Hello from a future interpreter!

[Talking Hands]

If you signed to a deaf person they would understand but would also realize that you are hearing.
AS to an interpreter that couldn't understand your daughter because she was using English word order. What was wrong with her. That should not have been a problem at all. I have been asked by interpreters which I would prefer ASL or MCE(SEE)or oral interpreting. I prefer ASL with Englsih on the mouth but that is me.

 

[signtalker]

Talking hands, dont shoot the messenger, I was mearly stateing we are BSL users as you are ASL users, sign language isnt universal, but i can guarentee we can all get by in a conversation when we need to, infact i met a profoundly deaf ASL user staying in my hotel last year we made a good friendship and have stayed in touch ever since.

Jules

 

[SueM in MN]

My DD has motor problems, so she doesn't replicate signs well and she sort of leaves out any parts that are hard for her to do. Or she might use a fisted hand position when she should have an open hand. Even I have trouble understnding her sometimes and I'm used to her.
She also makes up her own signs, like seals were "dog fish" the first time she saw them and penguins were "bird fish" and a decorative water fountain is "throw water."
Interstingly, she understands when someone uses a correct sign to her even though she doesn't do it correctly herself.

Whatever the history and whatever sign language anyone uses, I guess we can all agree that it is definately gives voices and communication to people who wouldn't have otherwise.

 

[pwcarlson]

Sue- Your daughter making up sign is very normal for kids using sign. In fact my deaf DD made up signs for alot of things she did not have a sign for. Mostly they describe the action or thing. Dog-fish is very appropriate. She knew that the animal lived in the water same as a fish but it looked more like a dog. The sign for seal can be difficult for kids with motor issues so I think it is a neat sign. A grilled cheese sandwich in our house for a long time was a butter both sides of bread, cook, flip, cheese sandwich. That describe a grilled chhese sandwich and was alot easier for little hands than finger-spelling grilled.
ASL is a living and changing language. Language means convey thought, ideas and feelings to another. If you and your can do that you are communicating. That is the important part!

Pam

 

[Talking Hands]

Pam,
We have actually been told by several of our teachers that if we don't know how to sign it that we should basically draw a picture of it or decribe it and the deaf person will probably figure it out from there.
Also now we get training in minimal language skills groups and are taught to expect made up signs or descriptions for things with them. We just fed it back to them to confirm what they are trying to express. Slow but it works.
One of my most difficult assingments in class last semester was voicing for a deaf man with cerebral palsy. His signs were not always clear so we had a lot of repeating and confirming but I was able to do it.

 

[SueM in MN]

I love it when DD makes up her own signs; it really shows she's thinking. Sometimes you have to know what she's asking about in order for it to make sense, but it always is logical once you figure it out - like once when she was eating gummy bears, she told me they are "bunny candy." When she wanted more "bunny candy" and signed it to other people, they didn't have a clue what it might be.
The one that surprised me most was when I sat down with her when she was 9 to tell her that her grandfather was very sick and was going to die. I asked her if she knew what the word "dead" meant. I expected her to say "no" and then I would explain it. What she signed to me was "Yes. all finished sleep. eyes shut."