Many Uses of Sign Language.

If you have family and/or friends who are deaf, American Sign Language (ASL) or the sign language common to your country or region is probably an important part of being able to communicate easily and effectively. There are many additional uses of ASL that most people have not considered. ASL is increasingly considered to be more effective than speech as a means of communications for numerous venues and situations. There are many professional and personal applications for ASL being discovered every day. Below is a list of sign language uses compiled by the Silent Communications Resource Group.

Nature Walks. Youre taking a hike with some friends and want to converse without startling the wildlife, or you want to visit while bird watching. Loud Venue. Youre at a location such as a bar, construction site, or rock concert where there is too much background noise to have a normal conversation with the people you are with. Using ASL, you can easily converse even from a distance regardless of how much background noise there is. You can even put in earplugs to protect your hearing and still communicate just fine.

Eating. Its inevitable. Youve just taken a huge bite of food and someone asks you a question. It seems like an eternity while you finish chewing and then answer their question. At that point, their mouth is full of food and now you must wait for them to chew before they can reply. With ASL, two people can easily communicate while eating or drinking.

Injury Recovery or After Surgery. Certain surgical procedures (such as oral surgery) impede a persons ability to talk during recovery. With ASL, people can communicate without trying to talk. Listening to Headphones. You are listening to music or speech with headphones and would like to have a conversation with someone at the same time. With ASL this is possible. Motorcycle Helmets. You and your friend are each wearing a motorcycle helmet. Speaking and hearing are impaired. With ASL, communications are possible. Auto Travel. You are with friends driving in separate cars. You need to communicate between vehicles. It is cold or raining outside, so you dont want to roll down the windows, and even if you could roll down the windows, their car is behind you so you couldnt talk anyway. With ASL, you can communicate between two vehicles at a distance.

Interjection. You need to make a brief point to someone engaged in a conversation, but youre not able to get a word in edgewise without being rude. With ASL, you can make a direct comment to someone and not interrupt the flow of the conversation.

Event Stage Crew. Teams of people who work in music, theater, or similar settings benefit from being able to communicate over distances without yelling. Music Industry. For people who play live music on a regular basis, ASL is is an imperative skill if they want to keep their hearing. It is especially important for people who play loud amplified music or loud instruments. With ASL, it is possible to wear ear plugs and communicate.

Service Industry. You are catering a very formal party and need to communicate with various staff people at the event. You could yell at people from across the room, but this would disturb the mood. With ASL, you can quietly and effectively communicate with anyone in sight.

Theatre. Imagine the benefit of being able to communicate with a co-working in theatre by making a few gestures. Or, as a director, being able to communicate without interrupting the flow. With ASL, this is possible.

At The Movies. It always happens. Youre at the movies and want to talk with the person you came with. However, getting into a conversation would be rude and a distraction to those around you. Using ASL, you can communicate without disturbing others.

Stadium Event. Youre at a public event such as a football or baseball game. Your friends are seated several rows away. With ASL you dont need to shout to communicate. Extended Distance Communications. Youve setup camp on the far side of a lake or mountain and need to communicate with friends or family on the other side. With binoculars you can see each other clearly. At the top of the hour, you plan to communicate with ASL using binoculars.

Classroom. There are various applications for ASL in the classroom. Imagine a setting where students in a classroom are seated in study groups or teams all watching a movie or presentation and need to discuss what is being presented. If they all talk, nobody will be able to hear what is being presented. This is an ideal situation for ASL communications.

On the Job. Youre working in customer service and want to communicate with a customer who is deaf. You could write notes to each other, however, ASL is a faster, easier, and more direct way to communicate.

Private Conversation. You are at a restaurant sitting in a private booth. Youd like to have a private conversation with the person across from you. With ASL, your conversations cant be overheard and are only intelligible by those who know ASL and are in the line-of-sight.

Video Production. You are working on a video project with several people at a large event. With ASL you can communicate silently from behind the camera with other people and not create background conversation noises that would interfere with the video recording. You can even communicate across a crowded and noisy room without shouting.

