Katja O’Neill
Katja has been teaching ‘Signing with babies and children’ to parents, nurseries and school settings for the past eight years throughout Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.
As a mother of three children, she can speak from her own experience, having seen first –hand the difference signing can make in the early years of an infant as well as when they start school. She shares her experience and research-based approach in private groups, seminars and ‘Sign and Sing’ classes with parents and Child Care professionals.
More recently, her work has been leading her to partner with Luton Borough Council in groundbreaking new practices in the Early Years sector – mainly developing a highly successful method of teaching storytelling and sequencing language through Signing to complement the National Strategy ‘Talk for Writing’. This project was presented at the EECERA conference in Birmingham in Sept 2010 and attracted worldwide interest.
Projects in progress include Language for Maths and Phonic teaching through Signing for Early Years.
She has completed a Makaton course and has achieved Level 3 in British Sign Language and is continuing to study to become a Sign Language interpreter.
BSL is compatible with most commonly used signing systems.
Training/ services we offer:
- ‘Signing with Babies and Children’: In-house training workshop for Child Care professionals (can be tailored to the needs of the individual setting)
- ‘Signing in Schools’ – for a multisensory approach to learning and behavior management
- Local Sign and Sing classes for individual settings or groups (block bookings)
- ‘Sign a Story’ workshop including supporting materials (in partnership with Luton Borough Council)
- ‘Signing and Maths’ workshop including supporting materials (in partnership with Luton Borough Council)