Does anyone have any suggestions on a good program or book on ASL? I just have some diagrams and did some online stuff. My dd caught on very fast. My kids and I are trying to learn together...so what is best?
DO NOT (repeat!!!) DO NOT try to teach sign language from a book. It CANNOT be done well. It IS NOT POSSIBLE for you to look at a picture and accurately understand how the hands are to move. I know that Toledo Schools have a Deaf program (because I had a practicum there many, MANY years ago!). The ideal way to learn is by being around Deaf people. If that is not practical, see if your library has videos. I'm told there are some decent video curriculum, but I don't personally know much about them.
i think i saw on www.timberdoodle.com website they had like 20 diff sign dvds, under the autism section.
I would guess (but only a GUESS!) that, if they were listed under the Autism section, that it was NOT American Sign Language, but just signs. Be sure to get something that gives more than vocabulary, that also teaches ASL grammar and Deaf culture, too.
jackie, it clearly states, ASL, there are 26 dvds, and im not sure how in depth the op wants to go, but that is 13 hours of diff words, phrases, and sentences. it is under the autism section simply bc some autistic children have limited speech, but do very well with sign language, my son was very good at signing when young, even though his speech was limited, plus i highly believe that the signing was a big reason why he eventually outgrew his speech delays and now talks non stop, lol. I believe this would be very good as a start, i mean we are taking an asl class in our coop, and they are simply learning the alphabet, numbers, and phrases to get started. hope that helps.
We found DVDs at our library called Signing Time. They're done by a mother of a deaf child. Both my kids love them & we all use them to improve our ASL. We started using them before ds had his tonsils out. I thought it would be nice if he had another way to communicate with us after his surgery, so he wouldn't have to talk so much. He decided he'd rather talk & didn't really use ASL at all after the surgery. However, he enjoyed the DVDs so much that we continue to borrow them. I looked them up on the web one day, and found that you can purchase them from the Signing Time site (I think it's signingtime.com). They're kind of expensive, though, so we just continue to borrow them from the library. The site also has info & tips for teaching ASL.
We use Signing Times with Babyboy. He has the complete set. He is profoundly hearing impaired and wears over the ear hearing aids in both ears. He is three. We all love ST and watch it with him. It is for small children, but you learn right along with them.
Signing Times is awesome, both my kids loved it and know a ton of ASL vocabulary....but thats just it, they only know a lot of vocabulary and not how to actually have a conversation with it. I enrolled my dd4 in a hs ASL class hoping she would learn to *speak* it but it didn't work out so I sort of dropped it for awhile.
Then it probably is ASL. But USUALLY when it comes to hearing children that use sign, they are taught more signed English of some kind. That's because it is not possible to talk and sign in ASL at the same time, but you CAN talk and sign simultaneously if you use a signed English system. With hearing children, they strongly encourage you to do BOTH. I used primarily ASL (or my version of ASL ) when I worked at the Deaf school, but did a lot of signed English/speech together when I taught non-verbal hearing kids.
actually the dvds i was talking about were the signing time dvds, so funny that this is what everyone is suggesting!!
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/ Have you been to this website? It's offered freely by a California professor of deaf studies. This course also discusses deaf culture which I think is helpful if the ultimate goal is to be able to communicate in ASL with deaf people.
Thanks everyone! I did know about lifeprint...just given to me by a friend..I will be sure to check it out further. I will also look into Signing Times.
