When reading and doing research on down syndrome we found a lot of people use sign language to help with communication with there child. We were wondering how any of you went about learning to sign. We have look it to doing a course but they are so expensive for us. We have seen a lot of DVD’s on teach your self to sign and wondered if anyone had used them or could give us some suggestions and thought on the subject.

Thanks Dan,

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Parents to Madison 31/8/10

One never knows how truly they have been blessed until their hearts have been embraced, by a child with Down Syndrome

We got a few printed references but ended up never using them. Just get Baby Signing Time or Signing Time DVDs. (We used a different baby series called My Baby Can Talk and they were also very good. They are on Amazon and many other sources.) Both of these series are very watchable by adults and then you'll have them when your little one is ready for them. Signing Time also has a "sign review" section on each DVD, and I put these sections all on one videotape for a quicky adult review method for other relatives and friends.

Our local library has Signing Time series one. So check the library first!

All you'll need to start is the first few DVDs in either of the "baby" series. Their websites list the words on the DVDs.

AND on www.mybabycantalk.com they have videos of all the words in their series. There are other more extensive video ASL sources around, like www.signingsavvy.com to use later on when you really want to know a word not covered by Signing Time.

So you don't need to begin learning now unless you really want to. Just start using a few basic signs like more, milk, and all done when the baby is 6 months old or so. (We started later, and she still picked up sign easily and ended up with a sign vocabulary of more than 200 words!!)

Now up on my soapbox!! For anyone skeptical about using sign:
-- It encourages speech development rather than slowing it as some think
-- It really decreases frustration and tantrums in the terrible twos

And one negative:
-- You will find yourself singing the songs at times you'd rather not!!!!!!

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Mary, retired Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist
Proud great-aunt to a wonderful 3 year old girl (DS) nicknamed T2

I've been signing with Ethan since he was around 5 months old. I was able to self refer to the speech and language therapist and started of by learning a handful of signs (milk, sleep, mummy, daddy etc) that would be useful for our everyday routine.

Also, in the UK there are two main signing methods for children with special needs.......makaton & signalong. It seems to depend where you are in the UK...here in Wiltshire we use signalong, although they both seem have loads of similar signs!

http://www.makaton.org/

http://www.signalong.org.uk/

When you little one is born it may be worth giving your speech and language department a call. I've found mine to be invaluable, they come every 4-6weeks and offer lots of support and practical advice and were able to get me on the local signalong course (maybe you could do a course before your baby arrives!) Their also invaluable when it comes to any feeding issues!

The only DVD's I know of are the cbeebies Something Special dvd's (makaton) but they are expensive! You could look on the BBC i-player as they have some Something Special clips to give you an idea.

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Jo, Mum to Georgia 11/11/03 ( BIG High School Musical fan) and Ethan 16/12/07 (DS)

We used Baby Signing Times. Andrew (like most kids with DS) is a very visual learner & has a much easier time learning things from video. He love BST and learned so quickly, as did my older 3 kids.

His speech therapist also does lots of signing with him.

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Nicki, proud SAHM to:

Brady the Magnificent (15.5)
Li'l Miss Ellie (9)
Mr. Mikey-Monkey-Man (7)
Sir Andrew (DS, 5)

Here is a web site that I always go to when I want to sign a new word.... www.aslpro.com I have more sites that I use, but I don't have thw links right off hand. I'll get back with you with them. I know alot of people love the signing time videos, but they are way out of our price range. Once your little one is born, and she/he starts ST, they will help you alot with signing.

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~Christine~
Mom of 6
Brandon ADD/ADHD 17, Chelsea 14, Connor 12, Logan 6, Cody 4 & Austin 1 ( DS & Hirschsprungs pull through 12/8/08 )
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/austinpaquin

We sign with Piper, and LOVE it. She started signing at about six months old (four adjusted), and has about 15 signs now that she uses without prompting, at a year.

