In this lesson, you will learn about the different roles and responsibilities of the speaking and listening hands. You will also learn how to place your hands in the correct positions, that will allow both you and your child to receive information through touch.
0:06 This video provides a basic demonstration of how two people communicate in Protactile language.
0:12 I will break down the roles of each hand and explain how to initiate language and establish correct placement.
0:20 The first step is to adopt the listening hand with thumb, index finger, and pinky extended.
0:32 The listening hand looks like this.
0:44 In the example I'm showing you today,
0:46 I'm initiating the conversation.
0:49 Since I'm right-handed, I use my right hand to touch the other person's left shoulder.
0:54 Then I run my hand from her shoulder down her arm and underneath her lower arm to the wrist.
0:59 At this point, she assumes a listening hand position,
1:02 like this.
1:04 Her ring and middle finger hook over my hand between my index finger and thumb, like this.
1:10 Let's demonstrate that again.
1:12 I start by first touching her shoulder, then sliding my hand down her upper arm and under her forearm to her hand, where she adopts a listening position.
1:22 The listener's fingers, relax and rest naturally over the speakers hand.
1:37 Let's do that one more time.
1:51 Now, if the receiver's hand is resting too loosely or is in an incorrect position it will likely slide all over my hand as I talk.
2:00 This leads to unclear reception.
2:02 To avoid that, keep the middle and ring fingers hooked here in the saddle between the speaker's thumb and index finger.
2:09 Notice the listener's index finger rests on my index finger feeling its movement, her pinky finger rests on my thumb feeling its movement, and her thumb is positioned to feel the movement of my pinky finger.
2:21 Her palm can feel movement in my knuckles allowing her to feel my hand position as I extend and flex my fingers.
2:31 If the listener's hand moves too close to my wrist she only feels the back flat part of my hand and will miss catching necessary details.
2:39 When positioned correctly, the listener's hand can feel my knuckles moving right up against her palm.
2:45 Her hand stays attached and in position as my hand moves between the two of us as I talk.
2:58 The following are important tips for how to correctly connect with your child using Protactile language.
3:06 Now we'll demonstrate examples of improper hand placement.
3:12 Tip number one.
3:14 Do not pull or force your child's hand or arm to move in a certain direction or make a specific shape.
3:23 Do not grab and pull the listener's hand.
3:27 Yikes. That is much too rough.
3:30 When teaching a child the listening position there's no need to grab and manipulate their fingers or trying to force them into listening position.
3:38 That is unnecessary.
3:41 Tip number two.
3:43 To not squeeze or hold on to your child's fingers to force their hand to stay connected to yours.
3:53 Do not roughly grab all four fingers of a listener's hand, like this.
4:00 Instead, their hands should be spread open across the back of your hand to maximize reception.
4:09 Tip number three.
4:10 Encourage your child not to wrap all their fingers around your hand or grasp your hand too tightly.
4:17 When listening, don't grip the hand of the speaker by wrapping your thumb under their palm.
4:26 Like this.
4:29 Also, mind that your thumb doesn't slip in between their fingers.
4:34 Keep your thumb resting at the back of their hand feeling the movement of their fingers as they talk.
4:40 Tip number four.
4:41 Always connect with the hand that's directly across from your dominant hand.
4:45 Do not cross your body to connect your hands.
4:52 The dominant hand of the speaker and the receiver's listening hand should never cross the body.
5:02 This is the wrong way.
5:09 Here is the right way.
5:14 The speaker's dominant hand and the listener's receiving hand always stay coupled in parallel.
5:25 Tip number five.
5:27 Do not put both of your hands under your child's hands.
5:30 Their other hand has a really important role.
5:32 You'll learn about that in a future lesson.
5:37 Only one of the listener's hands couple with the speaker's hand, not both.
5:42 This leaves the other hand free to assume a different role in communication.
5:48 Tip number six.
5:50 Do not encourage your child to hold your wrist and rely on visual information.
5:54 Your child needs to learn to receive information through touch.
5:57 Sight and touch are two separate modalities and trying to combine them will confuse your child.
6:02 When listening, do not grasp the wrist and rely solely on vision to receive information.
6:08 Protactile language is meant to be received tactilely whether the listener is sighted or not.
6:12 Anyone who is listening to Protactile speaker needs to directly feel what the speaker's dominant hand is articulating.
6:19 Signing in a child's field of vision is not recommended as it abandons tactile connection.
6:23 In addition, switching modalities in this way is confusing because the way something looks can be very different from how it feels.
6:33 The hand you use to connect with your child is called your dominant hand.
6:37 Your dominant hand is usually the hand you write with.
6:40 The following video shows an example of how to correctly connect your hands if you're right versus left-handed.
6:46 A right-handed signer's dominant hand pairs with the listener's left hand, while the listener's right hand rests on the speaker's leg when seated as shown here.
6:55 If the signer is left-handed, the configuration is opposite.
7:04 Left hand dominant.
7:05 Use your left hand to connect with your child's right hand.
7:10 A signer that is left hand dominant pairs their left hand with the listeners right hand and the listeners left hand now rest on the signer's leg as shown here.
7:19 Again, the paired hands are always connected in parallel.
7:31 Right hand dominant.
7:33 Use your right hand to connect with your child's left hand.
7:36 Turning to a right-handed signer configuration you can see that the right- and left-handed configurations mirror each other.
7:43 That is, one is the reverse of the other.
7:45 The listening hand is usually the left hand but it can switch if the signer is left-handed.
7:51 As a reminder, do not cross your body to connect with your child's hand.
7:55 If you're right hand dominant, connect with your child's left hand.
7:58 If you're left hand dominant, connect with the child's right hand.
8:02 Remember, regardless of hand dominance, paired hands never crossed the body.
8:11 Let me demonstrate the left-hand dominant configuration one more time.
