Shopping CartAbout Us
Meet the Team
Elaine Stigwood
Director, Co-Founder
Zoe Wadsworth
Director, Co-Founder
Zoe Wadsworth is the Director and Co-Founder of Sunshine Sign & Sing. Before co-founding the organisation, she worked for the New Zealand Government in charity regulation and specialist investigations before relocating to Australia.
After becoming a mum, Zoe discovered the benefits of using signs with her daughter and was inspired to help make Children’s Key Word Sign more accessible to families and educators across Australia.
Today, Zoe leads the research, graphic design and resource development for Sunshine Sign & Sing. She creates the organisation’s training resources, books, communication boards and visual materials, while working alongside universities and industry partners to explore new applications for Children’s Key Word Sign, including early mathematics and other emerging areas of research. Her passion is combining evidence with practical resources that make communication and learning more accessible for all children.
Annabelle Rose
Presenter, Social Media Manager
Annabelle is a part-time kindergarten teacher , who has been in the early childhood sector for over 5 years. She began her Key Word Sign journey in 2022 when she completed the introductory training with Sunshine Sign and Sing. Since then, Annabelle has completed further training and fully embedded key word sign into her teaching practice.
Drawing on her personal experience of signing with children, Annabelle is passionate about supporting educators to explore the potential of key word sign in their environments. She facilitates engaging professional development sessions of services across Queensland. If you follow Sunshine Sign and Sing on Social Media, you will also see Annabelle as she posts regular key word sign videos for events and signs of the week!
Simone Rose
Presenter, Community Connections Officer
Simone has dedicated more than 30 years to working with young children and currently works part-time as a Teacher/Director in a Community Kindergarten, while also serving as an Early Childhood Advocate within her community. Her journey with Key Word Sign began more than four years ago and has become deeply embedded in her everyday practice.
Simone places a strong emphasis on communication within her program, recognising that effective communication is fundamental to children’s social, emotional, cognitive and language development. She is committed to creating inclusive learning environments where every child has the opportunity to communicate, connect and thrive. Simone uses her knowledge and expertise in her professional development sessions for services across Queensland. She also leads the charge in creating connections across the early childhood sector, and is always up for a chat!
Our Mission
At Children’s Key Word Sign, our mission is to make children’s key word signing available and widely used across Australia. We want every child to have the opportunity to use this amazing communication tool, in every childcare setting, early learning centre, kindergarten, school, play centre and home. Wherever there is children, there should be children’s key word sign!
“Suppose we had no voice, should we not make signs with the hands and head and rest of the body”
Socrates (5th Century)
How We Started
Children’s Key Word Sign Ltd (trading as Sunshine Sign & Sing) was founded by Zoe Wadsworth and Elaine Twose with a shared passion for helping children communicate, connect and thrive.
Like many parents, we were fascinated by the benefits of sign and gesture after using signs with our own young children. Looking for baby signing groups and resources on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, we were surprised by how little was available. While baby signing and gesture-supported communication were well established in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, child-focused opportunities and resources in Australia were much harder to find.
Rather than waiting for someone else to create them, we decided to do it ourselves.
What began as a small local baby signing group quickly grew into something much bigger. Families were eager to learn, educators wanted practical strategies to support communication, and professionals recognised the value that sign and gesture could bring to children’s learning and development.
As demand grew, we encountered another challenge. We struggled to find engaging, child-focused signing resources that reflected how children learn and how educators teach. So once again, we rolled up our sleeves and created our own.
With the support and encouragement of families, educators, community organisations and partners including AVID Property Group, the University of the Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast Libraries, Cheeky Little Monkeys, AVEO, Johnny Spitz Entertainment and many others, we have grown from a small community group into a national charity supporting children, families and professionals across Australia.
Today, we have trained and supported more than 200 early learning services, schools, libraries, allied health providers, playgroups and community organisations nationwide.