Our problem was that she wasn't/isn't allowed to watch TV, so the Signing Times weren't going to work yet (don't get me wrong- I'm excited for them, just not yet). We just use online dictionaries (www.aslpro.com is great) and look up the signs that we want to use. I listen for what we use every day, and get those signs specifically. We started with just a few (Mom, Dad, and Dog- we figured these were the most meaningful and concrete), and then added once she had those down.

The key is to start early (we started once she came home from the hospital, when she reached term), and be persistent. When you say a word that you have a sign for, just do the sign at the same time. And then once they are watching you well, practice doing the sign for them.

I certainly wouldn't worry about taking classes! You'll just need some basic signs in the beginning, and it's easy enough to get those from other sources. It is so so so worth it and has alleviated a lot of frustration already. Piper doesn't have any spoken words yet (except for Dad, Mom on rare occasion, and we think dog), so allowing her the ability to communicate and work on those skills has served her very well. We'd highly recommend it!

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Aimee, Mom to Piper (5/11/09)
http://aimeesbowlofcherries.blogspot.com

Signing Times videos is what we used, very easy to learn from for Dylan and for us. My daughter actually learned the most which I thought was a great benefit.

Start with the basics to help you understand what they want (more, eat, drink, sleep) after he learned one, we would introduce a new one. He is 4 now and knows well over 100 words, he knows more then I do which makes it hard to figure out what he is saying.

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Sandy (Dylans_Mom)
Mom to Hailey 3/2002, Dylan (ds) 12/2005

Thankyou everyone for replying there is some really usefull info there and hours of lurning (i mean fun lol) I know we are propably jummping the gun a bit but practice make perfect and the more we know now the more we will be able to use once our little one get's hear
Thanks Dan,

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Parents to Madison 31/8/10

One never knows how truly they have been blessed until their hearts have been embraced, by a child with Down Syndrome

Signing Times!!! Mikey loves them and they are fun for all of us to learn signing.

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Tom

Dad to Beth (17) and Mikey (13 - Ds and PDD-NOS)
My Blog - Random Thinking
Find me on Facebook
Find me on Twitter as tgpaul

Sorry, I missed that you live in the UK! I'm guessing Signing Time is only produced in NTSC rather than PAL?? (I lived in Europe for a while a LONG time ago!!)

OK, here's the answer, from the Signing Time website:

Quote:

Q.Are the Signing Time DVDs formatted for use outside the United States? Our DVDs are All-Region Formatted. Many other countries use PAL versions. Newer DVD players in other countries are now made to be both NTSC and PAL compatible, but an older player may not be NTSC compatible.

But I doubt you will be able to find free sources. I forgot to mention earlier that our EI coordinator also had some Signing Time DVDs that we borrowed...

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Mary, retired Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist
Proud great-aunt to a wonderful 3 year old girl (DS) nicknamed T2

We went out and bought this book once we found out that Paige was going to have DS. We had been curious about baby signing as our friends were doing it (typical development) and it was amazing. We really liked this book because of the picture dictionary at the back. It's so fast to find a sign. It also talks a lot about how, when, and why baby signing works. I find that we learn as she learns. We also use baby signing times now, but to start when she was younger, before she could watch tv, we used the book. Just started with milk, and moved on to more, eat, etc. We also use the signingsavvy website for words that aren't in the book (or if the computer is closer!!)

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Baby-Signing-Easy-Use-Illustrated-Nancy-Cadjan/9781402209789-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+%27baby+signing%27

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Kasey, mom to Paige (2!)

Dan
Might be worth checking with your future service provider to identify what sign language will be used when your little one is getting services from then.

This will help you chose the right sign to learn and in turn to teach.
Sign language is not a global language. Signing Times sign will be different from Makaton signs which is different from the sign language we used here called Lamh.
Its important that everyone can use and understand the same signs.

Also your service provider may provide the courses or at least have a lending library that you can borrow reference material.

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Linda & John
mom to Hannah Kate (Age 12 ), Robert (Aged 6 - DS)


First day at school

We used makaton - the Australian signs given that is where we live. I thought about using signing times because there is nothing like that in the UK or Australia but then we would have learnt american signs and Talitha wouldn't be able to communicate with the other kids and people around here. Our local primary school has sign language in their curriculum. It started because a girl who is deaf started there in kindy and now there are other kids there who use sign.

