Anyone done keyword signing with their dc?

[autumnsmum]

Morning I got dd2 s speech and language report back yesterday . She is 4.3 and in sp sch nursery . She is verbal but the report stresses her autism affects her concentration, interaction and communication .to help they suggested visual prompts and keyword signs . As dd2 is verbal I have never used signing with her am I right to presume it would be makaton ? I would love to hear anyone's experiences with this thanks

I use sign supported English with my deaf 2.5 year old dd. she has access to spoken English via her cochlear implants but I still find signing useful. I'm not sure what keyword signing is but I try to do all the bsl signs I know for a given sentence - often ends up just being important nouns verbs and sometimes adjectives. my dd is younger than yours but I find it really helpful especially when she gets two words confused. for example sharp and shark. I was telling her something was sharp and she agree and signed shark so I knew we weren't quite on the same page.

I'm not sure if that's helpful but hopefully someone else with experience closer to yours will be along soon!

Clever bit thank you that's very useful much appreciated

I use makaton with my non-verbal DD (4). Keyword signing as I understand it is one step up from functional signing so for example in the sentence 'where is the ball'? Functional signing you might just sign 'ball' but for keyword you would sign 'where' and 'ball', you still say the whole sentence but you don't sign every single word.

HTH x

DD1 signs, autumnsmum Her school is a TCE (Total Communication Environment) so all staff sign to everyone (including each other) all the time. DD1 finds it so very helpful.

She resorts to signing if we don't understand her, or if she's tired, or even if she's shy in public, she'll sign 'toilet' instead of saying it.

Thank you so much for all your replies moo mummy how's the school place hunt going? Lougle always interesting to hear from you.the signing has been suggested because there is concern about how much dd2 understands . I will go and research makaton

I'd say the first signs to really be consistent for her understanding are:

'no', 'wait', 'finished', 'more', 'toilet', 'sad', 'pain'/'hurts', 'drink', 'eat'

Then you can add in the more detailed ones.

I have done makaton with my ds since about 2.5 in this way, speaking but signing the keywords in the sentence. He did not attempt any speech at all until I signed with him and it has had a massive effect on his communication.

He is verbal but still has moderate speech and language delay and due to processing and sensory issues I highly rate signing as well as verbal communication. In a new place or busy environment I still always sign as well as speak it just seems to help him process what is said. It also slows down the communication which allows more time to process.

It is also very handy in noisy places when you can't hear each other!

(Autumnsmum we have our statement meeting next week which is where we'll name out school choice so fingers crossed...)

Totally agree with lougle about good signs to start with. Ill never forget ds who'd never made any attempt to communicate anything but was obsessed with eating, his first sign was 'more' and when he discovered it he would just sit in the kitchen frantically signing more in the hope of being fed

Really grateful for all the advice especially about the keywords I will look them up also thanks for explaining how it helps your dcs

DD1's first signs, other than yes, no and sorry, were 'More yoghurt'. It was absolutely breath-taking

Hi, ds now 7 (and verbal) but pretty non verbal up to 4.5 yrs, but had 300+ signs and was using 2 and 3 sign sentences, (he has asd) I am a fluent (BSL) signer but for ds we spoke and signed key words to begin with and then all words, (but English word order so SSE infact like cleverbit),

we still use it back up speech if he is tired, or stressed or the environment is busy, (also useful if surrounded by judgey-pants wearing parents as it signifies there are additional issues and he is not just being a 'naughty' child.

I would personally go for SSE (BSL signs) rather than makaton unless your dd also has LD, or issues with fine motor skills? as there is more vocab, but that will only be an issue at much much higher levels, so either would be a good option...

Good luck, and do pm if I can offer any support...

Yes its great isn't it. I truly don't think ds would have attempted verbal communication until much later without makaton. It seem to work for ds by stimulating him into verbal communication, he would learn the sign before he'd attempt to say a word.

Hi sign and sing I spoke to dd2 s school today and they use bsl
If it's ok I will pm you tomorrow thanks