only starting out

[pat26]

hi i am only starting out using sign language my little girl is 20 mths and still not talking we just found out that she has a slight hearing loss in her ears we are waiting to get her wee hearing aids. she can hear but its does affect her slightly i am living in ireland and i am just wondering which sign language would suit her best.

any advice would be great

[AussieMumofOne]

HI pat26 and welcome!

Hope I'm not overstepping the mark here but thought I would throw in my two cents worth as an audiologist. I am in Australia so I am not sure how much access to early intervention programs you have in Ireland but I would highly recommend them for your daughter. However this depends on whether your ultimate goal is for her to communicate through an auditory/oral modality or visual only (ie; lip-reading and sign language).

My personal opinion is that auditory/verbal is the way to go because in the long run your daughter will probably wish to integrate fully into your community which unfortunately is unlikely to have many people who know sign language. I would definitely use some basic signs though as they can provide a useful bridge of communication between your family and daughter while she is learning to communicate orally and auditorally. This will hopefully alleviate some of the frustration both you and your daughter are propbably experiencing in trying to communicate currently.

Early intervention programs will provide her with an intensive environment in which she can learn to use her hearing for communicating. A speech therapist may also be useful once she has her hearing aids to help her learn how to produce all the little sounds that all add up to speech. We use Auslan here and I am teaching my son some baby-sign based on this language but I suppose Australian sign language won't be much use in Ireland! Is there an Irish Sign language? I would probably base my teachings on this and that way if she does meet some deaf/hearing impaired people in your community she will be able to communicate with them!

Hope my rambling all made sense and at least something there was useful to you! Best of luck in this new chapter in your life.

Lisa

[pat26]

hi lisa soz should hav gave a bit more info she has been refered for the early intervantion team but could b noveenmber before we get an app. the audioest here said that her hearing loss isnt that bad and she wont have to learn sign lanuage to comuncate she should b able to speak. but she said that it wouldnt do any harm to learn some signs as my little girl gets annoyed and frusated sometimes. a friend of mine is doing sign lanuage with her little boy so going to do the one she is doing. 

soz for the bad spelling its very early here 

[AussieMumofOne]

Best of luck with everything Pat! We have actually changed and decided to teach him American Sign Language instead as the resources to support this are far more plentiful! I have the Baby Einstein sign DVD which he liked the other day (mostly was for me though as I learnt lots of signs!) and we have ordered the full range of Baby Signing Time DVD's too. Hopefully they come soon! Good luck with your hearing aid journey, hope it all goes well!

[pat26]

hi thanks decided to go with the irish sign language they dont hav as much dvds as the usa one but they hav designed to help teach younger kids got books and posters and cds designed for kids. she also has her app for the early intervention team on the 9th so hopefully all will go well there thanks

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