Browsing by Subject "tukiviittomat"

Aims. Speech and language therapists can use manual signs in the speech therapy of children with hearing impairments, and manual signs are commonly used as an augmentative mode of communication in this group. Despite the fact that manual signs are known to be used, there is little research made to describe their use. The aim of this study was to clarify which aims one speech and language therapist had for the use of manual signs in the speech therapy of three different children with hearing impairments and what kind of signs the therapist actually used. The aim was also to describe how the children used signs in their own communication. Method. The data was collected from a speech therapy session of three children in spring 2016. The speech and language therapist was also interviewed about the aims of the therapy and signing in general. The sessions were video recorded and transcribed applying the practices of conversation analysis. The data was examined using theory-guided content analysis. With the guidance of literature, different themes concerning the use of manual signs was examined and categorized from the data. The interviews functioned as a guideline for the analysis. The number of signs was quantified. Results and conclusions. The speech and language therapist used manual signs in order to teach new signs to children. During these situations, the focus was aimed directly at signing. The therapist repeated and modeled signs, formed child's hands and extended her expressions using signs. Manual signs were also used to support interaction in order to maintain fluent communication. In these situations the child and the therapist focused on the mutual action rather than signing. The therapist signed the most important key words to support the child's understanding and the signs facilitated conversations when mutual understanding was not reached. The speech therapist used nouns the most and adjectives the least. She signed the most with the child who signed the most and used the least signs with the child who had problems with sight and motor coordination of hands. This baseline study visualizes how a speech therapist can exploit manual signs in the speech therapy of children with hearing impairments. By means of a concrete description, it is possible to examine the therapy interaction and the professional action of the speech and language therapist by detail. It is also possible to bring the therapy interaction open for discussion and to form new and more specific research questions concerning this topic.