Ask Angie ASL – Tips for Meeting New Friends Who Use Sign Language

September

Meeting New Friends Who Use Sign Language

1. Be sure to face your friend.
2. If they are not looking at you, tap them lightly on the shoulder to get their attention.
3. Avoid trying to sign to them if they are facing directly into the sunlight.
4. Remember body language is important. Speaking louder does not make it easier to understand.
5. Hold your hand steady as you slide your letters while spelling.
6. Use your dominant hand. Changing hands can make reading the signs more difficult.
7. Say the complete word instead of each individual letter.
8. Speed/fluency will come with practice – go slow while you are learning.

School Starts

Angie Craft author and teacher brings over 26 years of experience in deaf education and is committed to serving the deaf community. Keenly aware of the isolation that deaf students often experience, Angie developed and wrote HandCraftEdASL to bridge the communication gap between deaf children who primarily use American Sign Language and their parents, peers or educators. www.handcraftedasl.com

For more information: follow us on FaceBook @ HandCraftEdASL

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This post originally appeared on our September/October 2011 Magazine