Using Sign In Preschool
Using Signs in the Preschool to Enhance Communication and Language Skills
Ann Haig
Young children don’t have the hang ups about communication that adults have. If a child encounters another child in preschool who speaks a different language, they somehow find a way to communicate with one another. They may point, bring an object into view, or act out what they want to say. Somehow, someway, they get their point across. And they don’t give up as easily as adults.
Children who have language delays, like children with Down syndrome, are often no different. There are a variety of physical and cognitive reasons why speech and language in children with Down syndrome is delayed. For example, many young children with Down syndrome have low muscle tone around the mouth and therefore commonly have problems with the complex coordination involved in speech. They also often have hearing difficulties, which can further delay the development of using speech as the main means of communication. The important facts are that the vast majority of the children will talk, albeit later, and their communication skills are usually as good as any child’s their own age. We also know that young children with Down syndrome are relatively good at motor and visual perception. We can therefore capitalise on the child’s strength at communication by using hand gestures to get over the slow development of speech. We do this by teaching the children to use manual signs and in Ireland the sign system used and endorsed by the Irish Association of Speech and Language is called Lamh.
Lamh is a communication system, not a full signed language like that used by the deaf community. In Lamh, only the key words are signed and it is designed for people who have delays in speech and language where using signs helps get across more specific information than simple gesturing. For example, a child points out the window. We have to rely on contextual information to guess whether the child wants to go out to play, is commenting that it is raining, or is showing a big yellow truck that just drove by. If the child knew the signs for truck, play and rain then he would be able to make a specific sign thereby expressing a specific idea. No guess work.
For the young child with Down syndrome, using signs is a bridge to language. Before the child is ready to speak she can already be practicing communicating her thoughts and feelings with a sign instead of a spoken word. If she did not have the signs, she would not be working at this higher symbolic level that is the basis of language. And research reassures us that using signs does not in any way hinder the development of speech and that it can, indeed, enhance speech and language development (Launonen, 1996).
Through signing she learns that she can be fully involved in play, friendships and activities and that she has an active role in all of these.
There are other benefits, too. Children with Down syndrome have difficulties with processing auditory information but are great at understanding information that is presented visually. Using sign means that the child can ‘see’ what is being said which makes understanding the message easier. Of course, it is vitally important that whenever we sign to any child that we also say the word to make the connection to spoken speech which is the ultimate aim. Most children with Down syndrome will drop signing and start using speech as their main means of communication in early childhood.
Do the children take to it? Once they discover the power of expressing their ideas this way there is no stopping them. The child’s peers, too, love using the signs and it can help with enhancing their own communication skills. Using signs helps children to slow down and consider their message and to establish eye contact with their communication partner. Signing is already common practice in many early years environments where there is no child with a language delay. Carers find that using signs helps to alleviate frustrations of the 2 year old who knows what he wants but is having trouble expressing his ideas. Signing allows him to do it much easier and it allows all children to engage together in a common communication system.
For further information on Lamh, please contact
Mary Cullen
059 9170526 info@lamh.org
Written by
Ann Haig
Ireland's leading Early Years education Magazine
