Signing across the day

Signing across the day
A presentation by members of the Essex SEN/AEN Area SENCO team
Questions ?????
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Why sign?
Who benefits?
Who needs to sign?
How can signing be
incorporated throughout the
nursery session?
• What can we do in our setting?
Why sign?
Signing can form an effective basis of
learning spoken language. This is
because sign can give children an
understanding of language, concepts
and communication. They can then
use this understanding to develop their
speech and vocabulary. Having an
effective form of communication, which
they can access from their earliest years,
can also avoid the frustration of not
being able to communicate and can help
to build up a child’s confidence and
self-esteem.
Who benefits from signing?
• Children who have difficulties with
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hearing spoken language
paying attention to spoken language
understanding spoken language
remembering spoken language
articulating spoken language
• Children who are young, or developmentally
delayed, whose language skills are at a preverbal stage
The communication barrier
no means and no opportunities
practitioners
children
children
children
support worker
Communication opportunities …
… can only be created if everyone in the
setting can communicate with the child
(Remember: a typical 3-year old responds 214 times per hour)
… and if the child can communicate with
everyone in the setting
(Remember: a typical 3-year old initiates 55 times per hour)
“same”
“horse”
“dog”
“cake”
“pig”
“phone”
When might signing be used?
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Greetings
Arrival routine
Registration
Weather and Calendar
Show and tell
Session timetable
Choosing activities
Drink/snack time
Role play
Small world play
Games
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Rhymes and songs
Talking about books
Rules and expectations
Self care routines
Concepts
– colour, size, number,
position
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Instructions
Expressing feelings
Asking for help
Making requests
In the environment
Nursery routines
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Time
to go
home.
Arriving
Tidy up time
Outdoor play
Coming in
Wash hands
Snack time
Toilet
Carpet time
Going home
Greetings
• Create opportunities throughout the session to
practise greetings
– Consider any event, real or pretend, that involves
people arriving and leaving
• Extend the range of greetings
– Variations
– Additional phrases
“Peep-o” with puppets
Duplo vehicles and people
Posting character cards
Doll’s house
Greetings
Outdoor play:
Petrol station
Role play shop
“hello” book
hello
Character puzzle pieces
goodbye
Hiding figures in the sand
Registration
We are here
today
“Who’s here
today?”
Stefan
Lucy
Kelvin
Kelvin
• Children can
sign the first
letter of their
names
• Post their
name cards
Today the weather is …
Weather
Weather stories,
poems and rhymes
raining
windy
sunny
cold
hot
foggy
cloudy
Weather chart
Weather riddles
snowing
stormy
thunder
lightning
Telling my ‘news’
• News sheets
– What I did …, where I went
…, what I saw …
• Home-setting diary
• All about me
– My family
– What I like doing
– Where I live
• Photo album/scrap book
my baby sister
Cassie
Instructions
CUE CARDS
• ‘Let’s make a …’
– Construction
– Playdough
• ‘Let’s draw a …’
colour
cut
stick
Snack time
X Social language
“please”
 Making choices of food
and drink
“more”
 General statements
– ‘more’
– ‘finished’
“thank you”
non-functional
“finished”
functional
Food magazines cut and stick
Colouring in sheet
Pairs card game
Lotto game
Snack time
Dot to dot sheet
Role play cafe
Picture book
drink
Picture sorting
biscuit
Display:
Favourite drinks/biscuits
Songs
Wall charts, song books, adult cue cards
Rhymes
Wall charts, rhyme books, adult cue cards
Vocabulary building: nouns
• Flashcards
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Picture books
Photo albums
Mystery bags
Lotto games
Dominoes
house
umbrella
goat
Vocabulary building: verbs
What’s he
doing?
He’s
sleeping
• Flashcards and
simple books
• ‘What we do at
nursery’ book or
posters
• Make the ‘teacher’
perform actions
• Simon Says
• Let’s mime
At nursery
we read books …
Vocabulary building: prepositions
• Treasure hunt
– Give clues to the children, eg
‘maybe it’s under the …’, ‘try
looking inside’
• Structured language
games with miniature
objects
– ‘put the dog on the chair’,
‘the cat is under the table’
in
on
in
under
Talking about … pictures
boy
girl
rabbit
book
watching
reading
fish
hamster
leaves
mouse
Busy scenes
• Identify the key
vocabulary in the
picture and find
out the
appropriate signs
• Encourage all
adults to model
the signs as they
talk about the
picture to all
children in the
group
Signing with books
• Include pictures of signs of
key words onto the pages of
books
– As a reminder for adults to
model signs to children
Signs of ‘friends’
and ‘dog’
• Encourage children to sign a
key word or phrase in a
repetitive story
• Show signed videos of
familiar children’s books
Sign supported ‘voice’
• Story books with CDs or
cassettes
• Recordable devices
Communication aid
Pretend play
• Use signs to support
language used in
simple play scripts
• Use …
– story sequence cards
– story books with props
dog
brush
wash hair
wash face
• Signing puppets
Home corner
• Going shopping
• Choosing from the menu
• Using the telephone
directory
6 3 7
Turn-taking games
Video lotto game
‘Let’s go fishing …’
Concepts: categories
Animals
Clothes
Food
Toys
Scrapbooks or Displays
Games
‘OUR FAVOURITE TOYS’
Sorting or posting cards
Fishing game
Happy Families
‘WHAT WE LIKE TO EAT’
Concepts: colour
• ‘What colour?’ charts
with appropriate
activities
green
– playdough
– painting
– bricks
yellow
blue
red
white
brown
Sorting colours
Concepts: number and size
big
little
Concepts: initial sounds
• Stand up if your name
starts with ….
S is for …
spider
• When you ask a
question, use a sign
for the question word
to act as a visual
reinforcement
for the
Question words:
child
Asking questions
Example:
eat
Draw the child’s attention to the question word by using
the appropriate Makaton sign as you say the word.
Which one do you …?
who
what
where
which
wear
Signing in the environment
Labelling
• storage areas for equipment
• Identifying play areas
• Displays
Names
• Records of Achievement
• Drawers
• Coat pegs
• Placemats
Timetable activities
Play
Outside
Story
Snack
Music
Choosing boards
climbing
computer
riding
trains
Rules and expectations
Only 4 children at the sand
• Pictures act as rule
reminders for
children. They can be
annotated with sign
so that adults can
reinforce their
language visually.
First
Then
go to the toilet
wash your hands
Praise … “say it” and “show it”
Fantastic!
Well done!
• Use signs
alongside praise
statements, in
– reward charts
Good painting!
– a ‘WOW’ wall
– a Brilliant Book
Staff training and resources
• Training courses
• Training videos
• Software
• Websites
• Library resources
Video/DVD and television
Makaton/Signalong
Songs and rhymes
‘Something Special’
(CBeebies)
Games and printables
Computer programs
• Speaking for Myself
• Sign to Me
• Let’s Sign
• Stories in the Air
• Sign and Rhyme
Recommended websites
MAKATON
www.makaton.org
SIGNALONG
www.signalong.org.uk
www.communication4all.co.uk
BSL
computer
www.britishsignlanguage.com
www.deafsign.com
www.learntosign.co.uk
www.learnbsl.org
www.ndcs.org.uk
www.talkfirst.net