Introduction

How many of you have heard about sign language?
o Get responses

Do you know anyone who is deaf?

How many of you know who Juliette Gordon Low is?
o She is the founder of the Girl Scouts
o Did you know that she was deaf by the time she was 26 years old?
o She wanted the Girl Scouts to welcome all girls, regardless of their ability or disability, at
a time when girls with disabilities were often excluded from activities
o She was featured as a Famous Deaf American in the year 2000 in an exhibit called “The
Deaf World in Wax”

Does anyone know what A S L stands for?
o American Sign Language
o American Sign Language is the 3rd most-used language in America, outside of spoken
English and Spanish
o It is a combination of gestures, facial expressions and body language used by the deaf
community in America.
o Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc are credited with developing American Sign
Language. It was based off of French Sign Language and ‘home signs’ that deaf people
used to communicate with each other.
 Now that the signs are defined, it helps the American deaf community have a
standard way to communicate with each other.
 Could you imagine if everyone made up their own signs for everything? I bet
everyone’s signs would be different, and that would make it very difficult for
people to understand each other.
o And just like other countries speak different languages, just about every country has it’s
own defined form of sign language. So, American Sign Language could not be used in
Spain and have all of the same meanings, even though there may be some similar signs.

Show video of “Party in the USA” (optional)

Exercise: Show Some Gestures and Have the girls guess the meaning
o Hi!
o No (don’t do that)
o Shhhh (be quiet)
o Thumbs Up (Good Job)
 Could you tell what I was trying to say?
Exercise: Give the Girls some words and have them perform a gesture and have the other girls guess
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Drink
Baby
Bird
Ball
Elephant
Sad
Grumpy
Happy
Fish
Swim
Eat
Sleep
Car
Stop

As you can see, gesturing comes naturally to us and we can usually think of a movement or
facial expression to get our point across
o Show the ASL signs for each sign

At My Smart Hands – Phoenix, we teach babies and toddlers who can’t speak yet, how to use
sign language to communicate with their families

It takes babies a little bit longer to be able to get all of their mouth muscles to work together to
make words. We don’t realize it, but you have to get your lips, tongue, teeth, and even your
breath working together in order to make sounds

But babies can make gestures!
o How many of you have little brothers or sisters?
o Have you seen them wave bye bye, or blow kisses, or hold their arms up to be held?
o Those are gestures!

Teaching babies signs from ASL helps them communicate with us before they can speak
o I taught my daughter Audra how to use sign language, and at a time where she could
only SAY about 10 words, she could SIGN over 30 words and that helped me to
understand what she wanted.

What happens when someone says something and we don’t understand, so we keep asking
them “What?”
o They get louder and louder don’t they?
o This is what babies do when we try to figure out what they want, but keep getting it
wrong. Then they CRY!

So you all aren’t babies and you already know how to talk, but guess what? Using sign language
even as an older kid can help you too!
o Do you take spelling tests? We’re going to learn the ASL alphabet today, and the next
time you get your vocabulary, I want you to fingerspell each word when you practice,
and see how you do on your test!
o Researchers have discovered that when we use sign language along WITH seeing the
word on paper, and hearing the word when we say it out load – it makes our brains
work on both the left side and the right side! It’s called Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic
learning! Visual = I can see the sign and the word, Auditory = I can hear the word,
Kinesthetic = I can feel my hands making the sign

Ready to learn the Alphabet??!!
o Go through all of the alphabet
o Have them partner up, and practice spelling their first names
o Spell them in front of the group

Learn the Happy Birthday Song

Questions?