Will Learning To Sign Interfere With My Baby’s Speech And Language Development? ~ Chris

Posted on March 16, 2016 by chris

No!  Absolutely not.  In fact, sign language has been shown over and over again to help baby’s learn to talk rather than the other way around.  Studies show that baby’s vocabularies can be as much as a year ahead at age two compared to non-singers.  They also have higher IQ’s, talk sooner, have fewer temper tantrums and on and on.  There’s no reason not to sign to your baby!

It’s such a misguided view that see signing as a something that can actually delay a developmental milestone.  Both signing and verbal communication are innate abilities.  How many adults do you know who don’t sign?  Confused?  Well, why don’t you go *over there* in the corner and think about it!  How big was that fish you caught, again?  Was it *this big*?  Get my point?  We use gestures in speech all the time – it’s called gesticulation and chances are good that they are part of our way of talking because throughout our history, we used them in lieu of speaking.  Scientists believe that our early communication included grunting, pointing and emotional cries.  Makes sense right, just watch as a baby progresses into toddlerhood.  Do they not cry out emotionally, whine, grunt and point?  They sure do, as do plenty of adults I know!  The point is that signing is a developmental bridge, that every baby goes through with or without instructions.  They’ll still point, reach, motion, and eventually gesticulate like the rest of us, it’s just that signing babies get a more directed approach to signing that is used by their parents to express concrete thoughts, feelings, interests and desires.  Crawling isn’t going to stop your baby from walking and neither will signing stop your baby from talking, so enjoy!

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To Start Signing You Don’t Need Prior Experience ~ Chris

Posted on March 9, 2016 by chris

Many parents fear that teaching their baby to sign requires that attend special classes and invest significantly in study materials.  They also fear that it will take too much time out of their day.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.  In fact signing requires almost no extra time and in the long run, actually saves parents time.  Once you understand the basics of signing which can take about an hour, more if you really want to master signing, it takes no much longer than learning a few new signs every other day or so.  Learning a sign, by the way, only takes seconds in most cases since a lot of ASL is based on the things it is meant to replace.

There’s really no legitimate reason not to sign with your baby.  While not every baby will become a master signer (100+ signs), learning 10-20 is simple and almost mandatory, in my opinion.  Signing really is something that you do as you live your life, signs are just done as you speak and eventually, your baby will pick them up and use them himself.

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Baby Sign Language Puts Your Baby and Toddler On The Right Foot ~ Chris

Posted on March 2, 2016 by chris

There is so much research telling us that the first 5 years of life are the most critical for a baby.  Their brain and physical development is massive.  What your do as a parent probably won’t matter as much in your child’s life as it does now.  The types of foods you choose for them, the type of routine you hold, the type of family life you lead, the amount of learning opportunities you provide, the level of activity you enjoy and certainly the types of manners you use.

These experiences will be permanently wired into your baby’s brain and will be carried with them for their lives.  While some patterns will evolve, I contend that how you wire a baby’s brain will impact how they see the world moving forward.  Everyone is a collection of their environment and the genes they poses and while the genes have already been chosen, the other key element is entirely up to you.

Baby who have been taught to sign have been shown to have a huge advantage over non-signing babies especially as they near their 3 year.  In fact, 2 year old signers have the vocabulary of a 3 year old!  This is totally amazing if you ask me.  We also know that parents of signing babies experience fewer tantrums and other emotional issues.  Signing babies have a language to call upon when they are in crisis.  This will certainly shape who they become as well.  Having a language head-start will create confidence as they enter school too.  Having that edge and being able to master their world without throwing fits will allow them to feel secure and in control of their world.

If you are considering signing, there’s no wrong time to start.  A toddler aged, 2 years and older can benefit from signing, so grab your child quickly and sign up to a baby sign language course now!

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How Much HELP A Toddler Needs ~ Chris

Posted on February 24, 2016 by chris

One of the signs you should definitely teach your toddler is the sign for HELP.  There’s probably no sign that will be more important to your 16-18 month old baby than this one.  At this time your guy is learning to be independent, to an ever increasing degree, and they can surely understand what they want and need, but can’t quite do it themselves.  There will come a time when your child won’t want the help, but this isn’t it.

When my son was 17 months old, he would sign HELP by patting his chest several times just as he finished dinner.  Then he’d sign LIGHT.  He wanted us to turn the lights on in the living room so he could go over and play.  He’d sign HELP to have us open doors, turn book pages, open the dryer so he could shove his toys in, and on and on.

HELP is one of those signs that will prevent a lot of frustration for you and your toddler.  The ASL sign for HELP is done by dropping the closed hand with thumb up onto the opposite hand – also palm up and raising both together.  Way too complicated for a toddler!  Especially considering how important a sign it is.  Now we will rarely change an ASL sign for a homesign – in this case it’s a made up sign advocated by some early sign language programs – however, this is one exception which warrants it.  I can tell you that we tried to teach the correct ASL sign, but it never took off.  It was simply too complex for my son to learn.  Instead of leaving him struggle with doing the ASL sign (or none at all – most likely scenario), we taught him to pat his chest instead.  Instantly, he used it!  Problem solved!

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On Manners ~ Courtney

Posted on February 17, 2016 by chris

Anyone who works with children of any age will tell you that we spend a fair amount of time teaching manners.  It is very refreshing to have children in a class who politely ask for things or thank you when you do something for them.  I always said that my child will be one of those and signing has allowed us to begin teaching manners early.  My son wasn’t yet 16 months old, but he could sign PLEASE and THANK YOU.  When he approached one of us and asked for something, we told him to say please.  After he received something from us that he wanted, we always instructed him to say thank you.  We asked him to use his manners in public as well.  After trying on a new pair of shoes, I asked him to thank the woman who helped us.  I also told him to say thank you to the lady who led him on a pony ride at the apple orchard.  Most people think it’s cute because it looks like he’s blowing a kiss.  There have been some people, however, who recognize that he’s doing sign language and respond with “You’re welcome.”

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