Our second student blog is by Jake Virgili,
First year Speech and Language Therapy Student at the University of Manchester
Over the course of three weeks, as part of the Speaking Out Being Heard project, we paid three visits to Pathways to Opportunities, a day centre in Chadderton for adults with learning disabilities. We ran sessions where we taught both the adults and staff Signalong signs spanning various topics. The structure of each day was that we would run two sessions, with half of those present attending the first and the other half attending the second. Sessions began with a song which was then followed by an activity centreed around participants picking from a selection of items. For the remainder of sessions participants would be in two groups, which additional activities were done in. During sessions there were also opportunities for the adults to engage with objects on a sensory level, such as smelling toothpaste or feeling the material that an item of clothing is made of.
On the first day, the sessions began with us singing a version of the can-can song with fantastical lyrics about a dancing cat, dog and fish. Everyone was invited to sing along and sign. Next, we passed a laundry basket around and each person picked an item of clothing from the basket that everyone would then learn the sign for and which would then be hung on a washing line. The activity a fellow student and I ran once participants had split into two groups was a bowling game which involved participants taking it in turns to knock down pins that had symbols for food on them. For each pin that was knocked down we would all perform the sign that corresponded to the symbol on it. Between sessions, a fellow student and I played a game of dominoes with some of the adults. The dominoes had food symbols on them instead of numbers and whenever someone matched two symbols, we would all perform the sign for whatever it was that the symbol represented.
For the second day we began sessions with the same song as we had the week before and then did an activity which involved passing a shopping basket containing replica fruits and vegetables around. Each person got to pick one and everybody would learn the sign for the food that had been picked as the replica was matched to a picture of itself. The activity a fellow student and I ran once participants were in two groups was very similar to this one, but instead of food it was personal care items that people got to pick from and learn the signs for. Once again, a fellow student and I played a game of dominoes with some of the adults in the time between the two sessions of the day. The rules of the game were the same as the previous time but the dominoes had personal care symbols and body parts symbols on them and so the individuals playing with us learnt some new signs.
The sessions on our final day began with everyone singing and signing a version of 'If You’re Happy and You Know It' that covered multiple feelings and emotions. After this was an activity in which a tub filled with Christmas symbols was passed around, with participants picking a symbol that they could stick onto a felt Christmas tree and which everyone would learn the sign for. On that day, the activity that a fellow student and I ran once the participants had split into two groups was bingo. It worked like typical bingo does but instead of calling out numbers we performed signs and participants would mark their card if it had a symbol for what we had signed.
Consultation with support staff
When asked what they thought of activities we had run with them, the adults responded positively, with many saying that the activities had been good. Before our time at Pathways to Opportunities came to an end, I collected feedback on our sessions from the staff via a questionnaire featuring open-ended questions. The staff identified the benefits of our sessions to be that:
· They will lead to improvements in communication between the adults and staff as well as between the adults
themselves.
· They thought that the signs we had taught them would particularly be of use for greetings, shopping, cooking time,
mealtimes and checking up on how the adults are feeling.
I know from speaking to one member of staff that there was one adult who already knew a fair amount of Signalong signs but would not really use them whilst at the day centre. Had they used them prior to our sessions taking place, it would not have been of much help as staff would not have been able to recognise the signs. Now that staff do recognise a number of signs, this individual would be able to use them with staff successfully. Staff unanimously agreed that they would want more sessions like the ones we ran to take place at the day centre and two members of staff made the suggestion that the sessions occur twice a week.
Staff clearly see the positive impact that these sessions can have and are extremely keen to have more be held at the day centre. Both adults and staff seemed to be highly engaged when taking part in the activities and would gain a lot from continuing to participate in activities which teach new signs or test their knowledge of signs. These sessions could be the first of many at this day centre and it is my hope that they do end up being the start of what would be a highly beneficial initiative at Pathways to Opportunities. The Speaking Out Being Heard Project was funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.
As part of the Total Communication project, ‘Speaking Out Being Heard’, we spent three weekly sessions at Newbridge SEN school in a year 7 class, to use our signalong resources and observe their baseline signalong skills to become
co-trainers and communication advocates for others.
Communication advocates aim to ensure that people can communicate effectively, by providing support for different communication strategies like signalong, and make sure that these individuals have the opportunity to be heard and be included in meaningful conversations regarding their wants and needs. Throughout these sessions, the students were highly engaged and showed great enthusiasm in signing and wanted to continue learning.
‘Speaking Out Being Heard’ is a project funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, and with this we were able to run three sessions at Newbridge with the focus on observing their baseline signing skills and introducing core vocabulary so that they can become co-trainers and communication advocates for their peers. Our aims were to demonstrate the key signs for the topics food, Christmas, feelings, and personal care and body parts.
