How can I teach my grand daughter how to do sign language?
By kaysue4
@kaysue4 (951)
United States
July 21, 2008 9:38am CST
I want to also learn how to do sign language and also teach her how to sign. She is 4 1/2 years old and hearing impaired. She does have hearing aids and she is coming to stay with me for a month and she is not even potty trained as of yet and I would like to learn and teach her to sign when she has to use the restroom, and other daily living skills.
I will be picking her up the third of next month from her mom and dad. She did start learning in Head Start, but neither parent knows how to sign and I don't think they want to learn either.
But, when she stayed with me before myself and my son taught her how to walk when she was two years old and they just now got her hearing aids after trying other things to get her hearing back.
I don't know what she has or hasn't learned either from the Head Start Program for Special Needs.
She will be 5 years old in December and they are still treating her like a baby by placing her in a high chair to eat, still in a baby car seat, ect.
I want to teach her to communicate with people and even my children want to learn.
Please help me find FREE books or something for me to do in this crash couse in learning.
2 people like this
3 responses
@ctrymuziklvr (11057)
• United States
21 Jul 08
Check out American sign language on the internet and you will find a lot of good sites. We had to use signing when my granddaughter was younger because she has Downes Syndrome and although she wasn't hearing impaired she didn't understand a lot of what we were trying to say and couldn't communicate with us but understood cards with pictures on them and their still helpful to this day. Good luck with your search and your month with your granddaughter. I know you will teach her a lot. Grandparents always do!!
2 people like this
@desertdarlene (8910)
• United States
21 Jul 08
I am trying to learn sign language, also. Where I work, I come across a lot of deaf patrons, so I want to provide better service for them. I am starting out with DVDs and practicing. I'm always afraid that I will do the gesture wrong as it's like not being able to walk and chew gum at the same time for me. Then, after I learn a few basic signs, I plan to take an actual class where I will be able to practice it. I gotta get over my shyness for using gestures, I'm just afraid I'm going to make a wrong move and say something nasty. But, then again, like any language, you can always mis-pronounce something.
1 person likes this
@kaysue4 (951)
• United States
23 Jul 08
If you can somehow let them know that you are new to this, then maybe they could also help you learn the correct way. There is a place on the net that helps with the showing how to sign with a very short video, but when I checked it out I found out that I have to pay for the site.
What video did you buy and do you like it? Is it simple and easy to understand?
I am glad that you also want to do better to help others were you work.
@desertdarlene (8910)
• United States
23 Jul 08
I actually checked it out of the library. I don't remember the name, but it says American Sign Language. They go a little fast, though. They also have a CD ROM. I have no problems making the signs, but I sometimes get nervous and twitch or may use the wrong hand, finger, or anything, out of nervousness. That's why I need to practice, to gain confidence and not be nervous and make mistakes.
1 person likes this
@dani27 (544)
• United States
27 Jul 08
Just to let you know if you take a beginner class everyone is the same as you. It is the best way to learn because you can practice. My teachers were all deaf and if we have to fingerspell everything we did but it really helped me learn. Good luck
1 person likes this
@dani27 (544)
• United States
27 Jul 08
I think that it is great that you are trying to help her. Sign language is great for all children even not hearing impaired. I started teaching my daughter some signs at 6 months and she was able to communicate before she could speak. Here are a few websites.
www.signingtimekids.org
www.lifeprint.com
http://library.thinkquest.org5875
Signing time is probably the best you can also purchase videos that are great. Also your local library should have books and videos. Good luck and I truly think that you are doing a great thing. She will have a better life if people believe in her, treat her the age she is and not treat her like she has disabilities. Good luck.
@kaysue4 (951)
• United States
31 Jul 08
Thank you so much. I looked up the links and I have been making picture signing flash cards also.
I looked through magazines and cut out pictures and I went and bought a book and copied the signs and put them on the front and back of the cards and with the words also.
I just hope that it is not too much on the front of the card having a picture, word andthe sign, but I am hoping that she will start relating the picture and the word together as she goes through the signs.
I asked her dad what signs that she knows and he has not a clue because they do that at school. I am just frustrated that the parents won't learn also. I am hoping that when they see her in a month to pick her up then see how she can talk with us and tell us what she wants.
I am just hoping that she will learn a bit before she goes home.
@dani27 (544)
• United States
31 Jul 08
You are welcome. It is very important that they try to work with her and not treat her like she is "untreatable" or unable to help her cause she is like any other child she just communicates differently. I think what you are doing will really help her. Good luck.
