not there, show a photograph. Always in context.
6. Use facial expressions, especially if it is an expressive sign, e.g. signs for emotions. This helps to
put it in context for the baby and encourages him/her to be more expressive as s/he grows up.
7. Always sign correctly. Babies and children approximate signs, i.e. do their own version. Do not
‘copy’ these but stick to doing the ‘correct’ sign consistently.
8. REPETITION is the key. Sign as often as you can, even a few signs and the baby will eventually
sign back.
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9. Be responsive. Acknowledge that the baby has understood or shown a sign by using your voice,
signing ‘Good’ and repeating the sign back to him/her.
10. Be patient. Your baby will eventually sign back to you if you sign often enough. On average they
sign back between 10 and 13 months, some earlier, some later.
the stages of signing
Another important area for all of the practitioners of signing is the knowledge of the stages of signing and
what to expect when using sign communication.
In all of the practices of signing the ‘Six Stages of Signing’ should be respected. They should be used as
a guide. The children will naturally bounce back and forth between the stages and may have an order all
of their own.
1. Amusement
When you begin to sign with babies/toddlers, s/he or they may look at you in an amused sort of way. S/
he is not really sure what you are doing or why you are suddenly using your hands so much while talking
to him/her. S/he might even laugh out loud at you. These are good things to happen. This shows that the
babies are paying attention and think about what you are doing.
1. Recognition/understanding
Next the babies start to understand the meaning of the signs you are showing. For example, s/he is
fussing for milk. You show him/her the ‘EAT’ sign and s/he calms down because s/he knows that the meal
time is coming.
Baby signing ‘milk’ to her mother (by Živa Ribičič)
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2. Attempts & imitation
Suddenly the babies start playing with their hands more. They may try to copy your signs but not really
know what they are doing. They may make these attempts totally out of the context. They are practicing
using their hands.
3. First Sign
The baby/toddler started to use his/her first sign! Sometimes s/he may even start with more than one.
At first the signs may be sporadic; the baby may sign one day and not the next.
Next, the frequency of using the first sign/s (sometimes slowly) increases. You are starting to see the
sign/s pretty consistently now.
Initially, the baby may use that first sign for everything s/he wants to say to you. MORE may be used for:
MORE, MILK, RICE CAKES or anything s/he may be looking for.
Watch for sign approximation in this stage. Baby/toddler signs may be awkward at this stage and you may
miss them if you are not watching carefully.
This is the beginning of the baby’s expressive communication.
4. Signing vocabulary increases
Now the baby/toddler is starting to use more the signs that you showed to him/her. S/he will also start to
look to you to show him a sign for something. Pointed gazes will be happening more often.
This stage may last a while. While baby is starting to sign, s/he may stick with only a few signs for some
time. This is an important time to show your baby lots of new signs. They are like ‘little sponges’ at this
stage and you need to give them lots to ‘soak up’.
Children and parents learning first signs (by Jan Kraigher)
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5.
‘The signing Eureka!’
The baby/toddler suddenly really appears to ‘get’ this whole signing thing. S/he has an impressive size
vocabulary and wants to learn new signs all the time. By this time s/he is also picking up new signs after
seeing them only once.
Baby is now using signs that you may have shown her/him weeks ago and didn’t know s/he remembered!
Also, s/he will start to use his/her signs to initiate conversation!
It is important to remain consistent with your signing. The baby/toddler will be taking a lot of the initiative
but they will still need signing stimulation from you. This will be an amazing time for everyone in child’s
life!
This baby’s first sign ‘more’ was initially used for everything she wanted to say (by Anja Musek)
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6
Specific adaptations required when signing
with deaf and hard of hearing children
Živa Ribičič
6.1 Communication and language development
Deaf and hard of hearing people are not just people lacking one sense. For knowing their needs we need
to understand deafness. Helen Keller, the most known deaf - blind person, said: ‘Blindness separates us
from things but deafness separates us from people’.
