ASL ☘️ St. Patrick's Day Words ☘️ Worksheets

ASL Signs for St. Patrick’s Day

Depending on which set of statistics you look at, ASL or American Sign Language, is the 3rd or 4th most popular used language in this country. Many people are unaware of this. Pretty amazing, huh?

While it is predominantly used by the Deaf community, teaching sign language to babies and toddlers has become increasingly popular by modern parents. Both of my sons could use a few signs before they had verbal words.

As families and schools celebrate the many holidays in this country, why not make your holidays more inclusive? I have always celebrated dozens of holidays, or at least acknowledged them in my household even if they are not a part of my family’s historic cultural heritage.

For example, I’ve never even been to New Orleans or Rio, but we have a special dinner every Mardi Gras. I’m not Mexican, but we have always acknowledged and talked about Cinco de Mayo and frequently attend the festival in my town.

But when it comes to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, we are actually quite Irish. This is my family.

As you can likely tell, that is 3 generations. The oldest woman in the photo is my great-great-grandmother who came here from Ireland. The couple in the middle are my great-grandparents who were born here in Pennsylvania.

The kids in the photo are my paternal grandfather’s siblings. My grandfather was born in 1906, and since he is not pictured, we assume that this photo pre-dates his birth.

My great-grandmother’s name was Jennie, which I’ve always thought was cool because we tend to think of Jennie as a more modern name.

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day

Anyway, growing up, our St. Patrick’s Day celebrations included a lot of drinking and not much else. My father certainly lived up to the stereotype, but I am breaking that cycle.

We cook Americanized versions of foods like stew and bangers and mash. We talk about St. Patrick’s Day and go through old photos and wonder what it must’ve been like for them.

And now, we’re adding ASL St. Patrick’s Day words, worksheets and other activities.

Anyway, regardless of how you spend St. Patrick’s Day, here are some fun worksheets that reinforce a variety of skills.

There are two, you’re welcome to download both, for free.

ASL St. Patrick’s Day

Here is the first one.

https://adayinourshoes.com/wp-content/uploads/ASLStPatricksWordsWorksheets.pdf

St. Patrick’s Day ASL Words Book

And here is the free workbook.

ASLStPatricksWORDSBook

ASL

Here is more for you if you are learning ASL.

Colors in ASL
Numbers in ASL
ASL Fingerspelling
ASL for Thank You and other common words
ASL St. Patrick’s Day terms
ASL Christmas Activities

Skills to Practice with Kids During Travel and Activities

Fine Motor Skills-Games, crafts and coloring activities are a great way to use and practice a child’s fine motor skills.
Speech and Language– Many parents seek out a language-rich environment for their child. Any activity can be an opportunity to use and repeat new words and language, mimicking sounds, new vocalizations and articulations.
Executive Functioning Skills– Depending on the game or activity, it can be an opportunity to practice executive functions such as working memory, sequencing, following directions, task initiation and more.
Handwriting and Fluency- This piggybacks onto the language skills a child needs, but with worksheets, coloring pages and games, they can be a low-risk opportunity to practice handwriting and fluency.
Practicing Previously Acquired Skills-Applying already acquired skills across all environments, bring the classroom teaching into the real world.
Sensory-Textures, sounds, taste, vestibular, interoception, anything!
Social Awareness-Practice traditional social skills in a safe environment, such as: joint attention, taking turns, reciprocating conversation, waiting politely, and more.
Gross Motor-If you’re in a new place, practice walking across uneven surfaces, new surfaces, inclines & declines, stairs, or increasing endurance.

ASL and your IEP

If you or your child uses ASL or sign language, or, you wish for them to use ASL, there are a few things you should know.

ASL is the 4th most common language used in the USA (know this as a reference point, in case you hear “well no one really uses ASL anymore”)
Deaf/Hard of Hearing and ASL is one of the Special Factors on the IEP, which means that the IEP team must consider and discuss this.
If you use ASL as a parent, but your child is not deaf or hard of hearing, the school must provide an ASL interpreter if you request it (for IEP meetings, etc). The rule still applies that all communication with the parent must be in a language that you understand.
If your child is deaf, the team must still consider LRE or Least Restrictive Environment. A district cannot send a child to a school for the deaf just because they are deaf. All other options must be considered and discussed.
As always, submit your parental concerns in writing, follow up with a PWN.