After finally having some success signing with my 1 year old, I thought it would be a waste just to stop signing at 2 or 3, when most kids prefer to talk and drop signing. So I have been studying ASL and teaching my daughter correct ASL grammar, as well as increasing the amount I sign to her on a regular basis. I read several articles stating that learning full ASL actually improved reading skills in children, but I have trouble signing to her during our storytimes because she prefers to lean back against my chest and hold the book together with me so she can flip the pages. She's addicted to my lap
and won't let me sit facing her so I can sign the story. It seems they can learn the manual alphabet quite quickly as well. My 18 month old can sign/say about 10 letters so far. (not accelerated at all, many deaf children can sign the entire alphabet by this time)
She doesn't do more than the basics yet, I was just wondering if any other parents on here have chosen this path as well, and if they've seen some of the claims of accelerated fine motor skills, higher than age group vocabulary, or early reading skills associated with signing.
Digg