To find out which words would be most useful and impactful for these students, we collaborated with their class teacher, Samantha Coleman-Cellis, who gave us insight into the words that would be most important for these children.
The Total Communication team had also taken feedback from parents at previous training sessions. Being able to demonstrate the signs for these key words is essential in helping the individuals to express their needs and develop positive relationships through social interaction, while also making sure that they can support their peers to be independent and empowered to speak up.
During the first session, our main goal was to get to know the children so that we could build a good rapport with them and gain an understanding into their lives and what they understand about signing, if anything. After spending this time with the students, it became clear that they all appeared to have some understanding into the importance of signing to support individuals to communicate effectively. All the students also seemed interested and motivated in learning signing and were keen to learn more. Then, during the other two sessions, we each focused on trialling the signalong resources we created, thanks to Total Communication Services CIC (TCS) and the National Lottery Community Fund, such as memory pairs for feelings, a board game for Christmas, dominoes for food, and a memory “I went to the shops” game for personal care and body parts. These topics were chosen by TCS to ensure the children can help others to express their emotions, wants, and experiences, while also understanding themselves and their bodies. This is an important aspect for both safeguarding and empowerment, which the signalong sessions will continue to support. With this in mind, we made sure that our resources were both educational and enjoyable to each student so that they were motivated to actively engage and retain the knowledge.
In the final session, we observed and recorded their baseline signalong skills to support the teacher in developing her pupils’ skills to become communication advocates. During this, we would demonstrate the signs and then see if they were able to recall the signs and could use the correct handshapes, direction, placement, movement, and orientation. It is important that we focused on these aspects to ensure that there are no miscommunications and so that they can then
co-train their peers effectively. From observing the students, we were able to notice their enthusiasm for the signalong sessions and the ability to learn signing, which reflected in their performance and the fact that they stated they really enjoyed the experience with the Total Communication Services team and the project.
Overall, Samantha, the teacher felt that the sessions and films we produced, “will enable the student to practice signs, build confidence with signing in front of and with new people, build on their self-esteem and enable them to practice the games which could be used in the signalong training sessions”. From this, we can understand that our resources will be helpful in the co-training and helping the students to support their peers, leading to “benefits of a total communication environment”. In the future, we think it would positively impact the individuals at the school and potentially other children, with the help of additional funding, to create an inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity to ‘Speak Out Being Heard’.
Example of some of the resources Emily developed:
Memory Pairs
Rules:
This game can be played in small groups.
Setup:
Shuffle the cards and place them face down.
Gameplay:
1. First player turns over one card, does the sign for that card (e.g. happy) then turns over a second card to see if they
are the same or different.
2. If the cards match, do the sign for “same”, if the cards do not match, do the sign for “different”.
3. If they are the same, the player keeps the pair and gets to have another turn, using the sign for “again”.
4. If the cards are different, the player turns the cards back over and the next player starts their turn.
5. The players continue taking turns and practicing the signs until all pairs are matched.
At the end, the player with the most pairs wins the game.
Symbols from https://boardmakeronline.com/ [boardmakeronline.com]
Boardmaker and PCS symbols supplied by: Tobii Dynavox Ltd. Sheffield Science Parks, Cooper Building. Arundel Street, Sheffield, S1 2NS Email: sales.uk@tobiidynavox.com
Tel: +44 (0)114 4810011 [boardmakeronline.com].
The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2018 by Tobii Dynavox. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission. Boardmaker® is a trademark of Tobii Dynavox. www.boardmakeronline.com [boardmakeronline.com]
The Speaking Out Being Heard project has been supported by the National Lottery Community Fund. We have a number of activities which we have been delivering over the last 12 months. The project then developed and with the help of 4 Speech & Language Therapy students from the University of Manchester we were able to extend the scope. The students were on placement from mid-November to mid-December.
We:
· Provided training and supported staff from Pathways to Opportunities to implement Signalong in their day centre via
6 Signalong group sessions.
· Developed resources for families and staff to use with Pathways and New Bridge School
· Worked with the young people and teachers at New Bridge to develop resources
· Made 4 short films with the help of DISC college in Manchester
· Consulted self-advocates about their views on the next steps for our project
The students began their placement with a Signalong workshop delivered by Alison and Helen. They were lucky enough to be given access to the Signalong library by Signalong for the duration of the project. One of their first tasks was to look at feedback from the participants and produce a summary from the workshop.
Alison Matthews
S<
Director TCS
