AUSLAN FINGERSPELLING FOR TOTS: Little Beginner’s Handbook: Australian Sign Language (LET’S SIGN)

Fingerspelling is a valuable life skill that many adults can still remember from learning in their childhood decades earlier.
Each letter of the alphabet is represented on the hands, providing a direct link to English and literacy that is not only vital for deaf children and youngsters with additional communication and language needs, but can potentially benefit all youngsters from infancy onwards.

This colourful little resource includes

• Outline of the role of fingerspelling in Australian Sign Language
• Clearly illustrated handshapes and positions with two separate views
• One letter per page with ‘reader view from front’ and ‘signers own hands’
• Includes examples of signs based on fingerspelling
• Sample short words to practice
• Large graphics and text
• Supported by the Let’s Sign series for learners
• Useful for learners of Auslan and Sign Supported English (SSE)

Designed to encourage the use of fingerspelling from an early age and demonstrates two views of each letter – as the viewer sees it from the front and as the signer sees it on their own hands.

Switching hands and trying to work out which hand is which is common with learners and
having both views is helpful in establishing good signing practice.

Fingerspelling is an important and integrated part of Auslan and represents each letter of the alphabet on the hands. It can be used to spell out whole words, abbreviated forms or initials.
It can be easily learned but needs a lot of practice to read back and to develop fluency in producing the rhythms and patterns.

For consistency in this resource, all the graphics depict the letters as formed by a right-handed signer. Left-handed signers will use the reverse mirror image of this.

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