Language is at the heart of human development. Namely, it connects us to information and to each other.
Children with a hearing loss may have gaps in basic language skills in everyday conversation and they
can have even more gaps later in academic language. Direct communication is vital in building strong
language skills as a basis for the reading competency as well as building the social skills needed to be
successful in the community.
It is really important to understand the deaf people struggle to acquire a language. Children who hear
acquire basic language without any particular effort – just with listening to the conversation of other
people. The deaf are deprived of audio information. What follows is none or poor knowledge of language,
slow acquisition of speech and social isolation.
Many times deaf babies are not exposed to sign language and less than 10% of deaf children are born to
deaf adults. Early intervention programmes vary from country to country. An example of good practice is
United Kingdom and we expect that their system will be transferred to other countries, too. At this point
we are speaking only about the countries involved in the Tiny Signers project.
In this chapter we are going to talk about specific adaptations for deaf people joining courses for baby
signing and about what adaptations are needed when deaf people join courses for signing with babies
and toddlers.
The following situations may occur:
1.
2.
3.
4.
A deaf baby in a course of baby signing
A deaf parent /adult in a course of baby signing
A deaf teacher/assistant in a course of baby signing
A deaf person attending the module: Signing communication with toddlers.
In this chapter we are going to concentrate on the first two following the main topic of our project. The
last two situations are just going to be mentioned. Namely, they may be a subject of another research.
75
6.2 General adaptations for a deaf adult
Ask how a deaf person would prefer to communicate: lip-reading, body movements, gesturing, signing,
with an interpreter, writing, other modes or a combination of methods. If it is a course for baby signing,
a deaf adult would sometimes suggest an interpreter to follow the course. If a deaf person does not use
sign language you would need to have an assistant helping him or her.
Despite having an interpreter of the assistant, a course teacher should follow some rules for communication
with the deaf:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Look at a deaf parent when speaking with him/her
Maintain eye contact while speaking
If you do not understand a deaf person you need to tell him/her
Use facial expressions to contribute to your message
Use visual cues to make your communication more effective
Use simple gestures
Sit in a position where you are in good lighting (without lights or glare shining into the other
person’s eyes), preferably with a plainer background behind you.
A girl signing ‘mum’ in Slovenian sign language (by Klemen Jeke)
76
Looking at those rules we can see that baby sign courses are all about signing and many of those rules
would be followed anyway. Teachers can also enrich their course by asking the deaf to help a group with
some signs. It is better to discuss that with a deaf parent before the course.
6.3 Rules to use a sign language interpreter
Deaf and hard of hearing people have the same right to information access as any other person. Using a
sign language interpreter helps to guarantee that right. If you have a few moments before the meeting
begins, discuss the interpreter’s physical placement and brief them about any special audio or visual
presentations.
The interpreter will need to sit where the hearing person can be heard and the deaf person can see them
and be seen. Usually, interpreters will try to position themselves near the speaker.
During visual presentations the deaf would need some amount of light to see the interpreter. A complete
darkening of the room to watch a video can make the interpreter’s work very difficult.
The following tips will help teachers to respectful communication:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Talk to the deaf person, not at them
Respect their access to information
Show cultural awareness
Keep direct interpreter address to a minimum
Do not use the Interpreter as a human model
Respect interpreter breaks
6.4 Adaptations for a deaf baby
A deaf baby with hearing parents could be first exposed to signs at a baby signing course. Although
those courses were primarily designed for hearing babies, they can be adopted also for deaf and hard
of hearing children. In our project we experienced some cases of that, especially because the project
partners are very much connected with the deaf communities.
In many countries there is a strong tradition of oral education of deaf children and in the last decade a lot
of deaf children had s surgery to get a cochlear implant at the age of one year. Doctors unfortunately do
not suggest sign language to those children.
Baby signing courses can be an easy way of introducing hearing parents to signs and the first step towards
deaf culture and sign language for a family with a deaf baby. Courses are also a great opportunity for
children with cochlear implants. Namely, they are exposed to children songs, games and stories with
signs.
