Sign Language and Children of Autism
Story from: yourtalkingbaby.com
People think of sign language in the context of the deaf community. But, it can be taught to babies before they can speak, with multiple benefits for child and parent. This, of course, is the basis for our baby sign langauge system. Research also proves that sign language is often beneficial for children with a special need which effects their speech and or social development, such as down syndrome, apraxia or autism.
Signing and Special Needs
A child who learns sign language typically receives great auditory and visual stimulation. Thus, signing with a baby has a great academic impact on the child. This is especially important for those children who may have special needs. A child may have a condition that affects his ability to make auditory and visual connections. Sign language can trigger that area of the brain linked to speech and language development, thus expanding the child’s vocabulary and enhancing speech development.
If a child’s speech development is furthered, so are his emotional and social skills. Children with special needs can be moody and frustrated when communication becomes difficult. This frustration can surface in the form of depression and anger, or even tantrums and aggression. Teaching the child sign language can help eliminate communication barriers and thus alleviate much of the frustration associated with the same. By expanding his means of communication, the child will have greater self esteem and be more independent and behave in a more socially accepted way.
Signing and Autism
Autism is a developmental impairment that often involves a delay and impairment in social and language skills and behavior. It is a spectrum disorder, meaning that no two diagnoses are the same, and they each vary in degree and severity. Some children will be able to talk, while some will have no speech at all. Less severe diagnoses include Pervasive Development Disorder or Asperger’s Syndrome. These children often talk normally, but have many of the social problems associated with autism.
The use of sign language as a learning aid for children with special needs has grown consistently since the 1970’s. The primary reason to teach sign language to these children with autism, or similar disorders, is to give them an alternative means of communication. Numerous studies have shown that these children can learn signing as an effective means of communication. Furthermore, through the use of sign language, some otherwise mute children acquire speech. Thus, sign language can be a means to augment communication with the goal of full speech development.
There are multiple benefits to teaching sign language to an otherwise mute child. Even if he only acquires the most basic signs, this gives the child a means of expressing his needs in a practical and socially acceptable way. And by learning a conventional language, the child learns to take account of and, eventually, interact with others. Multiple studies regarding sign langauge and autism demonstrate that, as social awareness increases, frustration and tantrums decrease following sign language acquisition. And, as the child acquires a language, he will acquire those cognitive skills for continued learning, and his disorder will be diminished.
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