I mentioned earlier that Jan and I have decided to use more Sign Supported English when we are talking to each other. We found it surprisingly difficult to find any courses specifically for SSE rather than BSL. We found just one course, 140 miles from where we live, and have failed to find any training support material. Since we are likely just to sign key words in a sentence, I’m sure it will be fairly easy to adapt.
I started watching a children’s signed programme, Andy’s Wild Adventures, on CBeebies. The programme is for under fives, so I assumed the signing would be slow and clear. They were neither, but I still think they will be useful to aid fluency and build vocabulary. Meanwhile, if ever Jan wants to tell me that she is very excited because she has found rhino poo in the garden, we have learnt enough from CBeebies to be able to sign this!
The cost of attending a BSL course at a local college would be about £1,200 a year if we both attended. Since signing is really quite a small part of our planned communication strategy, we feel that there are better ways of spending this sort of money – I have my eyes on an fm receiver that plugs straight into my hearing aid, and an FM transmitter that I can place close to anyone I want to listen to when there is too much background noise. Jan may even be able to wear the transmitter around her neck next time we are walking on windy hills.
So I was very interested when I encountered an organisation called ‘Commanding Hands’. The aim of this organisation is to provide everyone with the resources to learn British Sign Language for free! This year, for the first time, they are running a free BSL course in Leicester. Jan and I have signed up for it, and based on what we have seen so far after attending one session, this is just what we needed to kickstart the process of using more signing with each other. I am thrilled to be a part of this very exciting venture, and wish Commanding Hands every success.