It is essential that a teacher stresses the importance of signing to a deaf baby. If signing is just a game
and a tool for hearing children to start to communicate earlier, for a deaf child signing is much more. We
are going to use the same techniques in the course as usual, being aware of the general rules for the
deaf that we have already introduced and some other tips. At some points we suggest to use a vibrating
table to enable a deaf baby to feel vibrations while using music during the course and the use of hearing
technology (i.e. hearing aids, cochlear implants, and/or FM system),
77
It is the teacher’s responsibility to explain parents the importance of full access of sign language for
a deaf baby. We can set a good example by signing a whole song in sign language or by bringing an
interpreter to facilitate the language as a whole system. In our course we have a good opportunity to
help parents who are usually frustrated and confused. Signing communication could be the first step
towards sign language. And any language that a baby can acquire at an early stage is essential for her/
his development.
When reading literature about language development at deaf children it can be seen that it greatly
corelates with the stages of signing presented in this handbook (See Chapter 5). As we start with
functional communication with hearing children it is even more essential to give deaf children a good
start at communicating his/her needs. Early childhood is essential for language development. Namely,
results indicate that language development is significantly delayed when identification of hearing loss
and intervention occur later than in six-months’ (Yoshinaga-Itano & Apuzzo, 1998).
Signing with a baby can help parents and their children to begin with communication. We strongly suggest
not waiting till the operation of a cochlear implant because the brain’s development at birth is not fixed.
It rather changes in response to the growing child’s life experiences. The emerging communication skills
significantly impact, and are impacted by, other areas of the child’s development.
6.4.1 Some more tips for deaf and hard of hearing children
Attention Getting
With deaf children we get the attention by tapping a child on his/her shoulder. It is commonly used
within deaf community. We can observe deaf parents using tapping naturally with their children. But the
ability to respond to a tap as a signal for attention to another person is not present from birth and is in
fact a cognitive skill (Spencer, Erting, & Marschark, 2000). Situations are created where looking at the
parent/guardian can be reinforced by providing a positive feedback.
Visual Listening
For children who learn visually, listening becomes attending to signs, communication postures and facial
expressions in an effort to distinguish one from another, to see strings of signs, and to attend to signs
in an effort to make sense of them. Basic signs for deaf and hard of hearing children can be a start to
communication but it is essential that parents and experts provide a full access to sign language. In order
to acquire sign language, children require language models. This can be by a video of a national sign
language or by interaction with deaf adults or children in schools or clubs.
Child-Directed Language
Infants are born to pay attention to certain types of child-directed language. Child-directed sign language,
the same goes with deaf and hard of hearing children, attracts and holds babies’ attention more than an
adult-directed sign (Masataka, 1996).
When observing specific behaviors of mothers who are deaf we can see the following characteristics:
a slower rate of sign, using the child’s direct line of vision to sign or placing an object in front of a child
when signing the name, repeating signs and exaggerating facial expressions and using touch and vision
like signing on the child’s body or tapping the child to get attention.
See more explanation on the acquisition of speech when signing to babies in Chapter 3.
78
Development of Auditory/Oral Communication
Courses for baby signing are also very much oriented in auditory/ oral communication. As it is instructed
to speak and sign at the same moment we can enable a deaf or hard of hearing child to distinguish the
most important word in a sentence. It can help a deaf child to start a process of lip reading or being able
to have more auditory experiences listening to songs and simple stories.
Playful activities are the main part during a course and laughing, giggling, singing, and playful silly
noises and gestures offer good auditory stimuli to the early developing mind. This can be very useful in
developing the parts of the brain that make connections with sounds and that produce sounds.
Other groups of children with special needs
The common topic throughout this handbook is improving communication between children and adults
and this is essential also for other groups of children with special needs. As the project Tiny Signers also
involves specialists from the field of deaf organizations and deaf experts from different countries, we
concentrated on the adaptation of the programme for deaf and hard of hearing children. We stressed the
importance of sign language for this group of children.