Our Knowledge and Expertise
Over the years, we have completed training in baby signing, Key Word Sign and Auslan, including foundational Key Word Sign training through Key Word Sign Australia. However, our learning did not stop there.
From the beginning, we have been committed to ensuring that everything we do is informed by both evidence and practice. We have worked closely with Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Autism Specialists and Early Childhood professionals to better understand communication, language development, inclusion and the diverse ways children learn.
With Zoe’s background in research and Elaine’s background in healthcare, we have always placed a strong emphasis on evidence-informed practice. We continually review emerging research relating to gesture, communication, language development, early childhood education and inclusion, ensuring our training and resources reflect current knowledge and best practice.
We have also collaborated with universities and researchers across Australia on projects exploring Children’s Key Word Sign, gesture-supported communication and early mathematical language. These partnerships, together with feedback from educators, families and allied health professionals, continue to shape and strengthen our work.
Our approach is grounded in research, informed by professionals and refined through real-world experience.
Communication Is Key!
Communication is at the heart of everything we do.
Children’s Key Word Sign uses manual signs borrowed from Auslan alongside speech to support understanding, participation and communication. It is not intended to replace spoken language; rather, it provides an additional visual and physical support that can help children access language in meaningful and engaging ways.
While Key Word Sign is often associated with supporting children with communication difficulties, we believe the benefits of sign and gesture extend much further. Research continues to demonstrate the important role that gesture plays in language development, learning, memory, understanding and communication.
Whether supporting preverbal babies, toddlers developing language, children learning English as an additional language, children experiencing communication challenges, or simply enhancing communication for all learners, sign and gesture can be a powerful tool.
We have seen these benefits firsthand and remain passionate about helping more children access communication through Children’s Key Word Sign.
Designed Specifically for Children
There are many wonderful organisations supporting communication through Key Word Sign and sign language.
What makes us different is our unwavering focus on children.
Everything we create is designed specifically for children, families and the professionals who support them. We believe that for children to engage and learn, communication should be fun, meaningful and embedded into everyday experiences.
From our songs, stories and flashcards to our communication boards, training programs and digital resources, our goal is to make Children’s Key Word Sign practical, engaging and enjoyable for both children and the adults supporting them.
As far as we are aware, Children’s Key Word Sign is currently the only Australian charity solely dedicated to supporting children through Key Word Sign and gesture-based communication.
Innovation and Collaboration
We are passionate about continually exploring new ways to support communication and inclusion.
Over the years we have partnered with councils, libraries, universities, researchers, early childhood organisations and community groups to develop innovative resources, create communication access initiatives and contribute to research exploring the benefits of sign and gesture in early childhood.
Our work includes communication boards in public spaces, educator training programs, research collaborations, resource development and advocacy to increase awareness of the benefits of Children’s Key Word Sign for all children.
We are incredibly proud of how far we have come, but we are even more excited about where we are going.
Our Resources
Children’s Key Word Sign offers a growing range of resources designed to support communication at home, in early learning services and throughout the community.
Our collection includes flashcards, posters, communication boards, storybooks, songs, video tutorials, training programs and digital resources developed specifically for children and the people who support them.
Many of our resources are available through our online shop, and we also offer a range of free resources to help families and educators get started on their Children’s Key Word Sign journey.
Because we believe that wherever there are children, there should be Key Word Sign. Please visit our shop here.
We could not have got where we are today without the support of some amazing people and teams and we would like to say a big THANK YOU!
Thank you
The team at AVID Property Group, Karen Gawen and her team at the Sunshine Coast Libraries, The University of the Sunshine Coast, the Print Room at the USC, Lisa Versaci and her team at Cheeky Little Monkeys, Playgroup Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Playgroup Hub, Duncan Danger from Flaming Egg web design, Lizzie and her team from All About Autism, Amber Porter from RankingCo digital marketing, Deaf Aboriginal Services, Nursery Rhymes123, and of course our loving, patient and understanding families. We love you all and are so grateful for all your help, advice and support over the years.