Signalong is a sign supported system designed to develop communication skills for children and adults with learning disabilities or communication difficulties.

Sign language is useful for those individual students who have little or no verbal abilities or communication skills. The aim is for the whole Meadow High School community, students and staff, to be able to communicate with each other using the spoken work, sign language or both.

Persons with a variety of functioning levels can be taught to use sign language. For a small number of our students it is the only way they can communicate and it is important that both staff and students have an understanding of the signs used.

Many behaviours associated with autism and other disabilities, such as aggression, tantrums, self-injury, anxiety, and depression, are often attributed to an inability to communicate to others. The level of frustration that children feel diminishes significantly when a child can tell you what they want.

The teaching of signing also benefits all students by making them conscientious of social gestures of others as well as of themselves.

Staff in all subjects, support the learning and understanding of Signalong, by signing.