Bench Signs
Mic off

Tap Start listening, then talk.

Signs show here, one word at a time. Say "again" to see it again, "slower" to slow it down, "spell it" to see the letters.

How to use Bench Signs

Bench Signs turns what you say into signs on the screen, so the two of you can learn the words for the things in front of you. Here's the whole thing in seven steps.

1 Set up the iPad

  • Prop it where you can both see it. Landscape works best.
  • Open this page in Safari. Tap Start listening and allow the microphone the first time it asks.
  • The screen stays awake while it's listening. Plug it in if you'll be a while.

2 Talk the way you normally do

  • Each word the app knows shows up big: the ASL alphabet one letter at a time, then all the letters together with the word.
  • Little words like "the" and "is" are skipped. ASL skips them too.
  • Words it doesn't know go into a list under the gear. Tap one there to add it.
  • Fixing a misheard word: say "no, tie rod" and it shows the right one.

3 Say these to control it

Say the command on its own, with nothing else in the sentence.

"again"shows the last sign once more "slower"shows it at half speed "spell it"shows the letters even if there's a video "pause"stops showing signs, mic stays on "listen"starts again after a pause "clear"clears the screen

4 Add a photo of the thing

  • When a word is on screen, tap Add a photo of it and snap the part.
  • From then on the photo shows with that word everywhere: beside the sign, in today's words, on his board, and in practice.
  • This is the single most useful thing you can do. Sign, word, and the real thing, together, is how the words stick.

5 Record the real sign

  • The app doesn't come with sign videos, so every word starts as spelled letters.
  • Tap Look it up to see the sign on Signing Savvy. Learn it.
  • Then tap Record this sign, stand in front of the camera, and sign it. Five seconds, and it's saved.
  • From then on your recording plays instead of the letters. He's watching you sign it, which beats watching a stranger.

6 The Board is his side

  • Tap Board. He taps a card and the iPad says it out loud.
  • It starts with everyday things: yes, no, help, hungry, hurt. Today's words appear underneath.
  • The star on a card keeps it on the board. Tapping Pin to board on any word does the same.
  • If you talk while the board is open, your words show in the "Dad said" banner at the top, so you can go back and forth.

7 Practice, five minutes at a time

  • Tap Practice for a short game made from today's words. Ten questions, three kinds: match the photo to the word, watch a word spell out and pick it, or match a word to its handshapes.
  • Right answers say the word. Words he misses come back sooner next time. It remembers between days.
  • Adding photos makes practice better, because photo questions are the easiest to start with.

Good to know

  • Garage noise. Compressors and impact wrenches confuse the microphone. A cheap clip-on Bluetooth mic fixes most of it. So does saying the key word clearly on its own.
  • Everything lives on this iPad. Photos, recordings, the board, and practice progress are saved in Safari on this device. Don't clear Safari's website data, and know that a phone and the iPad don't share yet.
  • Typing works too. The box at the top does the same thing as talking. Handy when it's loud.
  • What the letters are. The hand drawings are the ASL fingerspelling alphabet. A word spelled with them is real ASL, just the long way round. The sign for the word is shorter, which is why recording it matters.

Beyond the app

An app is a supplement. Time with people who sign fluently is what builds a language. In South Carolina:

  • South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind in Spartanburg runs outreach and family programs across the state, including support for homeschooled Deaf students. Worth a call.
  • Free ASL lessons for the whole household at Lifeprint (ASL University), and ASL classes at most community colleges.
  • Deaf peers. Any Deaf teen event, camp, or club within driving distance is worth more than a month of app use.

Open this again any time with the ? button at the top.

Settings

Words the app didn't know today

None yet.

Recorded signs

None yet.

Photos

None yet.

Record the sign for

Stand so your hands and face are in the frame. Recording stops on its own after 5 seconds.