Signing Savvy, Your Sign Language Resource

The holiday season is just around the corner and if you are like me, the thought of "who to get what" is on your mind.  A Signing Savvy membership is a unique, thoughtful, and valuable gift to offer to your friends, family, or colleagues.

In the last few years, we have received numerous requests for the ability to purchase Signing Savvy Gift Memberships.  Well, now you can!

How does it work?

When you purchase a gift membership, you will receive an Activation Code (and activation instructions) that you can email or print to include in a card or wrap up as part of a gift. The receiver of the gift will be able to use the Activation Code to gain full access to all of the Signing Savvy features. The gift membership will begin once the gift receiver activates it.

The gift that gives back.

Similar to our recommendation program, as an added bonus for purchasing the gift and giving it to someone else, you will receive time toward a full membership in return! How does it work?

If you already have a full membership, the time will be added on to your membership. If you don't yet have a full membership, you will once you purchase the gift. The more gifts you give, the more you receive.

^*** NOTE: You do not receive the bonus days if you gift the membership to yourself.

Get your shopping done early!

Purchase a Signing Savvy Gift Membership today and give the gift of signing.

About a year and a half ago, I came across a young man having problems in one of my schools.  He was about five years old and like any other five year old boy, he was a bit stubborn.  But, unfortunately, he was also known to be a bit of a “flight risk” from the classroom.  We will call him Alex.

Alex isn’t deaf.  I don’t even think he is hard of hearing.  Alex is a very bright young man….a bright young man with Downs Syndrome.  Because of the Down’s, Alex has a lot of trouble with his expressive communication skills.  He can hear everything anyone is saying to him, and he really enjoys interacting with others he comes across.  He is a very affectionate boy.  But up until a year and a half ago, Alex had no real way to communicate back to others what he wanted to say. He made noises here and there but other than gestures, his full thoughts were not being conveyed well and his frustration with communication was evident.

Thankfully Alex’s teacher had previously worked as a speech therapist in a Deaf and Hard of Hearing classroom and she suggested Alex be placed in a DH/H classroom setting where he would be submersed in sign language and he would have continual access to those who used it. Alex picked up on the concept of signing almost immediately.  His signs, much like baby signs are often approximations of the true ASL sign, but they are definitely understandable.  His command of language shows remarkable purpose and thought.

Today it is AMAZING to see Alex sign with his teachers, interpreters and his peers.  He has a schedule and knows exactly how to use it and the purpose behind it, even making suggestions of ways to add to his schedule so that it is more complex and inclusive to his needs.  He is reading everyday words that are a part of his schedule.  His mother and the staff that work with him are so happy with Alex’s progress.  “He has become a MUCH happier boy now that he can effectively communicate his wants and needs.”  Adds one member of his educational team.  His mother’s comment, “Our home life is night and day different and the frustrations, although still there at times, are so much less than what they were before Alex had a voice through sign language.” This comment brought a tear to my eye and a lump in my throat.

These are the people we created Signing Savvy for, the people who need a voice and those who work with them. We know there are others out there like Alex who may not be Deaf or Hard of Hearing but are still walking the earth “without a voice”.  If you know anyone who fits into this category, please don’t hesitate to suggest the introduction of sign language to them.  You may dramatically change their life forever!

Alex’s face is distinctly different than your typical Deaf or Hard of Hearing child, yet one thing is very much the same…..the smile when he is communicating.

We are offering a special promotion this week on Signing Savvy Membership. Very rarely are there promotions on Signing Savvy Membership, so don't miss this opportunity if you have been considering purchasing membership or if your membership is up for renewal soon.

To use the promotion, go to the membership page and purchase a 12-month or 3-year membership and enter the promo code below when you get to the payment page.

Promo Code: FRIDAY1YEARBONUS

• Purchase a 12-month membership and recieve 2-months of membership for free.
  A 12-month (1 year) membership costs $49.95, but with this promotion you receive 14-months of membership, which averages out to a cost of only $3.57 per month.
• Terms: Promo code expires Friday, November 23, 2012 at 11:59 PM. Only valid with the purchase of a 12-month individual membership. One time payment for purchase required.

Promo Code: FRIDAY3YEARBONUS

• Purchase a 3-year membership and recieve 6-months of membership for free.
  A 3-year membership costs $99.95, but with this promotion you receive 42-months of membership, which averages out to a cost of only $2.38 per month.
• Terms: Promo code expires Friday, November 23, 2012 at 11:59 PM. Only valid with the purchase of a 3-year individual membership.

If you already have an account, make sure you login prior to purchasing membership.