Radio Station. You are in a radio station sound room with several people participating in a live talk show. With ASL you can communicate with people during a live recording without talking and interrupting the show.

Recording Studio. Youre in a recording studio. On the other side of the sound proof glass is the recording booth with the sound engineer. With ASL, you can easily communicate back and forth through the glass even while recording.

Music Concert or Theatre Event. Youre need to communicate from the stage back to the person in the sound booth for the purpose of making slight adjustments to sound levels during a live event. With ASL this is possible.

Military Operations. You are on a special ops assignment and need to maintain complete silence (including radio silence). With ASL you can communicate clearly with other members of your team. Using binoculars, you can communicate over longer distances easily.

Sports. Youre coaching a sports team. You need to communicate something to the players on the field. With ASL you can communicate clearly and even include encoded messages for special plays. Business Meeting. You are in the middle of a business meeting and need to communicate with a colleague who is sitting across the table or across the room. With ASL you can communicate without disrupting the meeting or interrupting the person speaking.

Group Collaborative Work. How often have you been in a meeting where someone said, Quiet down! One person at a time! Voice communications can be confusing if too many people are talking at one time. With ASL there is no limit to the number of people who can communicate simultaneously. Just as fiber optic cable provides greater bandwidth in data communications, ASL uses light rather than sound resulting in greater bandwidth and efficiency. For this reason, group collaborative work is much more effective among people who are using ASL rather than voice communications.

Under Water. You are scuba diving with a friend. With ASL you can communicate under water. Library Visitor. You are in a very quiet library and need to visit with a colleague about a project. With ASL you can communicate clearly and collaborate on a project without disturbing others in the room. You can even communicate from across the room without making a noise.

Library Employee. Throughout the day it is necessary to communicate with co-workers at the library. With ASL, you can communicate easily, even across the room, without disturbing patrons. Hospital Visitor. Youre visiting someone in the hospital. The person has just fallen asleep. With ASL you can visit with others in the room without disturbing anyone. Hospital Employee. Throughout the day it is necessary to communicate with co-workers at the hospital. With ASL, you can communicate easily, even across the room, without disturbing patrons. This is especially important at night when wanting to visit while walking down the hall.

Shared Hotel Room. Three people are sharing a hotel room. One person who is a light sleeper has just fallen asleep. With ASL you can visit with the other person youre sharing the room with and not wakeup the light sleeper.

After reading the above list you are probably wondering how it is even possible to communicate effectively using speech at all! You can understand why many people believe that sign languages are the future of personal and professional communications. Culturally, many people are accustom to using speech to communicate, yet it is very ineffective and limiting in numerous situations. While ASL was at

one time assumed to be an inferior or limited language used by people in the deaf community, it is now realized that ASL is more advanced in many ways and has many benefits over spoken communications. Pleaselet us know if you can think of more examples for using ASL. It was once assumed that sign language was use exclusively by people within the deaf community. However, sign language is quickly being adopted by hearing people as a preferred method of communications. Many business professionals consider ASL as an essential skill for effective communications. The Arizona Languages Articulation Task Force has established a Statement of Expected Learning Outcomes for American Sign Language for their state with the expectation that students will be able to Maintain a conversation on immediate needs . . . (and) Demonstrate comprehension of main ideas of lengthier discourse, including details on increasingly complex content areas and unanticipated topics. *source] (By Gregory Paul Johnsons, 14 March 2009)

