Tommy learns to speak,
sign language the key
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By LORA CUYKENDALL
Of the Emerald
Jimmy (top) and Kurt (above) are two of the autistic children benefiting
from the sign language method of learning to speak. Later (below),
they extend a hand of friendship to their instructor.
Benson Schaeffer doesn't look up when the door
opens.
He lays a piece of candy between himself and
seven-year-old Tommy. Keeping Tommy’s attention
with his eyes and his hands. Schaeffer says, "Touch
Benson, Tommy.” Tommy touches Schaeffer.
• Whose shirt is this?” Shirt is Benson's,” answers
Tommy. Good talking,” replies Schaeffer in speech
and sign language. He hands Tommy the candy
Tommy's learning to talk is a unique success story
which is tied very closely to Schaeffer, a University
associate psychology professor. Before he came to
the University's Child Research Laboratory, Tommy
couldn't talk. Instead of playing with other children,
he spent his time tearing bits of paper, making
noises, throwing tantrums. Now, Tommy will be at
tending a special education dass at a public school in
Roseburg.
Tommy's story is a common one to children who
are autistic. When other children began to learn to
talk, Tommy, like most autistic children, regressed.
He became withdrawn and unable to relate to peo
ple. Alternating between aggression and passivity,
he used physical action to entertain himself. Al
though psychologists didn't know what caused his
disease, they did know that autistic children seldom
learn to speak. But Tommy did learn, and Schaeffer
had a lot to do with that achievement.
"Autistic children rarely speak," said Schaeffer.
“What we do here is work to overcome their dis
abilities. We use a pragmatic approach—we try to
teach kids to talk."
Tommy, along with three other autistic children,
attends the Child Lab four hours a day, five days a
week. He has learned to speak in a way different from
most children—he began by talcing with his hands.
"People had tried to teach autistic children to
speak before,” says Schaeffer. “Using behavior
modification techniques, you could get the kids to
imitate sounds, but the language didn't mean any
thing to them. They could imitate words, but not use
them.”
At UCLA, Schaeffer worked in one of the first pro
jects which attempted to teach speech to autistic
children. He used a system of rewards to encourage
autistic children to learn words but, according to
Schaeffer, "They never used them on their own
Schaeffer has since been able to teach the autistic
children at the Child Lab to use spoken language
spontaneously. He starts by teaching them sign lan
guage. When they answer questions correctly, he
says good signing" or "good talking and gives
them a reward.
“These kids have motor ability," he said They
don’t walk into doors. Physical actions mean some
thing to them Sign language, because it's a physical
action, is closer to them than spoken language
Schaeffer hit upon the idea of using sign language
as an intermediate step in teaching speech, while
talking with graduate students Arlene Musil and
George Kollinzas. They taught sign language to au
tistic children in a Chicago program
"I thought it might be the link between physical
action and speech that we needed, said Schaeffer
So teacher became student, and Schaeffer
learned sign language from Musil and Kollinzas. He
arranged for them, along with two other graduate
students, to work with four autistic children at the
Child Lab. They taught Tommy how to sign.
“We would use sign language and speak at the
same time," said Schaeffer. "One day Tommy
started using the words along with the sign lan
guage." Schaeffer found that the meanings Tommy
associated with the physical motions erf the sign lan
guage had transferred to the spoken words. He car
ried the sequence a step further and phased out the
signing completely
“It was an important development,” Schaeffer
said, "because it showed sign language could be
used as a step in teaching verbal communication.
Tommy now signs only occasionally and has
begun using language to express his feelings He
uses words creatively to direct his actions, a level of
communication other programs haven't reached.
( Continued on Page 11)