We still use sign at home and Talitha uses it at preschool as well even though she is starting to talk. It has been a wonderful thing. She started to understand the signs long before she could reproduce them but became proficient in communicating her needs quite quickly, once she started signing herself, as well as being able to name things like all the animals etc.

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Karyn
Mum to Nikki (Jul 89), Stefanie (Sep 96), Joel [June 98] and Talitha (DS) (Nov 05) AVSD/PDA repaired 23 March 06

"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well." Psalm 139:14

I live in south Africa and the signing times dvd's work here. If you live in the UK it would probably better to use a sign language that are used there, otherwise you would not be able to use it when baby goes to school. We love signing times, though!!!!

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Karien: happily married to Neels
Mom to Ewald (16), Eduan (13), Alvin (9) and KALLEN

We got the first 2 Baby Signing Time DVDs to get us into the swing of some basic signs, and have relied on www.aslpro.com since then. The combo has worked well, and Christopher has over 100 signs now.

As a couple others have mentioned though, signs are not the same everywhere. In particular, British Sign Language is different from American Sign Language (and it sounds like there may be more than one version of BSL from what I read in other posts above). The resources I just mentioned are for ASL, but it sounds like there are equivalents out there for BSL too.

If there's more than one version of BSL, DownsEd may be able to help you figure out which one to use, or at least to clarify the situation.

Congratulations on your upcoming baby, and welcome to the group!

Jan

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wife and mother of Katherine (2004) and Christopher (Aug. 2007, DS)

We had no training in signing with Matt. We picked up everything through watching 'Something Special' on CBeebies, where they use Makaton. Through watching that programme as well a DVD of Makaton Nursery Rhymes made by Dave Benson-Philips, we picked up loads of signs, and Matt had over 200 signs by the time he was 2 1/2.

Apart from that, we had no other training. However, the speech therapist did come to visit us and suggest best ways to get Matt to sign early on and about how to encourage signing, etc.

Signing Times signs are completely different from the ones we use over here. I don't know why there isn't a standardised one, but if you teach your child the American signs, then you will have to ensure all those that speak with your child are aware of it. Most children under 5 in UK will have seen Something Special as it's jsut part of the regular CBeebies scheduling, so most children will know and understnad some of the signs - which will be great for your child, in the long run

And if you look on the CBeebies website, there are links to Something Special and signs for you to learn, games to play, etc.

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Helen

Mum to ...
Rachael Kinza (25/07/01), Matthew Isaac - DS & Autism - (14/06/03) and Hannah Cerys (14/06/05) - my gorgeous kids!

We used Signing Time, but it sounds like that program may not work in the UK. I wanted to chime in and tell you we HIGHLY recommend signing with your child, regardless of the program you use. We started signing with Lucas at about 8 months and he had approximately 300 words when he started to speak more than sign, and he still uses signs to reinforce some words, especially the signs he's been using the longest (more, water, eat). Signing has huge benefits, and don't think for a second that signing may delay speech -- on the contrary, the moment your child can start using spoken language, he/she will and start dropping the signs. It was amazing to watch the progress.

Best of luck and welcome to the forum!

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Sandy, momma to Lucas "the bean" (10/15/06)

Hi Dan and Lucie
We are in the UK too. near Manchester I have a 6 year old son Dominic who has DS. I teach 'Signalong' so can help you out if you like with signing. Its based on BSL like Makaton and most of the signs are the same.
Dominic loves Something Special and I use the songs in my training sessions.
I spent nearly all my time here for Doms first 4 years it was a life line and I loved seeing all the kids growing.
Been a bit of a stranger on Downsyn since he went to mainstream school and demands of work. But pop back to see the new kids and babys.
We love Cornwall we went to Perranporth last year.
If you want to check out our photos friend us on Face book
Maxine Aspinall Waith.

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Maxine UK. Mum to Elliott 16 and Dominic 6 DS.