Simplified Signs: A Manual Sign-Communication System for Special. Volume 1

Simplified Signs presents a system of manual sign communication intended for special populations who have had limited success mastering spoken or full sign languages. It is the culmination of over twenty years of research and development by the authors. The Simplified Sign System has been developed and tested for ease of sign comprehension, memorization, and formation by limiting the complexity of the motor skills required to form each sign, and by ensuring that each sign visually resembles the meaning it conveys. Volume 1 outlines the research underpinning and informing the project, and places the Simplified Sign System in a wider context of sign usage, historically and by different populations. Volume 2 presents the lexicon of signs, totaling approximately 1000 signs, each with a clear illustration and a written description of how the sign is formed, as well as a memory aid that connects the sign visually to the meaning that it conveys. While the Simplified Sign System originally was developed to meet the needs of persons with intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism, or aphasia, it may also assist the communication needs of a wider audience - such as healthcare professionals, aid workers, military personnel, travellers or parents, and children who have not yet mastered spoken language. The system also has been shown to enhance learning for individuals studying a foreign language. Lucid and comprehensive, this work constitutes a valuable resource that will enhance the communicative interactions of many different people, and will be of great interest to researchers and educators alike. As with all Open Book publications, this entire book is available to read for free on the publisher’s website. Printed and digital editions, together with supplementary digital material, can also be found at www.openbookpublishers.co

Simplified Signs: A Manual Sign-Communication System for Special. Volume 2

Simplified Signs presents a system of manual sign communication intended for special populations who have had limited success mastering spoken or full sign languages. It is the culmination of over twenty years of research and development by the authors. The Simplified Sign System has been developed and tested for ease of sign comprehension, memorization, and formation by limiting the complexity of the motor skills required to form each sign, and by ensuring that each sign visually resembles the meaning it conveys. Volume 1 outlines the research underpinning and informing the project, and places the Simplified Sign System in a wider context of sign usage, historically and by different populations. Volume 2 presents the lexicon of signs, totalling approximately 1000 signs, each with a clear illustration and a written description of how the sign is formed, as well as a memory aid that connects the sign visually to the meaning that it conveys. While the Simplified Sign System originally was developed to meet the needs of persons with intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism, or aphasia, it may also assist the communication needs of a wider audience - such as healthcare professionals, aid workers, military personnel , travellers or parents, and children who have not yet mastered spoken language. The system also has been shown to enhance learning for individuals studying a foreign language. Lucid and comprehensive, this work constitutes a valuable resource that will enhance the communicative interactions of many different people, and will be of great interest to researchers and educators alike. As with all Open Book publications, this entire book is available to read for free on the publisher’s website. Printed and digital editions, together with supplementary digital material, can also be found at www.openbookpublishers.co

8. Development of the Simplified Sign System

Background Information The original goal of the Simplified Sign project was to develop a system of manual signs that would enhance the communication skills of a number of hearing, but non-speaking, persons. Initially, the focus of the project was to create a sign vocabulary that would meet many of the needs of children with autism or with other disabilities such as cerebral palsy or Down syndrome. We felt that these children would benefit from a new sign-communication system that was easy to ..

9. Application and Use of the Simplified Sign System with Persons with Disabilities

In the last several decades, both clinical and research evidence have shown that individuals who cannot effectively use or understand speech (including persons with autism spectrum disorder, an intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, or aphasia) may be able to produce or understand visual-motor symbols such as manual signs. However, to obtain the best results for these persons, it is not sufficient to merely start using signs with them. One must adopt good practices concerning which signs to..

10. Introduction to the Simplified Sign System

Many children and adults experience considerable difficulty producing or understanding a spoken language despite having adequate hearing levels. Some of these persons may benefit from learning a full and genuine sign language, such as one of the sign languages used by members of a Deaf community. They may acquire a substantial vocabulary of signs and learn to combine them into complex sign utterances. Unfortunately, many other individuals make only very minimal progress in acquiring sign lang..