Key signs to Auslan

Reflecting on my talk I did recently I keep coming back to the start of my journey.

key word signs and how I incorporated them into my home and George’s life. This video is really embarrassing for me, but I had a bank of about 10 signs and all from an app, it’s not Auslan and is without any help.

George was 6 months (28 July 2022).

I would try and find a few new signs each day and incorporate those into the home although it was just between George and I.

I was worried my family wouldn’t share my opinion on this. We were still deep in the AV and speech sessions where we had a lot of emotions, stress and push to focus on oral only.

i was worried about how we were going to raise George and if we were even equipped enough to do so.

These were the only time I ever felt inadequate to be his mother. Thinking about this makes me still cry. Each time I proof this paragraph and I have to stop to wipe my tears.

The words we heard and pressure we felt truly tainted the first 12 months with George but it's part of the journey.

Georges first sign was at 8 months from my understanding this aligns with a lot of children to deaf parents. Wow.

I recorded everything as I wanted to see progress and have a form of evidence to back my decisions. This is Georges true first sign.

By 11 months George had 6 signs.

18 months and he has over 100 signs and starting to develop 3 sign sentences.

Using 2 signs often and starting to develop hand shapes. George will ask a question with Auslan and roll play in Auslan, he knows how to gain attention correctly and he knows how to follow complex instructions. George has also started using mime, gesture and possibly depicting signs. I can’t speak on that too much as I don’t always know what category it comes under.

The example I have is he came up to me and did a winding movement on his finger, (sign same as strawberry although on his pointer) and asked where it was. I immediately knew what he wanted even though I had never done this to him before. It’s an eyeball that you wind up and it does little Hops along the floor. Gesture, mime, DS I’m not sure but he got his message across beautifully and clearly. 17 month.

When I don’t have the sign or language in Auslan I will mine and gesture what I want, and he understands. Maybe he guesses I’m not sure.

My first example there’s no video for but I was tired and, on the lounge, while my husband was looking after George and George came up to me.

In English I asked George to get me the blanket (of course he didn’t respond at all), I didn't know the sign for this, and finger spelt it although George wouldn’t have known that either at 16 months.

I gave him a sentence of facial expressions, gesture, mime and sign that looked like this…

I signed that I was cold.

Face expression showed I wanted to fix my problem and wasn’t feeling comfortable.

And I mimed pulling a blanket up and snuggling into it.

With a content and happy facial expression and then signed “red” finger spelled “blanket”

He grabbed the red blanket and gave to me. It was on the other end of the lounge. My lounge is modular.

Amazing.

Voice was off for all of this as it’s becoming hard to do both at the same time especially when it’s not just hand signs I’m using.

Which I think would have been acceptable Auslan although I’m unsure as of course I’m still learning but I was able to give George an instruction and reason as to why I wanted him to do and what I wanted. No voices and he understood enough to complete the request.

I think a big misconception is that Auslan is just hand shapes/signs and movement of the hands but my gosh how wrong that is. I would call Auslan a complex and full language.

Anyone who has learnt a second language as an adult knows how difficult it is.

I still call myself a beginner although I feel I’m pass that now maybe competent, I’m not sure.

Miles from proficient but not a beginner although I will still vocalize beginner if it comes up.

I understand so much more then I can sign back as I am only a small fraction into my journey, I would say 11 months based on the first time I learnt from a deaf person. 8 months from my constant and primary teacher who I feel has gotten me and my family to where we are today.

Prior to that it was apps and self-research for 3-4 month.

I am now at Tafe and have 20-30 hours a week.

Tafe is teaching students the language for the purpose of becoming an interpreter. This is not my goal. I think Auslan 4 is where I will stop, but who knows that is too far for me to think.

I have noticed as of recent that the use of both languages together is becoming difficult whereas previously was easy as Auslan was lacking while I did both when I do both now my English is usually the one lacking.

This is intentional as I have English and don't need to think to use it, if I want to gain fluency, I must work hard at Auslan and use it.

I prefer to lack in my English if I'm using both. George will need me to use correct English when it comes to writing and reading so I will get guidance on this in the very near future, it has already been touched on.

I need to balance my own learning while helping my child be bilingual and have a strong first language at a minimum. This gives a whole new meaning to balancing act.

Don’t get me wrong though English is still my comfortable language to use, and I don’t miss anything, I don’t have to think, I just know. I still must think hard and process when using Auslan but when I’m a conversation my thinking gap has closed from 7-10 seconds to maybe 1-2/3.

Count this out and see how long it is. Its long especially when trying to have a conversation.

I can follow a conversation for the most part and notice a new sign but still know what has been said and kind of fill in the gap. I ask most of the time what the sign is or I will remember it to ask my teacher. It depends on who I’m talking to and the how I feel about asking at the time.

This is the same with English, miss a word in a sentence and you can still follow it. Communicating with people I know is easy, new people though can be difficult. If everyone signed like my teacher, I would be flying along but reality is with all languages everyone will use it differently.

One of my first goals was to have our teacher come and not need an interpreter. tick, although I think she works harder to understand me then I do her 😅

Next goal is to be able to be able to follow and be involved in a conversation with 2-3 people signing. This is so hard for me as I still have a few seconds to grasp what has been said and then how to respond, my response time is slower then my understanding time.

I go to a play group on Fridays and I am the one with the least Auslan skills, most of the parent are fluent as a first language and deaf.

A lady there has got the most infectious personally, she is smiley, happy and I love the feeling I have when I’m around her. She’s calm and easy to be around. The problem is I really struggle to understand her. I would say the hardest person I have met so far.

Her signs are fast, and she signs low and uses 1 hand often. A lot of Auslan is 2 hands and I am being taught Auslan by a teacher so I am being taught the language as it is rather then a language I have grown up with and will change and develop. Like English with slang I figure, im unsure of the exact comparison but I think slang maybe correct.

She isn’t signing wrong she just isn’t communicating with me as a teacher and student but two people with children, her hands are also full a lot of the time so signs are different in those moments.

My goal is to understand everything she is saying. At this stage I miss out on a lot so conversations are hard but she is a person I must understand.

My 2 future goals, I’m interested to see how long it will take for me to hit these goals.

I am predicting I will be able to constructively be in a conversation with multiple people first. When I say she is hard she is hard! But I enjoy her company and her children. I also don’t want her to change how she communicates with me, its her language, I want to learn and adapt.

I started key signs when George was 4-6 months and started Auslan teachings when he was 11 months. When George was 1, I started Auslan with our family teacher (teacher of the deaf and deaf mentor) and 17 months I started at Tafe.

I find it interesting to see the journey so far and not just George's development but mine too.