Membership Explained

Signing Savvy membership provides unrestricted, full access to all Signing Savvy features. There are many benefits to full membership, including unlimited searching, larger videos, the ability to create wordlists, use flashcards and quizzing, ability to print signs, ability to build phrases, and access to use our mobile app. Learn about all of the features.

There are several things that are free to use on Signing Savvy. As a visitor (not logged in, free account), you can browse all of the signs by letter.  As a Registered Guest (logged in, free account), you get 5 daily searches, plus you can see sign descriptions and example sentences.  We offer these free features because we want everyone to have access to learn sign language.  However, in addition to giving you full access to all features, purchasing a Signing Savvy membership helps to support us and our continued growth so we can keep adding more sign videos, content, and features to the site.  With the support of our members, we aim for Signing Savvy to be the best sign language learning resource.

Seeing that we are in midst of the election season, I thought it would only be fitting to share a non-partisan sign language story that should give you a good chuckle as you enter your local voting precinct.

This story relates directly to how signs can have very similar hand shapes and very similar movements BUT can have very different meanings just because of a few subtle changes!  For example, see the similarity between the signs for vote and fart.

This experience happened to me in my first year of teaching in the public school system in rural Michigan.  It was Election Day, and like many public buildings, the school was being used as a voting precinct.  Because of this, the cafeteria was set up with tables and voting booths and the children had to eat their lunches in the classrooms.  I knew by the tilting of their little heads and the look of wonder in their eyes when I explained to my two young kindergarten students, that they clearly had no clue what I was explaining to them about voting and elections, and why they weren’t eating their lunch in the normal location.

I decided that after lunch, on our way down to their mainstream classroom, I would take advantage of this teachable moment and show them the cafeteria all set up and the people in the booths voting.

As I opened the door to the cafeteria (filled with many elderly folks both working the election and voting themselves) and did some explaining, I thought I saw the light come on in one of my student’s eyes; at which time she said (with very clear speech and sign), “So all these old people are here farting!” Thankfully half the people in the room were hard of hearing themselves and didn’t hear my student’s perception of what was happening in the room! I laughed so hard I cried! To this day whenever I walk into the voting booth I think about that former student and her confusion of the two signs and their very different meanings!  (I also wonder just how many people do walk in the voting booths, close the curtains and fart…sorry…I just do!)

I thought it might be interesting for the Signing Savvy community to hear a little bit about the people who work in communication fields with deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing individuals.

It's easy to misunderstand the difference (or to even know there is a difference!) between a translator, interpreter, and intervener. However, they are different professions with varying expertise. The type of person you would work with would depend on the situation and needs of the individual, such as the level of hearing loss and if there are other communication needs to consider.

Translators

A Translator converts written materials from one language to another. It is a term that people often use interchangeably with "Interpreter." However, an Interpreter and a Translator are actually considered different professions.¹ Translators work with written language and convert written materials from one language to another, while Interpreters work with spoken and sign language.

In the case of sign language, a translator would be someone (or a computer program) that translates written or typed English to Sign Language. Nearly all translation is done on a computer and requires knowledge of both Sign Language and English.

Interpreters

An Interpreter converts information from one spoken language into another— or, in the case of sign language interpreters, between spoken language and sign language. They help people who are deaf or hard of hearing and people who can hear communicate with each other.¹

An Interpreter’s primary job is to act as a conduit through which communication is carried out. Although often much of their job is to listen to spoken language and turn it into signs in the air in order to communicate, they also will watch sign language and turn it into an English sentence in a spoken form.

Sign language interpreters must be fluent in English and in American Sign Language (ASL). Some interpreters specialize in oral interpretation (mouthing speech silently to aid in lip reading), cued speech (hand shapes placed near the mouth to aid in lip reading), and signing exact English.¹

Interveners

An Intervener helps individuals that are deafblind communicate with others. Deafblind (yes, all one word) have both hearing and vision loss and, therefore, require different help with communication than someone with only hearing loss.

This is a job classification that is relatively new to many parts of the United States and still is a bit confusing for many people. The Intervener role, although newer to the U.S., has been around in Canada for many years. Interveners are typically a one-to-one service provider, while Interpreters often interpret one-to-one or in group settings in the front of a room.

Interveners MAY use tactile signing (making hand signs into the individual's hand) to interpret.  They may also sometimes use Braille (written language used by blind and visually impaired), however, not always. In contrast, Interpreters usually would NOT be using, or be expected to know, tactile signing or Braille to communicate with deaf or hard of hearing individuals.