It is true that the approach of signing with babies and toddlers can complement with special education
approaches. There are many children with special needs who have problems with socialisation in
kindergarten and transitions within daily routine. They can have problems organizing themselves,
expressing themselves or they can have speech or language delays or disorders or emotional difficulties.
Signing with babies and toddlers can be used also with children with Down’s Syndrome, children with
atenttention deficit disorder (ADD), children with dyslexia, learning-disabled children, children with
autism, children with speech and language disorders, deaf-blind children and many other groups.
A deaf person is a great role model when signing (by Jan Kraigher)
79
As a starting point we suggest the book of Ette Wilken being available in two languages of our project:
written in German and translated into several languages.
We need to mention that we strongly advise the use of national signs as explained in chapter 5.
Within the Tiny Signers project it was impossible to research all options and adaptations for the use of
signing with babies and toddlers in special education settings and we hope that this research will be the
topic of another project.
6.5 References
•
•
•
•
•
http://www.wfmt.info/Musictherapyworld/modules/mmmagazine/issues/20021018120155/20021018122201/Hooper.pdf
http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Issues/Identity/quotes.htm
http://www.gallaudet.edu/Clerc_Center/Information_and_Resources/Info_to_Go/Help_for_Babies_(0_to_3)/Language_
Development_for_Babies.html
http://www.ksde.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=zx2msZjP5YQ%3D&tabid=3757&...
Ette Wilken: Sprachförderung bei Kindern mit Down-Syndrom mit ausführlicher Darstellung des GuK-Systemswhich is also translated
into Slovene: Jezikovno spodbujanje otrok z Downovim sindromom : z izčrpnim prikazom KPK sistema - s kretnjami podprte
komunikacije / Etta Wilken ; [prevod skupina za nemški jezik pri Univerzi za tretje življenjsko obdobje]. - Ljubljana : Sekcija za Downov
sindrom pri Društvu Sožitje : Pedagoška fakulteta, 2012
80
7
Examples of sign communication elements
The project ‘Tiny Signers’ included four national sign languages. Therefore, the last sections of the
handbook are different in order to present the signs in different countries. By analyzing the most frequently
used words, we have prepared a list of a hundred most common gestures that are appropriate for the
children who first encounter sign communication. The illustrator Mithila Shafiq created the graphics for
the signs in English, Slovenian, Lithuanian and Austrian sign languages. In each of the countries we have
chosen songs, and added the lyrics and the graphics of basic signs. Even finger alphabets vary from
country to country and are a part of the national sign languages. They are suitable for the children from
the third year.
Here follows the presentation of an example of a lesson for the students.
A child signing ‘flower’ in Slovenian sign language (by Anja Musek)
81
7.1 Example of a lesson plan
Vicki Gilbert
Lesson/Session Plan
Leeds City College
Date: Lesson 1
Group/Course: BTEC National Diploma in Children’s Care, Learning and Development
Activity
Notes
Resources
Links to Curriculum/ Learning
Outcomes
♪ Hello Students…
Sing
Signing Sam
iPod and speaker
Course/module details
Explain content and Comenius
Project
Project leaflets
Deaf Awareness - Q and A
How many deaf people in UK?
No. of children?Reasons why
people are deaf? Methods of
communication, Sign Language
Powerpoint presentation
Signing with hearing babies and
children
Explain history and basic
research
Powerpoint presentation
To be able to relate the history
and basic outline of research
Benefits
Each student to write one
benefit on a post-it/sticky note,
all put on board at front
Sticky notes
Whiteboard
To be able to understand the
importance of knowledge / skills
of sign communication with
toddlers
Charades
3 or 4 groups. Packet of words eg
drink, eat, car. Do sign/gesture
for others to guess. Feedback
Tutor to show ‘correct’ signs
Packets of word cards
Video
Babies/children signing
DVD
Sign names
Give/develop sign names with
the students
What’s your name etc
Show signs
Practice in pairs, ask around the
class etc
Handout showing signs
Basics
Milk, eat, drink, more
Q and A re signs
Sign cards
Handout showing signs
♪ This is the way…
Sing
More basics
Change nappy, all gone, wash,
bed (sleep)
Work to do for next week
Imagine you are helping a
family whose child has recently
been diagnosed deaf. Identify a
website which may be useful and
reasons why.
