Motions That Motivate

Eduardo Santana isn’t deaf, but he’s quickly learning basic reading skills through the use of sign language.

The 9-year-old student at Perez Special Education Center in East Los Angeles studied a flash card, thought for a moment, then made a circle with his hands and said “ball.”

The accomplishment was not bad for a youngster who by all accounts did not know how to read as recently as September.

Teacher Laura Felzer said the Multisensory Reading Method allows hearing students like Eduardo to correlate hand signals with written words and phonics. Their articulation might not be perfect, but signing helps special education students who have never spoken or read before, Felzer said.

“Kids need that extra something to help them remember basic vocabulary,” said Felzer, a teacher at Perez for 25 years. “It’s like people who use their hands when they talk. . . . Certain motions trigger certain words.”

The program, which several state and national education officials said was not widely used in mainstream classrooms, nevertheless is considered innovative and worthwhile by those who have seen it work.

Jan Hafer, a professor at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. and author of two books about sign language and literacy, said sign language can help hearing students become more expressive.

Hafer said she has used the method since the early 1980s.

“It’s a highly motivating way to help any child learn reading and language skills,” she said. “If they sign the word, they actually feel it from inside as well as hearing and seeing it.”

Felzer said the technique works when combined with a little patience.

When a flashcard with the word “horse” was displayed in her class recently, the children placed their index and middle fingers on their heads to show horse ears. They said the word and pointed to a plastic brown horse.

To learn the phonetic sound for “B,” the students signed the letter and yelled out words like “ball,” “blue” and “below.”

As students become familiar with words, they eventually drop the sign language, she said.

Although she primarily teaches special education students, Felzer said sign language is a useful teaching tool for all beginning readers.

“I’d like to push this program as a way for all general education students to learn how to read by the first grade,” she said. “Some people think it’s a special education tool or something for deaf kids, but it really works for everyone.”

Felzer said she started introducing sign language to reading classes 10 years ago after she found her hearing students signing words along with deaf classmates. She later discovered that using sign language helped her hearing special education students with their reading.

Felzer shows student teachers from UC Riverside’s Extension School how to use the program in their classrooms. A few teachers at Perez Special Education Center have also adopted some of the methods, according to Principal Larry Birtja.

Former kindergarten teacher Ruth Nishida used Felzer’s program during her last two years at Brooklyn Avenue Elementary School in East Los Angeles, but admitted being skeptical early on.

“The first time I saw the signed alphabet, I never thought I’d learn it,” said Nishida, who retired last June. “But I learned it with the kids bit by bit. I found it to be much more efficient at helping kids remember words.”

Officials with the state Department of Education, National Education Assn. and numerous universities and research organizations could not say whether the method has been proven effective.

“It’s certainly a novel idea, that’s for sure,” said Cathy Barkett, the state’s administrator of curriculum frameworks and instructional resources.

“If it’s working, maybe we should look at why it’s working,” Barkett said. “I would not discount any method that’s used for increasing a child’s interest in reading.”

For Eduardo’s mother, Patricia Santana, there is no need to wait for formal research. She’s thrilled with the progress her son has made.

“He walks down the street and reads signs out loud, or points out words he knows from books I read to him,” said Santana, 30, of East Los Angeles. “He gets so excited because he can read, and that makes me feel real happy and proud for him.”