The goal of the Story is to prepare for a trip by describing the routine that our character experiences.   We left our character nameless so that you can choose your own.  The Character is based on one of the lovely signing puppets that we sell in our shop.

Along with the illustrated story we have attached a set of 30 Symbol Cards. We have tried to list the cards in sequence however we are aware that everyone is very different with individual needs.  You can use the book on screen or print it out for your own pecs book.

This book will also by available on the Apple App Store – card section of the application has been specifically designed for little fingers and people with low fine motor skills.

We welcome your feedback and will add to the list of sequence cards on request.

Click Here to download free of charge.

A Trip to McDonalds Kindle ebook

* Copyright Transcendence Tool Limited.  For personal use only, not available for resale or publication.

Our Symbols are kindly licensed by:
The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2011 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.Used with permission.
Boardmaker® is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC.
In addition, please include the following company information in the resource section of your documentation:
DynaVox Mayer-Johnson
2100 Wharton Street
Suite 400
Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Phone: 1 (800) 588-4548
Fax: 1 (866) 585-6260

Email: mayer-johnson.usa@dynavoxtech.com
  Web site: http://www.mayer-johnson.com

Separate pages have written descriptions of each sign – click on the sign to link to the description and then back again.

After purchase you will receive an email with a weblink to download your ebook 2.4MB pdf.
This will be available for a 24 hour period after purchase for you to download and save to your computer.

£1.99 inc VAT

PLEASE NOTE THAT eBOOKS ARE NOT PHYSICAL BOOKS, BUT ELECTRONIC FORMATS (PDFS) THAT CAN BE DOWNLOADED TO VIEW ON SCREEN OR TO PRINT.

Opens in FULL SCREEN mode with transitional openings to each page to add to visual impact. Ideal for use on SCREEN and WHITEBOARD – or PRINT the A4 pages of rhyme, NUMBERS chart, FLASHCARDS of keyword signs including the animals with pictures and QUIZ, plus dictionary section to describe movements.

Fully INTERACTIVE – click on the signs to move between the sections and back again.

£4.99 inc VAT

PLEASE NOTE THAT eBOOKS ARE NOT PHYSICAL BOOKS, BUT ELECTRONIC FORMATS (PDFS) THAT CAN BE DOWNLOADED TO VIEW ON SCREEN OR TO PRINT.

Click on the letter, the picture or the sign to go to the picture charts – click on the word eg ‘apple’ to go to the description of the sign’s movement and back again.
A great activity for individual or small group work on a whiteboard – USE ON SCREEN or PRINT AS A BOOK or wall-frieze.

After purchase you will receive an email with a weblink to download your ebook pdf.
This will be available for a 24 hour period after purchase for you to download and save to your computer.

£4.99 inc VAT

PLEASE NOTE THAT eBOOKS ARE NOT PHYSICAL BOOKS, BUT ELECTRONIC FORMATS (PDFS) THAT CAN BE DOWNLOADED TO VIEW ON SCREEN OR TO PRINT.

A colourful and interactive ebook of this popular little numbers rhyme with small quiz.
Separate pages have descriptions of all the signs contained (1.4MB – 29 pages).

Opens in FULL SCREEN mode with transitional page openings for visual impact.

Ideal for home or school on WHITEBOARD – or to PRINT.
After purchase you will receive an email with a weblink to download your ebook pdf.

£3.99 inc VAT

PLEASE NOTE THAT eBOOKS ARE NOT PHYSICAL BOOKS, BUT ELECTRONIC FORMATS (PDFS) THAT CAN BE DOWNLOADED TO VIEW ON SCREEN OR TO PRINT.

BSL Car Game

BSL-early-years-verbs

BSL for Science

BSL Heads & Shoulders

bsl incy wincy download

bsl taking turns download

BSL food drink demo

BSL Baby Signing

BSL Snow Man to Make

BSL Little Duck

BSL Colours and nouns

BSL Merry Christmas

BSL Halloween Signs

BSL Colour Signs

5 Little Monkeys Demo eBook

BSL Numbers

BSL Sign and Spell Demo

BSL Play School Signs

BSL Weather Pack

BSL Winter Weather Crossword

Article Source: International Adoption Articles Directory

When using Living Puppets it can be great to use a few of the same characters again and again, giving them names. The children will look forward to a visit from their Living Puppet friends.

To create a Living Puppet story, use a real-life problem from your child care, home or school situation. For instance, if yesterday Anna and Mary had a dispute over an educational toy, use the Living Puppets to act it out. Bring over the educational toy and act out the problem. Two Living Puppets can pull on the toy: One says, “I want it!” and the other one says, “No, I want it!” Say to the children, “They have a problem. What can they do?”

Anna and Mary may share their idea or a story about what happened to them. Other children might have ideas. This is a great time for the children to learn from each other. If you think Anna and Mary came up with a particularly good solution, you can share it, using the Living Puppets. Or get the children to choose a solution they talked about, then act it out with the Living Puppets, complete with a happy ending. This will help the children feel a sense of completion with your puppet play.

Living Puppet play is just another way to talk about problems with friends so that the children can learn from each other and find new ways to solve these problems. Using Living Puppets is a powerful way for children to explore conflict resolution. The children gain needed social skills that will help them get along with others throughout their lives.

Who can benefit?   In addition to the clear needs of children who are deaf or partially hearing, sign language is also believed to help children and adults such as

• pre-verbal hearing infants
• those with autism
• with Down Syndrome
• with dyslexia
• with learning disability
• with additional speech and language difficulties
• children with English as a second language
• children with other home languages

Anyone who has used simple signs with songs and nursery rhymes will appreciate that the kinaesthetic and kenetic elements involved in the movements, coupled with the visual nature of the signs, can enhance the enjoyment, aid memory and stimulate channels of communication that spoken language alone does not fulfill.   Signing can help children to take pleasure in and to internalise language.

More importantly, children do seem to love it and benefit not only their own development in terms of language and communication skills directly, but also in learning to appreciate and accommodate the communication needs of others, something that can be taken with them through life.   With whole group or class involvement, it’s a way of ensuring a rich and inclusive communication environment.

This is particularly helpful for children who may not easily access language in the way that many of us take for granted, i.e. through hearing or through the ability to process language in the ‘usual’ way.

Using the signs from British Sign Language (BSL) as used by the Deaf community in this country, not only lays language foundations that can be built on and developed in later years but also gives the advantage of learning the basics of a living community language.

There are a number of signing systems that also use BSL vocabulary, such as Makaton and Signalong and this has led to some confusion and misconceptions, causing people to believe that they are completely different systems.  Although both of these systems produce their own merchandise and publications including sign graphics and symbols to support learning, the actual signing element – the signs themselves, are BSL signs – they represent borrowings from BSL.  The main difference that is usually highlighted is that these systems use signs with speech and English word order whereas BSL has its own grammar and syntax that differs from English.

In reality most schools and families who use BSL, and certainly where it is used in the area of special needs, also use the sign vocabulary to support spoken language in just the same way.  This form of communication is also referred to as Sign Supported English (SSE) and is a commonly used contact language between the Deaf and hearing communities.  Many deaf children and adults will typically code-switch between BSL and varying degrees of English with speech/lip-pattern, depending on the situation that they are in and with whom they are communicating.

For generations until as recently as the 1980’s, sign language use was not permitted in deaf education in the erroneous belief that using signs would prevent speech development.  Deaf people themselves have always valued their language highly and sign language flourished ‘underground’ in spite of this, since it is quite simply essential to deaf children and adults.   BSL was in use by deaf children in schools despite the policies that sought to ban it based on beliefs that it would stop the development of spoken language – beliefs that have later proved unfounded.

From profoundly Deaf co-writer of Let’s Sign Early Years, Sandra Teasdale (translated from BSL)……..

       “…..BSL is my first language, even though my parents and family didn’t sign and I had very little access to it when I was small.  It is the language that feels natural and comfortable to me and the only way I can express myself properly.  Like my Deaf friends and colleagues, English is not easy for me.

……The important thing is that we all signed – and those who spoke still spoke – signing never stopped them.”

Fortunately attitudes and teaching methods have undergone great change in recent years.

There is now a healthy interest in and attitude to sign language use with resultant growth in materials and resources to support this.

More details and information can be found on www.DeafBooks.co.uk which profiles the full ‘LET’S SIGN Series of dictionaries, books, posters, flashcards, reward stickers, ebooks and free downloads.

Children soak up language like sponges and have innate ability for communication and language acquisition that can leave adults standing – so why not start now and add some signs to your everyday communications with young children?   It’s always going to be an extra string to their bow – and what’s more it is wonderful fun!

Cath Smith is the author and illustrator of a number of books for learners of BSL.    She has developed the LET’S SIGN Series of resources for Early Years to Adult learners.  She is a qualified British Sign Language Interpreter with many years experience in the Deaf community and also in deaf education and runs the BSL information and resources website http://www.deafsign.com and www.DeafBooks.co.uk

For more information or to discuss new materials contact: cath@deafsign.com

Tel: 01642 580505.

Stage 1:

Mum, Dad, Brother, Sister, Drink, Drink of Water, Biscuit, Dinner x2, Food, Toilet, Bed, Chair, Table, Washbasin, Bath, Shower, House, Home, Car, Bus, I, Me, You, Where, What, Here, There, To Sleep, To Drink, To Eat x2, To Look, To See, To Stand, To Get Up, To Sit, To Wash x2, To Bath, To Shower, To Go, To Come x2, To Give x2, More, Good x2, OK, Bad, Please, Thank You, Hello, Good Morning, Goodbye.

Stage 2:

Man, Lady, Boy, Girl, Baby, Bread, Butter, Egg, Chapatti, Dal, Rice, Yoghurt, Noodles, Milk, Tea, Coffee, Juice, Sugar, Cake, Jam, Ice Cream, Knife, To cut with Knife, Fork, Spoon, Plate, Cup, Door, Window x2, Fire, Radiator, TV, Lamp, Phone, To Phone, Dog, Cat, Bird, Tree, Flower, Book, Teddy, Doll, Bricks, Ball, And, Hot x2, Cold, Clean, Dirty.

Stage 3:

Chocolate, Crisps, Sweet, Cigarette, Banana, Orange, Apple, Fish, Rabbit, Chicken, Horse, Cow, Pig, Sheep, Butterfly, Boat, Train, Plane, Bike, To Have, To Run, To Walk, To Kick, To Dig, To Ride, To Ride a Horse ,To Ride a Bike, To Swim, To Jump, To Jump Off, To Jump On, To Jump Over, To Climb x2, To Fall Off, To Fall Over, To Smoke, Big, Small, Little, Up, Down, My, Your, Mine, Yours, Sorry, Now.

Stage 4:

Teacher, Boss, Friend, Children, Name, School, Work, Outside, Cupboard, Pen, Pencil, Paper, Scissors, Picture, Sand, Water, String, Paint, Key, Box x2, To Put, To Create, To Do, To Sew x2, To Cook x2, To Sing, To Play, To Know, To Think, To Work, To Read, To Write, To Draw, To Paint, To Colour, To Cut, To Teach, To Build x2, To Create, To Break, We x2, Us x2, They x2, Them x2, In x2, On, Under.

Stage 5:

Nurse, Doctor, Milkman, Milkwoman, Postman, Postwoman, Policeman, Policewoman, Police Officer, Firefighter, Ambulanceman, Ambulancewoman, Shop, Supermarket, Road, Garden, Blaze, Postbox, Money, Bag, Letter, Stamp, Time, Watch, To Carry, To Throw, To Catch, To Stop, To Help x2, To Like, To Want, To Love, To Quarrel, Quick, Fast, Slow, Happy, Sad, Difficult, Easy, Hard, Soft, Strong, Heavy, Clever, Angry, Frightened, To Be Patient, Trouble, Mistake, But.

Stage 6:

Country, Town, Sea, Cinema, Disco, Holiday, To Start, To End x2, To Bring, To Ask, To Talk, To Listen, To Hear, Can, To Forget, To Grow x2, Same, Different, New, Old, Beautiful, Smart, Nice, Kind, Our x2, Ours x2, Their x2, Theirs x2, Another, With, Who, Which, Colour, Black, Blue, Brown, Green, Orange, Red, White, Yellow.

Stage 7:

1-10, How, How Much, How Many, How Old, Many, A Lot, Some, Few, Time, Hour, Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday, Next Week, Last Week, Next Year, Last Year, Long Time Ago, Saturday, Sunday, Night, Day, When, Always, Again, Late, Early, Before, After, Wages, To Buy, To Save, Careful, Expensive, Sun, Rain, Wind, Snow, Stars, Moon, Sky, Snowman.

Stage 8:

To Choose, To Win, To Dance, To Find, To Understand, To Remember, Birthday, Party, Present, Balloon, Photo, Camera, Mirror, Radio, Newspaper, Video Camera, Video Tape, Video Recorder, Music, Stereo x2, Audio Tape, Cassette Player, CD, Computer, First, Last, Next, Over, Through, Near x2, Between, Lucky, Hungry, Thirsty, Worried, True, Why, Because.

Additional Words:

Deaf, Blind, Communication Problem, Medicine, Tablet, Injection, Operation, Sick, Ill, Pain, Dead x2, Hearing Aid x2, Glasses, Wheelchair, How are you, People, Airman, Airwoman, Soldier, Sailor, King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Farmer, Clothes, To Dress, To Undress, Hairbrush, To Brush Hair, Comb, To Comb, Shaver, To Shave, Toothbrush, To Brush Teeth, Soap, Towel, Bacon, Bagel, Beer, Burger, Canned Drink, Cereal, Cheese, Chicken, Chips, Curry, Fish, Fruit, Meat, Naan, Pasta, Pie, Pitta, Pizza, Potato, Salad, Sandwich, Sausages, Soup, Tomato, Vegetables, Wine, Al Salam Alicoom, Namaste, Shalom, Room, Bedroom, Bathroom, Dining Room, Lounge, Kitchen, A, The, This, That, You x4, Your x2, Yours x2, To Open x17, To Close x17.

Source: Wiki