About Us
What is Signs for Success?
The originator of Signs for Success ™ is Kathy Robinson, the parent of two deaf daughters, now teachers of the deaf and parents of hearing babies, Martha and Megan, both of whom are acquiring spoken language with the support of signing. Martha and Megan epitomise all that Kathy has tried to achieve: for every child to be exposed to sign language at an early age, something denied to Sarah and Joanne despite their profound deafness.
When they were struggling to lipread teachers in their mainstream school, Kathy wondered what it would it be like if their teachers signed? Would it reveal all that the teacher was teaching? Would it give them access to the curriculum? And crucially, would it lessen the isolation that they and their deaf friends were experiencing in their various settings?
From the beginning, Kathy knew her vision would never be realised if sign language was perceived as an “add-on” to the curriculum. It had somehow to be part of the curriculum, as important as the curriculum itself. It needed to contribute and add value or it would never be accepted.
At this stage in her thinking she made a curious observation: the Deaf people Kathy knew with BSL their first language, all had hearing children whose spoken language and literacy development was far in advance of their peers. Why was this? Had signing somehow provided a bridge to the acquisition of English in the very early developmental years?
Research followed and in the library at Gallaudet University, Washington DC, Kathy found her answer. A small-scale study of children with special needs were successfully learning to read with signs. Eureka!
Kathy set up her first pilot in a school in Cleveland where deaf children integrated for half-a-day a week. You can read about the research study in the “Sign in Education”Report.
Ten years research and development followed with the help of nurseries and schools in Nechells, Birmingham before expanding to the 0 – 6 year-olds propelled by enthusiastic parents. See the programme in action on the “Transforming Lives” DVD
Today, thanks to the inspiration of Sarah and Joanne, the Signs for Success™ methodology, philosophy and practice is embedded in homes and early years settings in the UK and abroad, impacting thousands of young children.
We train Parents, Early Years Practitioners, Childminders, Teachers, Classroom Assistants, Adult Tutors, Speech Therapists, Health Visitors and Degree students on our Accredited Distance Learning Courses, Award-Winning off-the-shelf Packages, Parenting Books and online Word Rumble! Literacy Games for children (ASL & BSL). To see these resources, Click Here...
Signs for Success methodology uses key BSL & ASL signs in spoken English sentences. Sign Supported English has a powerful impact on the brain because children SEE, FEEL, HEAR and DO Words. WORDS are TANGIBLE!
With Signs for Success you will be guided through each of our inclusive programmes learning and using signs and fingerspelling in ordinary, everyday routines and in stimulating interactive activities to help children learn earlier and easily. Moreover, they are great fun to do together! So why not have a go?
