Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Give us a Lamh (Long Post Alert)

Evening All, I started a Lamh course last week. Off to my second course tonight. I had an idea recently that a Lamh DVD / Online Video would be a good idea because:-
  • Not everyone can make it to a Lamh course.
  • Most family members (grandparents etc) will not make it to a Lamh course (in my family anyway)
  • I would prefer to put my daughter (Ava bear) in front of a Lamh DVD for five minutes than Baby TV
  • My parents / sister even suggested this was a good idea.
As I work in Video production I would be well placed to get this made to a very high standard. If needs be I could produce a 'proof of concept' to prove as much.

I put a post on DS Forums (login required) and below is a synopsis of the responses (from people with DS Children)

I am sorry to say that the only people who (currently) dont think it is a good idea is Lamh themselves. I may post some of the actual correspondance later on but for the time being I am waiting for a formal reply from the Board.

Responses:-
I think it would be a great idea as LAMH needs to be learned by all the family and the extended family and it is not always possible (prob never) to get them all to do a course.Great thinking!! If I can be of any help let me know. Hope this works

A truly brilliant idea!!
Aisling x

I too LOVE this idea. I find it very very difficult and a big ask for all of the people important in my sons life to participate in this course as they are all already very much involved in babysitting REGULARLY for me for all the physio and speech and languages meetings we go to. I did attend one course with my husband and my sister and found it wonderful but think a dvd would be invaluable and a far far easier approach for myself, my family and our needs. I hope this does go ahead.

Brilliant idea. For family/babysitting reasons, I did our Lamh course on my own, and while Kevin's Dad is interested and wants to use Lamh signs he's depending on me to teach him 'second hand', as it were. If there was a DVD that the whole family could watch and have as reference it would be fantastic!

Hi Dave, I think that is a really good idea.
When we did a Lamh course last year, each parent took turns and did some of the signs and we were all videoed, so we could each have our own, 'local' copy. However, the SLT later said that Lamh had some copyright issues about this and we never got our dvd.
So, if you can get this organised, I think it would be great. I'm currently trying to show my daughters creche workers, some of the lamh signs and I have to say that, some of the photocopied drawings of the signs that we got are very unclear. It seems that you cant buy resources from the Lamh site, which is a pity.
So, great idea,
Lucy

Brilliant idea

and your only on day one of the course
you will be in full rant by the end
I did it last year and was really frustrated that no dvd existed and was all plans to do it myself, just for my family

again we were told that alot of the materials were copyrighted ...
here goes the rant
how can they be educational proposes ?
Lamh is tax payer funded ?
anyway of course better to do anything with their permission but home videos on you tube ??
while on the case also annoying that their is no fun stuff with Lamh
cartoons etc a few puppets no clowns mind you
anyway anything i can do to help drop me a line. I love dressing as a children tv presenter. I even own bright green astro turf flares.( joking)

I think this is a wonderful idea we did our lamh course last October and since have been showing our 5 year old who is then going into school and showing his teacher and friends in his class. We hope eventually that Adam will also go to this school and if the teachers and pupils are already prepped for him it will be in his best interests. So would definitely buy it for the school.

Have to agree how fab would a dvd be. My two year old is aadicted to tv especially something special but they are english sign which has some variation on lamh. He's been signing for at least 6 months and would love to encourage him to extend his reportoire. Also my mother in law has just moved over and is keen to learn the signs, but I don't thin she would do the course. Keep us updated or if there is anything we can do to help.

It's a great idea and I hope Lámh will go ahead with the DVD at last . I emailed the Lámh office almost five years ago about this , and was told that there were plans afoot to make a " Lámh Along " DVD of nursery rhymes with signs .

It's such a shame that they don't provide better resources . All I was given when I did the course was a few very badly printed cards with very limited vocabulary . I later got a photocopies of the new signs but as they say themselves , you can't learn properly from pictures .

My husband couldn't attend the course so he never learned and I was the only person who used the signs with our little girl . It used to frustrate everyone when she would be signing and no one else knew what she wanted , it defeated the purpose of teaching her Lámh . DD used to love the Sing and Sign DVDs from the ELC and Something Special too . My younger child picked up loads of signs from both but of course they are Makaton so the " wrong " signs . It bugged me that parent of typically developing kids could go to babysigning classes , and buy DVD to teach babysigning to thier babies, but the parents of babies who would most benefit from sign couldn't get training in Lámh .
However I'm totally convinced of the benefits of Lámh . I know parents who were reluctant to use it in case it prevented their child speaking , only to find their child didn't learn to talk very well anyway ( as a preschooler ) and could have really benefitted from having signs to communicate with

I know we'd use it for relatives & would be very interested in the "Lámh Along" DVD that Kate mentioned. We've seen the Makaton programs but are reluctant to use them as Ciarán might pick up some signs that we wouldn't understand & it'd just lead to confusion.

It's a fantastic idea, of course not everyone who is connected to the child is able to go to a course and a video would greatly improve the level of communication our children have with the people they interact with. The pre-school my little boy, Alex, goes to was very supportive and learned new signs as I brought them, but if they had a video it would be easy for them to searchh out the signs they need in particular circumstances and use them.
I really do hope this goes ahead and good luck.

4 comments:

Colette said...

I think its a super idea and ver generous on your part.
I think they should be biting your hand off!!!
We asked to buy a spare book of flash cards for the girls in Declan's (13 months) creche (all attended the programme) but just as a reminder but they still haven't facilitated us!!!

We watch a Cbeebies programme with our kids called "something special" where the presenter uses makaton the UK version and we've adopted some of their signs as theyre more logical than Lamh.

Anyway i think Lamh if its going to be sucessful and fit for purpose needs to be more accessable and adopt a medium like the media.

Well done to you and i really hope they help us all and take you up on your offer
Colette & Co

Nan P. said...

Dave, this is a brilliant idea. I did the course with Cathal's Mammy, and I do use as many of the signs as possible. I feel very strongly about it. But 5 nights of it is not enough. A DVD would definetly help reinforce, for Cathal when he is that little bit older, but also for every one else. If you need an extra pair of hands for the signing, give me a shout!

Nick McGivney said...

I hope they get beyond whatever's holding them back on this one, SDD. It never ceases to amaze me how the bigger picture can be totally missed by the people you'd least expect to. Never mind. Onwards, and well done you for your generous offer. I think you deserve a big Lámh!

Lisa said...

I think it is brilliant. Lamh is actually excellent as a first sign language for prompting speech in auties too. Our tutors in school would probably appreciate the back up too. Consistency is key and no better way to ensure it than to use film. And of course our people are visual thinkers; they love a bit of electronic media!

If you need a little back up try watching Cbeebies "something special" where Bratty, Boo and I learned how to sign LION,. It is the British "easy" sign language, Makaton. Would be great to have a home grown version. - Lamh is actually a better first sign language according to the therapists I have spoken to.

Good luck - can I suggest a short version for the ole Youtube and a viral campaign? Facebook group, email chain, the usual crap!
xx