Katie, a student with Down’s syndrome, was having a difficult time in class. She had trouble speaking and being understood, which led to her frustration and tantrums. To solve the problem, the teacher incorporated basic sign language in class. Not only did this enable Katie to make her wants known, it improved classroom management as a whole, as students became more attentive to instructions and learned to deal with each other in a more peaceful manner.
Carol Garboden Murray
“Using sign langugae in class makes learning more inclusive,” said Carol Garboden Murray, MSEd, in a recent edWeb.net webinar entitled “Sign Language, Songs and Felt Stories: Literacy Learning in Early Childhood”.
Signing commands attention while requiring less talk. It is engaging for students and allows them to “speak” without disturbing the class as a whole. Murray’s presentation included tips to help with classroom management, how to teach sign language, and how to use signing to make story time more multi-sensory and engaging.
Here are some basic signs and how they can help:
| Meaning | Sign | Useful when |
|---|---|---|
| More |  Tap fingers together | Student wants to ask for more of something |
| All done |   Flip open hand(s) out | Student doesn't want anymore of anything |
| Stop |  "Chop" the upper hand onto the lower hand | Asking a student to stop a behavior. This works between students as well, and helps promote kindness, respecting limits, and gentle assertiveness. |
| Wait |  Wiggle fingers with palm up | Asking someone to wait, for example to wait a turn |
| My turn |  L-shaped hand over heart | Taking turns |
| Your turn |  L-shaped hand pointing out | Taking turns |
| Want |   Palms up flat, then claw shaped | Asking for things, taking turns |
| Gentle touch |  Gently pet the top of one hand with the other hand | Instruction on handling objects or touching others |
| Help |  Put "thumbs up" sign on palm and lift up | Asking for or offering help |
| Please |  Circle open hand over heart | Expressing politeness |
| Thank you |  Hand over lips, then move out, like blowing kisses | Expressing gratitude |
| Sit |  Place first two fingers of hand over first two fingers of other hand | Asking students to sit down |
Murray also displayed signs for “together”, “happy,” “friends,” and “clock” (showing time ticking down). She suggested teaching the signs through familiar songs such as “This is the way we sign (thank you/help/please) so early in the morning” and “The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.”
In the second half of the webinar, Murray showed how to make story time interactive by incorporating signs for things and animals, as well as using a felt board and felt characters, with stories such as “Goodnight Moon,” “Brown Bear Brown Bear” and “Mr. Gumpy’s Outing.”
There are several sources for simple sign language. Here are a few sources:
Simple Signing with Young Children: A Guide for Infant, Toddler, and Preschool Teachers, by Carol Garboden Murray- babysignlanguage.com Dictonary
- signingtime.com
- Sign Language GIFS