Helping kids with dexterity?

Question

My daughter has Down syndrome along with some intermittent conductive hearing loss and her language is ASL. However, we are having difficulty with her dexterity so a lot of her signs are approximations at this point. She has an occupational therapist but their focus isn’t really on making sure she can make various hand shapes for ASL (for example, touching the thumb and index finger together isn’t something they’d ever really focus on). I’m trying to work with her but wonder if anyone has suggestions for exercises or for teaching kids these skills? Thanks!

Answer 1

In short, Yes. Sign Language by its very nature forces users to improve their coordination and dexterity. That aside there are exercises that you can do to help to improve coordination and dexterity. Here is an older video of me explaining Stab and Say in ASL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnSrJgvJSR8 . There are more exercises that can be done.

Answer 2

I am so sorry it took someone so long to answer this question. I worked in the special education department in a high school with an individual who had Downs, cognitive disabilities, severe Autism, and was hard of hearing. Sign was also their primary language. Message me and I'd love to talk to you about my thoughts and how I helped them. I feel like this is a more personal question that would be able to be addressed more in depth privately.