In my language and literacy class, I shared an experience I had with a kindergartner in my class with my college students. I had a kindergarten student with a significant articulation disorder, and it was difficult to understand her. I quickly taught her 5-words, so I knew how to help her and respond to her basic needs. Then throughout the school year, she and the rest of my class learned almost 500 words.  By the end of the year, there was an incredible improvement in her speech and our ability to understand her. 

Over the last 20 years, I have had many successful experiences with children using ASL in my classroom. There is a lot of research that has demonstrated that there are many benefits to utilizing sign language with hearing children.  Some benefits are developing larger vocabularies, possessing greater self-esteem, and increasing phonemic awareness and spelling skills.  I have noticed all of these, plus MORE. American Sign Language is a useful intervention strategy for early education and is not only for deaf children.

You may be wondering, is it worth your time to use the vocabulary of ASL in your classroom? Will it really support MY children? The simple answer is, ABSOLUTELY! It is human nature to want to be understood, using ASL helps them communicate and be understood by the adults in their life, making it easier to build positive and trusting adult-child relationships. This helps the child engage in the learning process with ease. Plus, speaking and signing in tandem increases children's ability to make connections to vocabulary, print awareness, and build narrative skills.

This multi-sensory strategy helps second language learners make connections from their native language to their second language too. For them, ASL is a bridge that connects two languages.

Ultimately, ASL is a fantastic tool to strengthen the learning community and enhance the development and learning of hearing children. All while creating a sense of value and belonging.