signing schools help please

[Phoenix4725]

Does antone know of a school that signing is predomintley used at.

Ds has verbal ad oral dyspraxia and does not speak at all but is doiung very well with makton/

The local sn school feel there not correct place for ds as they mainly deal with asd where ds very much wants to communicate he functions around the 2 1/2 year level hes 4.

hes due to start ms this year with full support but still worry about the signing

[hercules1]

Ds was in primary school with a child who signed. Right from reception the whole class were taught makaton on a regular basis until they all left in Year 6. Assemblies, songs, everything really done with signing combined.

[Phoenix4725]

yes the ms schol are saying this but ds due start september but no lsa appointed yet, let alone trained the class lsa was like ek how am i going remember it and somehow dont think thats going to happen with the assembilys just rather he was in majority than bing the only one in year of 90

[hercules1]

I would assume they would hire a 1:1 who is able to sign otherwise spend the money training them. I guess it depends on teh ethos of the school as to whether they teach them all signing. I would hope they would include it as part of teh culture.

[Phoenix4725]

ds statement is such that teachers class room assistants lsa all have to have signing training ,and yes they talked about the class signing but he been at ms nursery and he does get left out as other dc just cant be fussed doing it as talking so much easier

[sphil]

My DSes school use signing a lot - but it's not used in every class, and though in theory each member of staff is supposed to be trained, it doesn't quite work out like that in practice. They have a language resource base though - and if a child is assigned there and used signing, they would do so and train TAs, teachers etc to do the same.

[Phoenix4725]

ds got turned down for speech and langauge unit as he has GDD and they also felt he was to severe nothing they could work with

[twoisplenty]

This may be a useless idea, but have you thought about a school for deaf children? We looked at this because our ds uses makaton, and thought it would be best place to learn! Unfortunately they did not want our ds because he has complex physical disability and severe learning problems, but it may be worth ringing such a school to discuss?

[saintlydamemrsturnip]

There's a mainstream school locally with a unit for those with hearing impairment attached. It takes children with LD's too. Also schools for the deaf fairly nearby but they probably wouldn't be suitable for your son.

Ds1's SLD school uses total communication so Makaton is used all the time.

[TotalChaos]

yes I would also suggest a m/s school with a unit for hearing impaired kids - if your DS doesn't qualify for the unit, there may be a real commitment to using sign in the m/s bit.

[Phoenix4725]

I did wonder about a unit for the deaf butwhen i called them got a reverse exclusion thing with him not having hearing problem they did not want him and when metioned the LD you could almost hear the gasp of horror

saintly

the sn school near us does have very good reputation but they talked about placing ds in the asd base so be more use makton but the head, lea and me agreed would not be right place for h im.He is very much square peg round hole no one knows what quite to do with him

[TotalChaos]

I would doublecheck if your city has an MLD language unit. As I was happily told by SALT that LDs would mean DS couldn't go to a language unit - then when I got the council school applications book, found out there was an MLD language unit . Sorry you are having so much trouble looking for schooling. It might be worth you looking to see if there is anything really suitable in neighbouring areas.

[Phoenix4725]

i got the schools book and even phones the s&L unit myself .Were not to far from suffolk might try there have looked within 20 miles or so think need to widen my search even if means upping sticks and moving lock stock and dc

[geogteach]

I would guess that a deaf unit may not be suitable (my son is deaf), most deaf kids who sign (mine doesn't) use BSL not Makaton, which works in a different way.

[Phoenix4725]

geogteach

am at point of wondering weaher to switch t bsl but think the fac his signs are not always clear due to /grossfine motor skills might be against him though he is singning 2 and 3 words sentences now