When I first started working as early language consultant for Luton's Every Child a Talker project, I watched a little girl singing to herself at the ARC Nursery and noticed that she was using what looked remarkably like signs from British Sign language (BSL). Could she have a hearing impairment?
When I asked the staff, they told me that theirs was a 'singing and signing' setting, and that all the staff used BSL when they were singing with the children. They also used signs as they spoke with the children, particularly with those who are very young.
Later I was astonished to see babies as young as 11 months old communicating their needs, wants and interests, such as 'more', 'no', 'hot' and 'dog', by using BSL. I knew that children and adults with hearing impairment use BSL, and that those with additional learning needs may be introduced to the Makaton sign system, but I had no idea that it was being used systematically with children with no apparent learning difficulties.
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