British Sign Language is becoming a more common part of young children’s lives, but the debate of whether it should be taught as part of the curriculum is forever ongoing.
“It develops the child’s learning so much quicker. Their understanding is advanced sooner and if they are shy or not able to give much communication because they are so sad they have something non-verbal to use.” Says Tippy Toes nursery worker Maddi Williams, “Sometimes communication for children is too much. And so, to have something like this that they can talk to us through instead, is so helpful.”
Working in early years education for several years, Maddi has seen lots of changes to the Early Years Foundation Stage. But there is one change she believes should be made sooner rather than later, teaching British Sign Language from a young age. Whilst this is a topic of conversation for most of the staff in the education sector, what are some of the impacts it can have?
Research shows that children’s cognitive abilities such as memory skills and concentration can be improved from learning sign language. The use of BSL is useful for many reasons, both for deaf and hearing children. For example, it helps children develop their fine motor skills because of the different actions they learn to make.
“I think it’s such a valuable skill to learn. I am trying to teach myself because kids understand non-verbal a lot quicker than they do verbal. In nurseries we try to encourage to use sign language with simple things like the words ‘more’, ‘please and thank you.’ And the kids at my nursery all know how to do their first letter of their names also” she explained.
The National Deaf Children’s Society collected data to show that on average deaf children will receive a lower GCSE grade than those who are hearing, this is because of the lack of support they may receive due to the language barrier. “I think the stats would be increased by a lot if it were encouraged more at such a young age. When they’re in nursery, they’re learning so quickly. I feel it would be so much more encouraging for the child with the hearing difficulties too” says Maddi. Most schools will not have teachers who are fluent in sign language, which severely limits the children who are deaf. If BSL was introduced to everyone at nursery age, could this statistic be any different, providing that the teachers through every school stage were fluent?
Although many educational settings will agree that incorporating BSL into the curriculum will benefit the children overall, without the teachers or resources, it will be difficult for settings to carry it out as a mandatory subject. For this reason, it could be offered as an optional extracurricular activity, this also ensures that other subjects such as maths and English do not suffer as a result.
“I feel like it should be optional to have as a lesson but to still use it in anything you can. For me, I use it all the times that I am aware I can. I love being able to show the children something new and because it is so beneficial I’m eager to learn with them. I wouldn’tmind it being compulsory, but I understand that some people don’thave my same views. I feel like it should be encouraged. But I feel like if you can, you should. I feel like it should be a more popular thing. It has been so helpful for me and my child setting. The kids really enjoy it and so do I” Maddi said explaining her views
