Browsing by Subject "Viittomakieli"

The aim of the study was to trace early childhood education teachers’ experiences about supporting language identity development with children who use sign language as their native or first language. The aim was also to discover what kind of support the teachers consider required. In this study people who use sign language as their native or first language are considered from a socio-cultural perspective as a language and a culture minority. The data of this study was collected via electronic survey. There were a total of 18 respondents. The research method was a theory-led analysis, where the researchers former knowledge led the analysis. Based on the analysis, five different themes of support were formed. The five themes included 1) using sign language and sign or picture supported speech, 2) the factors that have impact on planning activities, 3) signing equals, 4) using signs in specific situations and 5) education and peer support for families, children and for the teachers. In addition to the five themes, an interesting discovery occurred, when the respondents used the term hearing-impaired instead of the term sign language user, which was used in the survey. In the future it would be important to reflect what kind of effects the used terms have in the early childhood education or even in the level of the society.