Signing

Signing is used by the deaf community and is a very useful part of Total Communication with children and adults who are born, or become, deaf. Speech and language therapists use signing with other groups as well. It can provide an extra tool for working with children who are struggling with the comprehension and acquisition of language as they are greatly helped by 'seeing' the words in signs. (This applies even where hearing is normal, or only intermittently impaired.) Others who benefit from signing include those with learning disability; those with vocabulary and word-retrieval difficulties; and older people who have lost their speech but retain the desire to communicate. A certain amount of manual dexterity is obviously required to sign, but many who have poor control of hand movements still learn to sign well enough for familiar adults to understand their message.

British Sign Language (BSL) is the main sign language used in the deaf community in the UK. BSL has evolved as a language with regional variations, and has its own structure and grammar which is different from spoken English. For this reason it is not suitable for helping hearing children who have a language disorder. Some other sets of signs are related to BSL (although the signs in some cases may be simplifications). The following are two such systems:

• Signed English follows the structure of spoken English more closely than BSL does. It is used with clients of all ages with hearing loss, or language delay/disorder.
• Makaton is a very simple signing system which is used widely with young, hearing children with language delay. It is also used with clients of all ages with learning disability. Signing accompanies spoken English. Usually, only the key words in the sentence are signed.

Paget Gorman Signed Speech (PGSS) may be used with clients of all ages with language delay/ disorder. The system is concept based, and there are signs for grammatical markers such as plurals and past tenses. It is a complex system with a wide range of vocabulary. PGSS is used in some special schools, and a number of language units which specialise in speech and language disorders.

Speech therapists sometimes use additional signing systems in their work: Cued Speech provides a visible counterpart to spoken language, and Cued Articulation which has a sign for all the speech sounds of English (plus colour coding for sounds in written words).

Speech and language therapists using signing with clients who have some degree of hearing impairment are often involved with other professions (e.g. an audiologist and/or visiting teacher for hearing impaired children).

Makaton signing may be introduced at approximately 8 months and may continue in use at school. With adult clients who have learning disability it can be a long-term strategy for communication. The following may form part of therapy input for people needing signing:

• Teaching specific signs through games and activities.
• Encouraging others (e.g. family/carers, teachers) to use the signs with clients.
• Helping clients to use signs as effectively as possible to communicate to the best of their ability.

Some points you may wish to discuss with any therapist you contact:

• The therapist's specialist credentials in the area of signing (e.g. recognised training in the use of Makaton or Paget Gorman from the appropriate organisations; RNID training in BSL).
• If you are already involved in a special programme (e.g. Baby Sign / Sing and Sign), you may wish to talk to the therapist about that. If your child needs to sign at school, you will want to discuss which signing system will be suitable.
• How much experience the therapist has with signing.
• Where the therapist sees people for assessment/therapy.
• How much the therapist charges for assessment and/or regular therapy and/or signing training for parents/carers.

Click here to search for Speech Therapists in your area with Signing as a specialty.