Gain an understanding of the
deaf community and culture
Gain basic sign communication
to be able to converse with deaf
people
82
Learn basic signs to
communicate with babies and
toddlers
7.2 The manual alphabet in the British Sign Language
83
7.3 Example of a song
This is the Way…..
(Sign key words. Shown on song sheets in capital letters)
(Sing to the tune of ‘Here we go round the Mulberry Bush’)
This is the way we drink our MILK,
Drink our MILK, drink our MILK.
This is the way we drink our MILK,
When we do our SIGNING.
Milk
SigNiNg
This is the way we eat our FOOD
Eat our FOOD, eat our FOOD.
This is the way we eat our FOOD
EAT/FOOd
This is the way we have a DRINK
Have a DRINK, have a DRINK.
This is the way we have a DRINK
driNk
This is the way we ask for MORE
Ask for MORE, ask for MORE.
This is the way we ask for MORE
MoRE
© Babies Can Sign 2012 (illustrations by Mithila Shafiq courtesy of www.tinysigners.eu)
84
7.4 The list of words with graphics
A
ALL GONE
DOG
ANGRY
DUCK
ANIMAL
APPLE
B
HUNGRY
TIDY UP
LOUD
TIRED
MILK
TO DANCE
MORE
TO DRAW
L
M
F
FATHER
FISH
BABY
FLOWER
MOTHER
TO DRINK
BALL
FOOD/EAT
MOUSE
TO FINISH
BANANA
FRIEND(S)
MUSIC
TO GO (WALK)
BE CAREFUL
FRIGHTENED
NICE, BEAUTIFUL
TO HURT/PAIN
BED/SLEEP
FROG
PIG
TO LAUGH
PLEASE
TO LISTEN
QUIET
TO PLAY
RABBIT
TO SHARE
RUN
TO SING
SAD
TO SIT DOWN
SEE/WATCH
TO SPEAK
HAPPY
SHOES
TO STAND
HAS FUN/TO HAVE FUN
SICK/ILL
TOILET
CHANGE NAPPY
HAT
SIGN(ING)
TOY
CLEAN
HELLO
SISTER
TRAIN
COAT
HELP
SMALL
TREE
COLD
HEN
SMILE
COW
HORSE
STOP
DANGEROUSLY
HOT
SUN
WHAT
DAY
HOUSE
TEDDY BEAR
WHERE
DIRTY
HUG
THANK YOU
WORK
BIG
BIRD
G
GENTLY (GENTLE)
GET DRESSED
BOOK
GIRL
BOY
GOODBYE
BROTHER
GRANDFATHER
BUS
GRANDMOTHER
C
CAR
CAT
D
N
P
Q
R
S
H
T
85
W
WASH
WATER
A-B
ALL gONE
ANgrY
ANiMAl
APPlE
BABY
BALL
BANANA
BE CArEFUL
BEd/SLEEP
Big
Bird
BOOk
86
B-D
BOY
BrOTHEr
BUS
CAr
CAT
CHANgE NAPPY
CLEAN
COAT
COLd
COW
dANgErOUSLY
dAY
87
D-F
dirTY
dOg
dUCk
FATHEr
FiSH
FLOWEr
A boy signing ‘car’ (by Klemen Jeke)
88
F-H
FOOd/EAT
FriENd(S)
FrigHTENEd
FrOg
gENTLY (gENTLE)
gET drESSEd
girL
gOOdBYE
grANdFATHEr
grANdMOTHEr
HAPPY
HAS FUN/TO HAVE FUN
89
H-M
HAT
HELLO
HELP
HEN
HOrSE
HOT
HOUSE
HUg
HUNgrY
LOUd
Milk
MoRE
90
M-S
MOTHEr
MOUSE
MUSiC
NiCE, BEAUTiFUL
Pig
PLEASE
QUiET
rABBiT
rUN
SAd
SEE/WATCH
SHOES
91
S-T
SiCk/iLL
SigN(iNg)
SiSTEr
SMALL
SMiLE
STOP
SUN
TEddY BEAr
THANk YOU
TidY UP
TirEd
TO dANCE
92
T
TO drAW
TO driNk
TO FiNiSH
TO gO (WALk)
TO HUrT/PAiN
TO LAUgH
TO LiSTEN
TO PLAY
TO SHArE
TO SiNg
TO SiT dOWN
TO SPEAk
93
T-W
TO STANd
ToilET
TOY
TRAiN
TREE
WASH
WATEr
WHAT
WHErE
WOrk
94
This handbook is one of the main products of the Comenius Multilateral Tiny Signers
project and is aimed at presenting the models of early language acquisition of both
deaf and hearing children below the age of three using sign language in childcare/
educational settings in different countries of the consortium. The methods have
been successful in increasing the awareness of the sign languages and their usage
in early child care settings. They have also been successful in developing improved
models of collaboration between the different actors, including parents, national deaf
associations, nurseries, educational authorities, child care professionals, teachers and
policy makers. The key element of the success of the initiative has been that local
