Fingerspelling Tips

FINGERSPELLING TIPS

There are a few “rules” for fingerspelling, both expressive and receptive that make it more fluid to produce and easier to read.

When do we fingerspell?

• People’s names
• Names of places
• Titles of People, Places or Things (books, movies, restaurants, stores)
• Brands and Products)
• When we don’t know a sign
• For emphasis

Expressive Rules:

• Mouth the whole word NOT the individual letters
• Keep your hand just below your chin and over to your shoulder
• Keep your elbow down and close to your body, with your arm relaxed
• DO NOT BOUNCE YOUR HAND/LETTERS
• Do not move your hand horizontally
• Do not look at your hand while fingerspelling

Receptive Rules:

• Use your DOMINANT hand while fingerspelling, if you write with both hands, pick a hand to sign with and stick to it.
• Focus on the shape of the letters being formed and the word that it’s making.  Try to not focus on the individual letters that you see.
• Focus on the signers face while still watching the signers hand

Helpful Hints for Understanding Fingerspelling:

• Don’t say each letter, say the sound it makes
• Look for context clues – i.e., furniture, animals, places – to help you make the choice of what the word could be.
• Use your closure skills, using the context of the conversation, to help put the word together.  This will help you to fill in the gap so you may not need to see every letter.