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Key Word
Sign (KWS)
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Videos
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Fact Sheet

key word sign fact sheet with a girl signing

Key Word Sign - Fact Sheet

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Downloads

Chart titled "Key Communication Vocabulary" with illustrations and descriptions of signs for yes, no, show, hear/listen, say/talk, see/look, sign, l-me, you, can, understand, and know. It includes a logo of Down Syndrome & Intellectual Disability Queensland.

Key Communication Vocabulary

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Chart illustrating different feelings using sign language gestures, including feel, happy, sad, scared, excited, and tired, with descriptions for each gesture.

Feelings

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Diagram showing sign language gestures for question words: who, what, where, when, why, how (ne), with descriptions for each gesture and illustration of person demonstrating each sign.

Question Words 5Ws + H

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A school vocabulary chart for students with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities, showing illustrated signs for words: school, class, friend, teacher, learn, work, play, drink, eat, hat, bag, and toilet.

School Vocabulary

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Videos

Key Word Sign (School-Based) Webinar

This webinar was created to support educators in learning how to implement Key Word Sign, as a communication method within the school environment. 

Podcasts

An Interview with Emma Memma

In this podcast, Dr Carly Lassig (DSIDQ’s Lead Education Consultant) interviews Dr Emma Watkins, also known as Emma Memma (previously known as the Yellow Wiggle).

This interview came about in response to the increasing interest from schools in Auslan (Australian Sign Language) and Key Word Sign (a visual communication approach that adds signs, borrowed from Auslan, to spoken words), and the DSIDQ’s Education Team’s observations of how music is such an effective way to teach children signing.

Emma tells us about the development of Emma Memma, which teaches Auslan through music and movement, and is based on her PhD research.

We learn about what first motivated Emma to learn to sign and how she continues to develop her Auslan skills and understanding of Deaf culture.