Learning British Sign Language

With 93 per cent of all communication being  non-verbal, it seems we could all benefit from learning British Sign Language - the fourth indigenous language of the UK after English, Scots-Gaelic and Welsh.

 

British Sign Language (BSL) is actually a language in its own right, accessible to everyone, whether you are hearing impaired or not. It has a very different grammatical structure to spoken English, as well as variations on local dialect; sometimes to such an extent that some signs occur only in certain towns or cities. It is estimated that up to 70,000 people now speak BSL as their first or preferred language, and although it is not an official language of the United Kingdom it was recognised by the UK government as a language in its own right in March 2003 after campaigns from BSL users.

The benefits of sign language

Research has actually proven that sign language can help to improve a child's communication skills. Using sign language to communicate with pre-lingual babies and young children has become very popular in the USA, following the research of Joseph Garcia who has deduced that signs allow babies to share their feelings and thoughts with their carers long before they are able to use speech.

Garry Slack, communication support worker and author of Learn to Sign with Olli a book designed to make BSL easy and memorable to learn, says ‘Signing is now becoming more mainstream and is frequently used in schools and nursery settings and by many parents who recognise the value of their children acquiring good communication skills. Not only are parents who teach their children to sign improving their child's communication skills, they are also providing that child with early access to a second language.'

Remembering the signs

Because British Sign Language has such a huge variety of different signs, Garry Slack found that by incorporating them into a series of stories based around his main character, Olli the monkey, the signs became easier to remember and use for both children and parents alike. In Learn to Sign with Olli each story is accompanied by a set of handy hints and tips so parents and kids can sign along with the story as they read it out aloud.

Using resources such as Learn to Sign with Olli, and multimedia resources available on the internet such as britishsignlanguage.com you can support your child's communication needs while at the same time introducing a new form of language and communication to yourself and your family.

The BSL alphabet

 

Just to get you started, here is how to spell every letter in the alphabet using British Sign Language...