Older Kids

[MomofJBN]

My boys are 9, 7, and 5 yrs old. What do folks with older children do to keep them interested in signing? The boys do love the ST videos, but with school and other activities they don't watch them very often.

Our city is small and doesn't have very many Deaf people so there aren't any ASL activities aimed at children that I know of.

(My oldest is HOH, but his loss is mild to moderate so he is completely oral.)

[amiller]

Jessa (8, 2nd grade) keeps herself interested by teaching her friends their "secret language" - so whatever she knows how to sign, she'll teach like one a day to her friends at recess and they all think it is SO COOL to be able to talk without talking!

[Kei_as_in_K]

beyond communication, such as social, self-esteem, and literacy... is there a way to integrate using sign into some homework activities? With Sarah (8), when she has her spelling homework, she & I will fingerspell her words & look up the signs for the words if we don't know them. It helps make the words and the correct spelling 'stick' for her.

The 4th grade teacher at our school was so wowed by the Signing Time event here that she decided to have her students use ASL to learn their spelling words too. I made some ASL Bingo cards for them to use for activities, and made a manual alphabet banner for her room.

One of the aides at school told me the boys (5th-6th graders) are using ASL dictionaries to look up words so they can communicate during quiet time.

Another idea for older kids is to see if they can find the signs for their favorite songs and have them show you.