and national solutions have been developed in order to ensure sustainability of the
initiative in each of the participating country as well as wider.
Our experiences have shown that the sign supported learning approach based on
official sign languages of the countries is a tool which can enable the recognition of sign
languages, can enable the babies and toddlers to express themselves freely before their
spoken language abilities enable them to do so, and thus settle in kindergartens and
other child care settings easier. Furthermore, it enables inclusion in the early childhood
classroom between deaf children (including those with cochlear implants) and hearing
children. Equally the development has shown many additional individual benefits of
all of the involved, e.g. child care professionals, teachers, parents of hearing as well as
deaf and hard of hearing children, as well as children themselves. The approach has
led to the rethinking of learning practices, as well as resources, environments and staff
competences in continuation to work towards the creation of the inclusive societies
with special schools for the deaf and hard of hearing being resource centres for these
developments.
During our work we have been opening many doors, and broadening the horizons
and creating cooperation in the areas which are less likely to experience change, for
example:
•
We were developing a unique method to communicate with preverbal babies
and toddlers based on the national sign languages, which benefits both the
hearing and deaf communities, which is new to most EU countries.
•
Instead of the usual further measures for integration of the deaf and hard of
hearing, we are focusing on creating inclusive environments as such, through
the use of sign language in the early child care for all.
•
We were reaching outside the usual well set methods of interactions between
the deaf and the hearing in societies and creating links and roles between
deaf and hard of hearing and hearing people in which the deaf as the native
speakers of sign language are in the role of teachers of hearing, offering them
the gift to communicate with babies and toddlers at a very early stage.
•
The deaf teachers or other deaf specialists in sign language are active partners
in the working groups. Because of that our project is unique for involving
several national sign languages: the Lithuanian, the British, the Slovene and
the Austrian sign languages,
and last but not least
•
The project was focusing on the area of preschool education which is
organised very differently across Europe and is less likely to be the subject of
joint European projects.
This handbook is aimed at teachers, future child care professionals, childcare
professionals working in the preschool settings with the children below the age of
three (the hearing as well as the deaf), as well as childminders, experts in the area of
preschool education, and last but not least parents of primarily preverbal babies and
children who wish to improve the quality of early childhood provision through signing
with children below three years and thus contribute to the development of children’s
literacy skills as well as social and emotional wellbeing.

Tiny Signers Handbook

Transcription

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