RE: new to group question about signing

[Guest guest]

If you teach him ASL I'd consider the signing time videos because they

go beyond signing by repeating the word and the way they are presented

encourages reading as well, at least that was true of the ones I bought

three years ago.

If sound production is an issue have you considered dietary stuff?

Milk elimination seems to help with allergy kids that are undetected on

tests and for metal kids. My son was both metallic and allergic I

believe and milk was a big find. Eliminating/reducing artificials is

good for all kids, not just neuro-impaired. Reverse Osmosis filtered

drinking and cooking water is great as well as is filtered bathing

water.

I spent $1200 on the wrong therapy last year. I spent less than that on

the things listed above, along with using unrefined coconut oil and

cooking at lower temps and using it sporadically as a moisturizer. In

doing so I think my son has been transformed. It happened so fast it

was scary and I thank God I was unable to afford to do it all at once

as it may have caused such a shock that he could have been harmed. My

next investments are NACD and The Listening Program. He is aging out of

EI and that is my plan. I pray it works and I wish you and your child

great success. Do not ever give up. Teach him the signing to get him a

voice but don't resign yourself to the belief that signing is the

stopping point. He is capable of more and you can get that for him.

Hang tough!

>

> my son is 3 1/2 yrs old is apraxic. we have taught him Sign Exact

> English he knows about 150 or so because he is hearing but not

talking.

> A month ago he started preschool, I have made them a book of the

signs

> he knows she knows ASL but is willing to learn SEE. I am wondering if

I

> should teach him ASL. There are so many videos, books etc out there

> about ASL and he will be using sign for along time and I have heard

> that SEE and ASL is about 20% similar so if trys to talk to someone

> that uses the other sign language there are different means. Does

> anyone have any info or suggestions for me. thank you.

> G.

>

[Guest guest]

G: My son is 7 and has been signing since 2. We use both ASL (because we

attend classes at the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf) and SEE (because we

are an English-speaking family and hope to be on the path toward full

English literacy) as our low tech means of alternative/augmentative

communication (AAC).

If we were a Spanish-speaking family, we probably would just use ASL as the

spoken Spanish language is most like ASL. (This is why it is so hard for

Spanish-speaking persons to learn English and so easy for them to learn

ASL.) Of course, doing so would (I believe) decrease our ability to achieve

full English literacy.

Although the literate deaf do not use SEE for conversation, they do know and

understand it. Our usage of SEE eased my son's transition to his AAC device

this past year, in that he already had a basic understanding of syntax and

common verbs, articles and prepositions that are generally not used in ASL.

This is not the case, however, for the English illiterate deaf or the

Spanish literate deaf.

I believe it is very important to evaluate and consider your son's long-term

abilities and goals in making decisions on forms of AAC to use. If you want

him to learn to read and expect that he will have the ability to do so, I

encourage you to NOT stop using SEE as a low tech form. I also encourage

you to get an evaluation for a high tech form of AAC for your son as soon as

possible.

I hope our experience helps you in making you decision on how best to

proceed with a low tech form of AAC for your son.

Lora

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of summertime41

Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 11:57 AM

Subject: [ ] new to group question about signing

my son is 3 1/2 yrs old is apraxic. we have taught him Sign Exact

English he knows about 150 or so because he is hearing but not talking.

A month ago he started preschool, I have made them a book of the signs

he knows she knows ASL but is willing to learn SEE. I am wondering if I

should teach him ASL. There are so many videos, books etc out there

about ASL and he will be using sign for along time and I have heard

that SEE and ASL is about 20% similar so if trys to talk to someone

that uses the other sign language there are different means. Does

anyone have any info or suggestions for me. thank you.

G.

[Guest guest]

My daughter is 6 and uses ASL to communicate. Her verbal apraxia is

sever and she to date has only 5 understandable words. We tend to

sign in more of an English word order than in true ASL form because

she is hearing. I debated the use of SEE, but out on West Coast -

the use of SEE is very limited so it really would not help her

communicate with anyone. When we are working on English and reading,

we do alot of fingerspelling for reading of words that there are not

ASL equivilants and she is mainstreamed most of her day in a regular

ed class with a signing aide. None of the deaf programs in our area

would accept her because she is not deaf and our district is small

and does not have a DHH program. It is not a perfect system by any

means, but she is making great progress. I try to have her interact

in the deaf community whenever I get a chance.

We also try to pair signs with sounds as often as possible for those

vocal that she has. The good news is that the more she signs and

communicates the more she is attached to the communication process,

which is so important. She is really trying hard to use her vocals

now... Time will tell for all of our kids, but in the mean time,

sign allow for a much more idependent lifestyle for her and

communication then did any of our other augmentitve choices.

Good luck

>

> G: My son is 7 and has been signing since 2. We use both ASL

(because we

> attend classes at the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf) and SEE

(because we

> are an English-speaking family and hope to be on the path toward

full

> English literacy) as our low tech means of alternative/augmentative

> communication (AAC).

>

>

>

> If we were a Spanish-speaking family, we probably would just use

ASL as the

> spoken Spanish language is most like ASL. (This is why it is so

hard for

> Spanish-speaking persons to learn English and so easy for them to

learn

> ASL.) Of course, doing so would (I believe) decrease our ability

to achieve

> full English literacy.

>

>

>

> Although the literate deaf do not use SEE for conversation, they do

know and

> understand it. Our usage of SEE eased my son's transition to his

AAC device

> this past year, in that he already had a basic understanding of

syntax and

> common verbs, articles and prepositions that are generally not used

in ASL.

> This is not the case, however, for the English illiterate deaf or

the

> Spanish literate deaf.

>

>

>

> I believe it is very important to evaluate and consider your son's

long-term

> abilities and goals in making decisions on forms of AAC to use. If

you want

> him to learn to read and expect that he will have the ability to do

so, I

> encourage you to NOT stop using SEE as a low tech form. I also

encourage

> you to get an evaluation for a high tech form of AAC for your son

as soon as

> possible.

>

>

>

> I hope our experience helps you in making you decision on how best

to

> proceed with a low tech form of AAC for your son.

>

> Lora

>

>

>

> From:

> [mailto: ] On Behalf Of

summertime41

> Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 11:57 AM

>

> Subject: [ ] new to group question about signing

>

>

>

> my son is 3 1/2 yrs old is apraxic. we have taught him Sign Exact

> English he knows about 150 or so because he is hearing but not

talking.

> A month ago he started preschool, I have made them a book of the

signs

> he knows she knows ASL but is willing to learn SEE. I am wondering

if I

> should teach him ASL. There are so many videos, books etc out there

> about ASL and he will be using sign for along time and I have heard

> that SEE and ASL is about 20% similar so if trys to talk to someone

> that uses the other sign language there are different means. Does

> anyone have any info or suggestions for me. thank you.

> G.

>

>

>

>

>

>