Valerie Herskowitz, MA CCCSLP

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Valerie Herskowitz, MA CCC-SLP director Dimensions
therapy center www,dimensionstherapycenter.com
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Speech Pathologist for 29 years Owner
Dimensions Therapy Center Mother to Blake, 16
years, autistic Writer and Lecturer President
of National Autism Registry
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My Inspiration
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Blakes Communicative Journey
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What is the Purpose of Communication?
To Send and Receive Messages
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A Sender
A Receiver
A Message
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Effective CommunicationShared Meaning
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ESP
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The Picture Exchange Communication System(PECS)
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Young Blake with his Dynamite
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So Why Did I Want Blake to Learn To Sign?

• The Dynamite was bulky to carry around.
• It broke-A LOT!!
• It required multi-steps in order to communicate
  simple thoughts
• Wanted a quick and efficient system that emulated
  verbal speech

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Why Teach Sign

• It doesnt require any special props or devices.
  Just two hands. Very practical.
• It may help increase or accelerate acquisition of
  verbal behavior
• Signs are able to be physically prompted

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Traditional Methods

• Traditional methods of teaching sign to children
  with autism focus on teaching preferred items or
  basic needs first.
• Method usually used is Signed English
• Motor planning ability is not addressed
• Some children are unsuccessful due to the
  complexity of the signs and inability to imitate.
• Only 10-15 of traditional signs are iconic in
  nature.

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Motor Planning and Autism

• Motor planning or praxis is the ability of the
  brain to conceive, organize, and carry out a
  sequence of unfamiliar actions.
• Those with dyspraxia show difficulty with
  imitation.
• Children with autism commonly display dyspraxia
  both verbally and in a general sense.

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This Included Blake
Blake doing his second-favorite activity.
Luckily, the sign for bath was easy for Blake
to learn. His favorite activity is eating.
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Motoric Complexity

• The Location of the sign.
• The Shape and Formation of the hands involved in
  forming the sign.
• The Physical Movement of the hands and arms that
  occur while making the sign.
• The Number of Movements contained in a sign.

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Easy Sign Locations

• Head
• Face

• Neutral
• Trunk

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Handshape Hierarchy

• 5-Hand
• A Hand

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Movement Acquisition

• Beginning Level Movements
• Single Movement
• No-Midline movement
• Repetitious movements
• With Body Contact
• Bilateral hands
• Symmetrical hands

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Getting Just a Tad More Complex

• Mid-line Movement
• One-hand
• No-Body Contact

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Sequenced Signing

• Criteria for Level 1-5 Signs that increase in
  complexity
• A Sequenced Sign Dictionary that rates signs as
  to which level that they fall in.
• A Sequenced Sign chart that allows for the
  analysis by complexity level of other signs that
  are not included in the dictionary.

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How to Begin

• Pre-Sign Program A Physical-prompting program
  designed to stimulate gross motor imitation.
• Example
• Child allows Facilitator (F) to do
  hand-over-hand activities. (High Physical
  Prompting-F guides childs hands throughout
  entire sequence)
• F puts childs hands together
• F has child touch head using one hand
• F has child touch mouth using one hand
• F has child touch nose using one hand
• F has child touch tummy using one hand
• F has child touch head using two hands
• Gradually, physical prompting is reduced and
  eventually eliminated until the child is
  imitating movements without any assistance.

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And Then Add

• Sign Acquisition Sequencing Provides a
  step-by-step approach for shaping signs.
• Example
• Level 1
• Sign Happy
• Step 1 Bilateral 5-hand to chest
• Step 2 Bilateral 5-hand to chest and pat several
  times
• Step 3 Bilateral 5-hand to chest and rub upward
  several times

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Keep On Analyzing

• Break down the elements of the signs into
  position, hand formation, and movement complexity
• As the child becomes more proficient, add one
  aspect only.
• At this stage, you can begin to teach signs that
  are high motivators
• Develop a 3-step shaping program for each sign

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Dont Worry If the Sign Isnt Perfect

• Its OK if the child is only able to sign at the
  first level of your shaping program.
• Try to keep in mind how you shape verbal
  approximations.
• If a sign is too difficult, go ahead and create a
  gesture or iconic representation.
• Train all caregivers in the signs that you are
  teaching.

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Watch Your Language

• Make sure that you teach words that are
  meaningful to the child. Stay with concrete words
  in the early stages.

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Blakes Sign Language Skill Set

• Has a large sign vocabulary for his wants and
  needs
• Is able to sign 2-3 word phrases.
• Can answer yes/no questions.
• Can answer simple wh questions.
• Is starting to answer past tense questions.
• Working on identifying pain.

Blake with his brother, Hunter
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Reaching their Potential

• Sign
• Pictures
• Voice-Output Systems
• Speech

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Thank you!