Every so often I need to brush up on my sign language. Even though I have taken courses in sign language, it is like any other language, you have to use it to stay fluent.
Recently I have started to use sign language with a child I work with on the Autism Spectrum. After being evaluated at Yale, they suggested I use sign language while reading books to him. So far I am not sure if it is a distraction or help to his following the story but I will keep you posted.
I wanted to share a website dedicated to teaching signs, through its video dictionary, that I found very helpful:
“Signing Savvy” has large,clear videos of signs and an easy search option. It’s comprehensive dictionary gives you several options to be more specific. For example when I searched for “go,” they gave two options for “go” as in “go away” or “go somewhere.” If you sign up and give them some basic information like your name and address, you are privy to more options like the sign description.
Let me know if any of you SLP’s are using sign language effectively with children on the autism spectrum, especially higher functioning kids. How is it going and how are you using signs? What other sites do you find helpful?
