In this section, Massiel Barros-Torning will introduce you to the benefits of Key Word Signing (KWS) and explain how it works. KWS assists not only the deaf community, but it can assist children and adults to learn non-verbal communication skills. Keyword signing can assist those people who struggle with verbal communication, such as those with autism.
These lessons give children, parents and educators have the opportunity to learn the Key Word Signs for some of our books. Massiel breaks the lessons down to simplify the learning, including lessons about fingerspelling and key signs to practice.
You can find out more about Key Word Signing on the pages listed below, and by visiting the Key Word Sign Australia (KWSA) website where you will find some free resources and information about membership to access more resources. You can also connect with them on social media.
Resources
We will be using Key Word Signing (KWS) in this project. KWS uses Auslan signs. Auslan is the native language of the Australian deaf community (Australian Sign Language).
Key Word Signing uses a core vocabulary of selected words considered to be the most appropriate for children and adults often used as a way to support with communication and language difficulties.
In this project, we gratefully acknowledge the deaf community for the use of Auslan signs.
We have enough funding to have KWS video read-along videos of our books. Please click on the link for each book to find the KWS videos:
- Waiting for Daddy: Rose’s story
- Now that I am big: Anthony’s story
- Mary’s Alphabet Slippery Dip
- D is for Deployment
- T is for Training: Rosie’s story
- We Remember: Australia’s story
Other pages
More Auslan Key Word Sign (KWS) resources:
Explore our free resources for:
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