The Advantages Of Sign Language Sign language is not just a random collection of gestures... it is a full-blown language in its own right, complete with its own grammatical rules. Each country or region has its own sign language, as different from each other as English is from Spanish. Each version of sign language is somewhat linked to the spoken language in its region. For example, American sign language does share similarities with English, even though it is its own language. Sign language is not based on sentences like English, but on phrases and ideas. When translating sign language into English, for example, some words will have a direct translation. Others find no adequate translation for the true meaning, just like translating Japanese to English, or English to Arabic. The written history of sign language begins in France in the 18th century. Charles-Michel de l'Epee founded the first ever public school for deaf children. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet founded the first American school for the deaf in 1817, and his son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, founded the first and only liberal arts college in the world for the deaf in 1857. In 1864, its name became Gallaudet University, and it remains the only such school of higher learning in the world today. In any sign language, the words are made in gestures and expression, rather than sounds and letters. Expressions are just as important as the gestures. They build upon the meaning of the gestures to convey more information than the gestures could alone. In some ways, sign language is better than the spoken word... communication can occur in areas where speaking is not appropriate (in places of worship or while hunting), not allowed (in recording studios or other places where speaking is disruptive) or physically impossible (underwater, or in places that are too loud to hear speech). The advantages of knowing sign language in addition to a spoken language are many. Communication becomes possible on many levels with the deaf community, with other people either hearing or not in any of the above situations, as well as many more. Being able to serve the deaf community may also increase your business. Approximately 22 out of every 1000 persons is deaf or hearing impaired. You may even meet a new best friend that you never would have tried to communicate with before you learned sign language. Teaching your baby sign language can decrease frustration for both you and your baby, and increase parent-child bonding. The possibilities are endless when you increase your means of communication. (Marie Wilson, January 03, 2008) Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/909232

What can parents do when they are not sure whether to use only the oral method or only sign language with their deaf child? They can use total communication and get the benefits of both. What is Total Communication? Total communication is using any means of communication -- sign language, voice, fingerspelling, lipreading, amplification, writing, gesture, visual imagery (pictures). The sign language used in total communication is more closely related to English. The philosophy of total communication is that the method should be fitted to the child, instead of the other way around. Another commonly used term for total communication is simultaneous communication, known as sim-com. Total communication acknowledges that the means of communication may need to be adjusted based on the situation. Sometimes signing is the right method to use; other times, it may be speech. In other situations, writing may be the best method to use. Although some schools/programs for the deaf use ASL and English, the majority of educational programs for the deaf use total communication. (The program my own children attended uses total communication.) The idea is that using total communication will create the "least restrictive" learning environment for the deaf child, who is free to develop communication preferences (although the child will be encouraged to use both speech and sign language). Advantages of Total Communication Some parents and educators favor total communication as a catch-all that ensures that a deaf child has access to some means of communication (speaking as needed, or signing as needed). For example, a deaf child who cannot communicate well orally gets the additional support of sign language, and vice versa. Using total communication can also reduce the pressure on parents to choose one method over another. A study compared 147 children in either oral and total communication programs who used cochlear implants. The study compared the children's expressive and receptive language, spoken or signed. The results demonstrated that the children improved no matter what program they were in -- oral or total communication. The results also showed that the total communication students performed better on some measures. Both the oral and total communication students were able to understand when they were spoken to. However, in those children that received their cochlear implants before they were five years old, the total communication students could understand better when spoken to than the oral communication students. In addition, the total communication students had better scores on expressive language when they were implanted earlier. (By Jamie Berke, May 17, 2011)

Articles with Author's name and date published : 1. http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/the-benefits-of-american-sign-language.htm (By Dale Gross. November 29, 2010) 2. http://www.deaf-culture-online.com/sign-language-for-children.html (By Christine Jones, PCD (DONA). April 2006) 3. http://drdeborahserani.blogspot.com/2006/08/sign-language-benefits.html (By Dr. Deb. Friday, August 04, 2006) 4. http://www.resourcesforlife.com/docs/item1560 (By Gregory Paul Johnsons, 14 March 2009) 5. http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Advantages-Of-Sign-Language&id=909232 (Marie Wilson, January 03, 2008) 6. http://deafness.about.com/cs/communication/a/totalcomm.htm (By Jamie Berke, May 17, 2011) p/s: I found these articles has a good review about the sign language. Unfortunately, it doesn't give any details about the author and date published. So, it may be a good guide for your work: 1. http://www.behavior-consultant.com/asl-pecs.htm 2. http://www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect/guide/communication/Pages/Communicating.aspx

Thesis : 1. http://www.bcs.rochester.edu/people/newport/pdf/MITECS_Newport-Supalla.pdf 2. http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/hk/cs789/projects/mohitpre.pdf/ 3. http://www.stfm.org/fmhub/fm2002/may02/cwsp2.pdf