fingerspelling?

I am a visual person, i remeber tryint to learn to sign my name A-L-I-C-I-A by asl letter and i still know that even though i learned it along time ago!...so im guessing if i go over the alphabet it wouldn't be hard for me to memorize it..im more of a visual person neways so shouldn't be too hard:) i also know some basic signs like please and thank you and clapping lol :)
 
All these different ideas have merit. For me, learning to sign the alphabet early helped in signing words later. Obviously, the opposite was true for others.

There's a lesson here for all of us serious about teaching: Different people learn and accomplish skills in different ways. Just because a how-to book prescribes one teaching theory doesn't make it the right way or only way or even a better way. It's just a method which the author found useful. Think about it: the heart of audism is preconceived notions of goals for the deaf and how they should be accomplished.

I'm so old and set in my ways that I sometimes forget that effective teaching often requires the flexibilty is to evaluate group dynamics or individual strengths and weaknesses for one-to-one instruction and write the lesson plan from day-to-day, not follow a rigid plan, no matter how appealing it seemed on paper.
 
regardless of anything else....fingerspelling is something you WILL need to know. its easy to learn and will help you immensly.
 
As a deafblind person I use an alphabet very similar to finger spelling. Only a few letters are differant then the sighted deaf alphabet. The rest are the same. When I communicate with sighted deaf my signing is rather limited so I often have to resort to finger spelling.

When I first used the deafblind manual I did struggle a little in having words spelt out like this but with practice it got a lot easier.
 
Old fashioned or newfangled?

Dreama,

We both have sight, but my older sister was born deaf, and I am deaf now. Even before Gibson's play about Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan appeared, we fingerspelled secret messages into each other's hands. Is that still the general method you use, or has technology changed things?
 
Chase said:
Dreama,

We both have sight, but my older sister was born deaf, and I am deaf now. Even before Gibson's play about Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan appeared, we fingerspelled secret messages into each other's hands. Is that still the general method you use, or has technology changed things?
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Yes, fingerspelling is still my PREFERED method of communication. Unfortunately not everyone knows how to do it so I use block captal letters written on the palm of my hand or my communication card with them.
 
this is so cool! How does your computer alert you on this message
board when there are answers to your threads? How would I find
out how to fingerspell something for a deaf blind person? Which
letters are different and is there a web site with helpful info? Thanks.
Oh and how does your computer let you know when there is a smile
icon on the screen? Just curious.:ty:
 
Chase said:
Dreama,

We both have sight, but my older sister was born deaf, and I am deaf now. Even before Gibson's play about Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan appeared, we fingerspelled secret messages into each other's hands. Is that still the general method you use, or has technology changed things?
Click to expand...

Is finger spelling with your hands like individually signing out the letters of a work or is it fingerspelling it with the reg. alphabet...:S im so confused now..
 
For my sister and I when we were kids in a dark place like a theater and wanted to say something secret, we fingerspelled letters while the other wrapped a hand around the letter formed to feel its form and position (for instance, the index and middle finger together sideways is "h" and straight up is "u"). It was only spelling out each word.
 
One semester of ITP I took a course specifically for fingerspelling and numbers. Fingerspelling is more than just learning the ABC's.
 
Why is the appellation, "ASL alphabet" being used here?
 
Tousi said:
Why is the appellation, "ASL alphabet" being used here?
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Actually, fingerspelling does not include numbers in all references. At least two encyclopedias listed them separately as "fingerspelling and numbers."

Those same encyclopedias associated fingerspelling with ASL, explaining many signs of ASL were derived from fingerspelling.

I only checked two sources, but they lead me to believe that posters here see the close association in everyday signing and assume they are both part of ASL.

I understand you see two distict means of communications, Tousi. I, for one, am eager to be educated on matter.
 
I'm not an expert in this area. Following are just some general points.

Dactylology (fingerspelling) is not used just one way. Someone using the Rochester Method will use the ABC's much differently than a person using ASL. Same alphabet but put to use differently. ASL uses the alphabet to spell proper names and titles, technical terms, and jargon. ASL also uses the alphabet in "loan signs" and specially constructed abbreviations and acronyms that incorporate specific movements in the spelling. PSE/SEE signers use the alphabet to initialize basic ASL sign forms or modify signs for English use (such as using the V hand shapes for HAVE).

Numbers in ASL are used differently as cardinal numbers, ordinals, fractions and decimals. The way they are used for showing time, weights and measures, and ages are each done differently. A number displayed on a football jersey is signed differently from signing a phone number or address. The winners who get first place, second place and third place are signed differently than the listing of children (children four--boy first, girl second, girl third, boy fourth). Then there are exponents and base numbers in math. Dollars are signed differently from cents. And so on....

