Robin's Questions About SignWriting

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
July 11, 2003

On Thursday, July 10, 2003, at 01:36 PM, Robin K wrote:
> 2.  What support is given if the parents don't speak English?
> 3. At what age is Sign Writing introduced?
> 4. What percentage of the staff that use Sign Writing are Deaf /Hard 
> of Hearing?
> 5.  Is sign writing used in post secondary education, if so 
> how prevalent is it?

Hello Everyone, James and Robin -
James answered these questions specifically about the two schools he 
administers, in Nicaragua. But now I will try to answer these questions 
from the American point of view...and the reason that is hard is that I 
am not a teacher! SignWriting is used by teachers in different schools 
around the United States. The most successful SignWriting Literacy 
Project is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. You can read about it on the web:

SignWriting Literacy Project in Albuquerque, New Mexico
http://www.SignWriting.org/usa/usa.html

So each school would answer your questions differently above, depending 
on their policies...

I know they have both Spanish-speaking parents and English-speaking 
parents in the Albuquerque Public Schools, and also parents from the 
Indian tribes near by...all of those families receive attention from 
teachers I believe...

What age was it introduced?...There is mention in the reports that some 
were as young as 6 years old...

I do not know the percentage of Deaf staff in Albuquerque...but there 
are some, I know that...

SignWriting is not really prevalent anywhere...it is used by small 
groups of teachers and researchers in 27 countries around the world...

BUT...if you know of a school that would like to try it, they are most 
welcome to contact us for the materials - We would like to make it 
prevalent!

Thanks for your questions, Robin -

Val ;-)