During the five month project both subjects made a great deal of progress in reading comprehension and vocabulary. The lesson sequence was recommended for use with mildly handicapped children when conventional methods fail. They cited studies conducted in Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. These studies showed how fingerspelling can help dyslexic children and illiterate adults in non-English speaking countries as well as English speaking countries. Of all approaches tried in teaching this skill, fingerspelling appears to be the most effective method.
Teachers remind students to look at their hand.
I describe how I began using signing, games and physical objects about fifteen years ago to teach reading to special education students - most of whom had down syndrome. At first I just used signing for the nonverbal students but my other students also wanted to participate so we all ended up signing together. I was amazed at how well the illustrative quality of signing helped all the students remember words. They did so well that I thought it would be a great idea to try the same techniques with general educations students. So in the Fall of 1995 I teamed up with Ruth Nishida at Brooklyn Avenue School in East Los Angeles to use these techniques with her Kindergarten students - most of whom were English Language Learners.