Like I said before, fingerspelling and numbers are a semester course; I can't squish it into one post. :P
 
lilitalia89 said:
Is finger spelling with your hands like individually signing out the letters of a work or is it fingerspelling it with the reg. alphabet...:S im so confused now..
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There is a specific sign (handshape) for each letter in the (American) English alphabet. So if you want to spell the word, "apple" you will sign the letter, "A", sign the letter "P", sign the letter "P" and so on and so forth. You are spelling the word by signing each letter. As you become more fluent in "fingerspelling" (all this means is you are spelling a word in sign language), you will learn that it is not necessary to sign each single letter - there are "shortcuts" to it. Don't worry about this yet - just concentrate on learning each sign for each alphabet. Be careful if you use a book - keep your palms facing out. I've met many people who learned from books - they have their palms facing them, not me ;).

There is not a sign for everything, so that's why sometimes you will spell out the word. It is essential to learn how to sign the alphabet so you can introduce yourself, spell out words you want to learn signs for, and that kind of thing.

Good luck!
 
Reba said:
I think if you are learning ASL, it's not beneficial to learn how to fingerspell first.

If you are learning PSE or SEE, then fingerspelling is a useful crutch.

I know some Deaf people who can't spell worth beans but they can sign ASL.

I know some ASL instructors prefer NOT to teach fingerspelling first. I've also read some of the literature supporting signs first, then fingerspelling.

Babies and small children learn to sign first, and fingerspell later. Or if they do use any letters they use them as grouped symbols, not as parts of a spelled word.

Just my opinion. :)
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Well, I do believe finger spelling have been useful to some people who learn it that way, I always teach finger spellings to people I teached to learn how to commuicate the basic way before teaching them more ASL signs. I just teach them to make if fun to learn.

Remeber Helen Keller did lot of finger spelling her whole life. When I read about her life, she was such a woman with impressive skills she learn from her teacher Ann Sullivan. She number one in my book.
 
deafbajagal said:
There is a specific sign (handshape) for each letter in the (American) English alphabet. So if you want to spell the word, "apple" you will sign the letter, "A", sign the letter "P", sign the letter "P" and so on and so forth. You are spelling the word by signing each letter. As you become more fluent in "fingerspelling" (all this means is you are spelling a word in sign language), you will learn that it is not necessary to sign each single letter - there are "shortcuts" to it. Don't worry about this yet - just concentrate on learning each sign for each alphabet. Be careful if you use a book - keep your palms facing out. I've met many people who learned from books - they have their palms facing them, not me ;).

There is not a sign for everything, so that's why sometimes you will spell out the word. It is essential to learn how to sign the alphabet so you can introduce yourself, spell out words you want to learn signs for, and that kind of thing.

Good luck!
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ook it is more clear now...i read b4 that someone fingerspelled in a theatre in the dark into their sisters palm of her hand which sounds like litrerally just taking their finger and "drawing" out the letters, whch doesnt sound like ur meaning of fingerspelling
 
lilitalia89 said:
ook it is more clear now...i read b4 that someone fingerspelled in a theatre in the dark into their sisters palm of her hand which sounds like litrerally just taking their finger and "drawing" out the letters, whch doesnt sound like ur meaning of fingerspelling
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That might have been tactile...used to communicate with the blind. Remember most blind people are not totally blind so they are not out of place in a movie theatre.
 
fredfam1 said:
this is so cool! How does your computer alert you on this message
board when there are answers to your threads?
Click to expand...

It doesn't alert me. I just happened to be looking at the right page at the time. I use Zoomtext which enlarges print x8 so I can read it. I can read one 8th of a screen at once as I am legally blind. Not totally blind. I can also touch type.

How would I find
out how to fingerspell something for a deaf blind person? Which
letters are different and is there a web site with helpful info? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Read more here: The Deafblind Manual Alphabet Page
 
dreama said:
It doesn't alert me. I just happened to be looking at the right page at the time. I use Zoomtext which enlarges print x8 so I can read it. I can read one 8th of a screen at once as I am legally blind. Not totally blind. I can also touch type.



Read more here: The Deafblind Manual Alphabet Page
Click to expand...

Thanks for the site. This looks like I can learn it. Good descriptions too. I will
incorporate it into my ASL homeschooling class. :ty:
 
Fredfam: I'm glad you find it useful but I think American alphabet is differant as it's one handed and the deafblind person places their hand over to feel letters. The UK fingerspelling is 2 handed. The deafblind manual is similar to that but some letters have been changed to make signing for deafblind people easier.
 
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