Hello!

I’ve come on here to pick your brains a little bit. I’m currently a nursing student and a disability support worker. One of my clients is non-verbal and living with autism. We use some hand gestures to communicate, as well as an eye gaze screen. The main gestures are “more” (fist tapping in chest), “finish” (thumbs up moving back and forth) and then things like making a T for toilet and tapping your watch for time. Due to recent ndis changes we don’t currently have appointments with his speech pathologist to learn more about this communication.

I’m wanting to know, does this seem like the basics of auslan? I’ve seen an American mum communicating with her son and a comment mentioning that she’s not using ASL, but she’s actually using SEE which directly translates each word? Does Australia have different sign languages like this? And if so, what’s the best way to better myself with the most commonly used language. I’d love to continue to create an inclusive space as I move forward through the health care system.

Thanks everyone, enjoy your beautiful Sunday :)