SL: Simplified Signs for Adults with Spoken Language Concerns

Hands forming various ASL signs.

Welcome!!!

This course is based on Simplified Signs: A Manual Sign-Communication System for Special Populations by John D. Bonvillian, Nicole Kissane Lee, Tracy T. Dooley, and Filip T. Loncke. Published by Open Book Publishers.

We would like to thank the authors of the Simplified Signs Communication System for providing a way to help people communicate as well as the Fund for Excellence grant at the Human Development Institute at the University of Kentucky for the funding for this project.

Want more information?

Watch This Video


This video will explain a little about the Simplified System and all the research that went into creating the Simplified Sign System.  It also provides additional introductions to the Simplified Sign System as well as some of the signs you will see later in this course.

Visit this Website

Volume 1: Principles, Background, and Application

Simplified Signs: A Manual Sign-Communication System for Special Populations by John D. Bonvillian, Nicole Kissane Lee, Tracy T. Dooley, and Filip T. Loncke. Published by Open Book Publishers.

Volume 2: Simplified Sign Lexicon, Descriptions, and Memory Aids

Simplified Signs: A Manual Sign-Communication System for Special Populations by John D. Bonvillian, Nicole Kissane Lee, Tracy T. Dooley, and Filip T. Loncke. Published by Open Book Publishers.

Click the first Lesson below to get started!

NCSC Communication Tool Kit for K-12 Students with Severe Disabilities

This series of professional development modules focuses on basic elements of supporting communication and language development in students who do not use oral speech and who also may have intellectual disabilities.

Not only is communication an essential building block for the development of language REQUIRED for access to the general curriculum, communication is an essential life skill.  Student health and safety depends on the extent to which students have regularized gestures, symbols, and augmented or alternative forms of communication.  Now more than ever before, technological enhancements make the goal of communication and language development achievable.

Content developed by: Dr. Jacqui Kearns, Dr. Jane Kleinert, Dr. Judy Page and Lou Ann Land, University of Kentucky

Sponsor: US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs