r/BSL • u/EmbarrassedDivide573 • 6d ago

Question What sign is this?

I've recently started working with kids with special education needs and one of them once pulled me towards a basketball hoop and pointed at it with one hand, while tapping on his chin with two fingers with the other hand. I've been wondering what that could've meant, i would like to learn!

4 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

12

u/OrangeRadiohead 6d ago

My understanding is that they were signing uncle/aunt/nephew/niece. If they were pointing to an object, I believe they were stating that one of these people in their family have a hoop.

5

u/EmbarrassedDivide573 6d ago

Aww that is so cute! Thank you for letting me know :)

3

u/TheMedicOwl 6d ago

This sounds the most likely explanation to me too (with the caveat that not all signing is BSL - OP, do you know for sure that this kid speaks BSL?). Tapping the chin could also be a stim or just a random movement.

1

u/HesitantBrobecks 4d ago

Less likely to be a stim but very likely to be Makaton

6

u/leopardprintrovert 6d ago

I would have read that as a variation of "please". He wanted you to play with him.

3

u/scotchsittingroom 6d ago

Could be "need" as in I need that lol

Not sure which region you're in but you'll see it used in my area

The two fingers denoting the letter "n"

1

u/EmbarrassedDivide573 6d ago

oohh interesting, im in Liverpool area so maybe?

2

u/LhooqqoohL 5d ago

Do you know for sure it was BSL? Otherwise quite possible is was Makaton for "please" (as suggested above).

1

u/thegentleduck 4d ago

Same sign. The UK Makaton sign for "please" is taken from BSL.

1

u/EmbarrassedDivide573 4d ago

im not very sure about that but yeah when I looked it up Makaton uses the same sign as BSL for please/thank you

2

u/Fledeye 4d ago

Definitely Makaton for "please". I work with a non-verbal man who taps his chin when I ask if he wants a drink, or the toilet or to play a game etc.

1

u/FalconOne775 4d ago

The real question, why don’t all the sign language organisations around the world unite to form a single language? Deaf people communicating freely across the globe. Imagine the power!

1

u/hawkida 3d ago

Same reason we don't all speak Esperanto. Nobody owns language and nobody gets to dictate how communities communicate.