Sign language and sign systems
If you're considering different communication options for your child, it's important that both you and the professionals who work with your child understand the differences between sign languages and sign systems.
Like spoken languages, sign languages such as British Sign Language (BSL) or Irish Sign Language (ISL) evolve naturally, often over hundreds of years. Sign languages have their own grammatical structure, cultural identity and heritage, and use a combination of facial expressions, hand movements, body language and lip patterns.
Sign systems such as Makaton or Signalong are communication programmes, usually produced by speech and language therapists. They are designed for people with speech and language difficulties, speech delays or learning disabilities. They may incorporate a combination of speech, hand movements and symbols. Sign systems do not have a grammatical structure and are designed to support speech, with signs and symbols signed or shown at the same time as the user is speaking.
Did you know…?
In the UK, most sign systems use or adapt signs taken from BSL. However, sign systems are not languages. They rely on the user being able to hear spoken language along with watching the signs to understand what’s being communicated.
British sign systems follow English grammar, not BSL grammar. This means that, although the signs used in a sign system might look the same as BSL signs, they're used in English word order, not BSL.
Many signs from BSL are similar to those used in sign systems, but they may be simplified or placed differently. In some sign systems, a sign which means one thing in BSL is adopted and used to mean a different thing in the sign system. This can make communication between BSL users and people using sign systems very difficult.
Using a sign system like Makaton or Signalong alone will not give your child the opportunity to develop BSL or ISL as a full language. Using a sign system also will not help them socialise with other deaf children who use BSL or ISL, both now and in the future.
Some deaf children with additional needs are offered support to learn a sign system like Makaton instead of a sign language like BSL.
In fact, BSL or ISL can be adapted to deaf children with additional needs in the same way that spoken languages like English can be adapted or simplified.
My biggest worry was that they would just keep on offering Rafael Signalong instead of BSL. We spent the first three years battling with the school that Signalong wasn’t adequate because it’s not a language.”
Leigh is mum to Rafael, who’s profoundly deaf and has additional needs.
Sign Supported English (SSE)
SSE is a way of speaking and signing at the same time, using BSL signs for key words while speaking English. When signing SSE, you do not need to sign every word. SSE can be a useful tool for:
- making spoken language more visual for a child
- helping deaf people whose first language is English to lip-read
- teaching English to people whose first language is BSL
- communicating informally with a group of people who use both BSL and English
However, because SSE follows the grammatical structure of English, it is not the same as BSL. It will not support full and fluent communication with other BSL users.
Some families also use signs to support their children to learn other spoken languages, such as using BSL signs to support spoken Welsh (known as Sign Supported Welsh) or using ISL signs to support spoken Irish.
Full references for this webpage are available by emailing
informationteam@ndcs.org.uk