Sprouting New Beginnings - Creating Language Rich Environments #1

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Creating Language-Rich Environments #1

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My goal in early learning is to support and enhance early language, literacy, and cognitive skills so children can be school- and life-ready. Over the last 20 years, I've used multiple strategies to support young children in learning essential skills like communicating their feelings, reading, writing, and developing problem-solving skills. My go-to strategy to help young children's overall development has always been using ASL. I use ASL and play in the classroom to support the whole child, every child. Some benefits noted in the research are developing larger vocabularies, greater self-esteem, and increasing phonemic awareness and spelling skills. The research has deemed that American Sign Language (ASL) is a valuable intervention for early education curriculum and is not only for deaf children. This gift from the deaf community is a hearing child’s blessing.

Building language-rich environments for young learners is critical.

A recent focus nationwide has been on developing readers by third grade. The focus has been on the science of reading and using research-based reading instruction to support developing readers. Creating a language-rich environment in early childhood classrooms provides the best environment for our youngest learners and supports their development in this area. ECE professionals at all levels; infant-toddler, preschool, and kindergarten – 2nd graders are excellent at creating spaces that support children’s physical, social, emotional, language, and cognitive development. Building language-rich environments for young learners is critical. I have experienced amazing results with intentionally infusing American Sign Language (ASL) into daily routines, literacy activities, and even math. “As educators, it is important to incorporate interventions that will facilitate the highest level of learning.” (Prevatte & Matthews, 2013) ASL can be an intervention tool for early childhood educators.

Where to Begin?

Integrating ASL into daily routines and rituals is a fantastic place to begin vocabulary-building. Within these routines and rituals, the child has multiple opportunities to engage with ASL vocabulary and build a bridge between pre-verbal and verbal expression. Begin by choosing the main concept in your daily routine, for example, ‘please sit’, or demonstrate kindness by saying “thank you” in sign language while speaking the word simultaneously. This tandem approach supports memory, synapse connections, and a larger vocabulary. Another strategy to build vocabulary is to choose words in ASL that highlight and communicate with the child what is happening in their environment and name and label objects and events. It is essential to speak while signing key vocabulary words to build a bridge of communication. While you communicate with a child, you are attending to their needs, showing them that they are important and that their thoughts and feelings are meaningful. All this supports a positive connection and bond, which is critical to learning success. Since ASL is a visual language and a child will have to look at you to understand what you are saying to them in sign, you will also support their visual development.

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Children who sign up tend to have higher self-esteem, stronger problem-solving skills, stronger leadership, and more empathy and accept diversity.

The positive effects of ASL do not stop there. ASL supports the whole child, physically and emotionally. Developmental milestones are supported and encouraged as you incorporate signs into your daily routines. For example, an infant learning how to sign ‘milk’ strengthens their palm grasp and effectively communicates their basic needs.

Emotionally, ASL is excellent for child development. Children who sign up tend to have higher self-esteem, more vital problem-solving skills, stronger leaders, and more empathy and accept diversity. ASL has also decreased behavior challenges and minimized those terrible twos. Think about it: if you are meeting your child’s basic needs and they can communicate their needs effectively to you, wouldn’t life be easier? ASL builds positive relationships and bonds and a stronger relationship with a child will lead to fewer behavior issues.