Where does one learn signs?

[salondon]

Is there an online resource for looking up the signs? We have many of these mand/request opportunities but I don't know the signs and our daughter isn't verbal yet

Our local SALT/Makaton service isnt great

it would be worth seeing if Cerebra are running any Makaton courses in your area.

Something special is great
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/something-special/watch

There's also various videos available on youtube.

Is this any help?
www.totalcommunication.org.uk/signing.html

I have learnt most of the signs we use from Something Special, googling individual signs that we might use and a couple of nursery rhyme dvds - Dave Benson Philips and Singing Hands are good.

I also got this book on kindle - it is bsl, but the majority of the signs are the same as Makaton.

Found a few here www.babysignlanguage.com/dictionary/

Quite a lot of those signs don't correspond at all with Makaton or BSL (eg daddy, again, mummy).

I think baby signing sometimes follows American Sign Language.

yes Hazey. But there are a few things that I wasnt finding anywhere which I found in that list..

We stick to makaton as far as possible

I would have a look at the BSL early years signs - the majority match Makaton.

Has SALT mentioned anything about AAC communication?

The OT has mentioned it in her report this time. I brought it up in our workshop this time as well. We are getting her interested in ipad and will take it from there. We have a few words and she is 4.5 / so we are still in denial/hope of getting some speech. PECS isnt working yet (this is one point that school, SALT, ABA team and I agree on LOL!)

Will check BSL now

The book I linked to earlier has quite a good list of words ( it is probably available as a paper copy as well as Kindle, although I've got kindle on ds's ipad, so thought it would be better on there).

Ds is 3.8, his SALT thinks that AAC and signing will be the way to go for him, so we have an appointment with an AAC SALT soon. He is non verbal, his expressive speech has been assessed as between 0-5 months.

There is a free app on the ipad called grid player, which is a tiny version of one of the big AAC apps, you could look at.

Ds also doesn't 'get' pecs!

I'm doing an online course of basic signing which cost £20, can get you a link if you are interested?

salondon, the site you linked to is a US one, their sign language is different to ours Makaton stuff can be quite pricey but it is based on BSL so it might be worth looking at the book hazey linked to or the dictionary by the same person, I've found the Cath Smith books the easiest to get on with. There's also forest books for all things sign.

It might be worth finding out what signing system is used in your locality. Our SN schools use sign-along. Both sign-along and Mackaton are based on BSL (no syntax tho, and they obviously include the spoken word). Be mindful of the Internet as a lot of searches throw up ASL.

And be especially wary of ASL because there are some potentially embarrassing mistranslations between that and BSL/Makaton

I like Family Sign Language as you can watch a clip of someone doing the sign rather than trying to work it out from a diagram.
It is BSL, but, as others have said, in the Early Years there is MASSIVE crossover although some people get all uppity about it.

We use Youtube mainly.

Put in the sign you want and if it is common it will often come up.

Alternatively there are lots of programmes now and songs free online. It makes me cross that surestart centres don't use them in their singing now as it requires no special course.

Ours did, but only because one of the TA's who worked in there when DS1 was in nursery already knew some signs, as she'd previously worked privately as a carer for a boy with ASD.

I have just persuaded ds's preschool that they use Makaton in all their sessions, as since ds started they have found that all the children have started using it.

The makaton charity have a sale this month on all their resources just to let you know. You can get books/DVDs etc to teach signs.