What is the point of teaching sign language

[SigningTime]

What a great topic and responses.

My name is LeeAnn and I am a mother of an 8 year old, 5  year old and 9 month old. I have used Sign Language with all of my children. With my oldest daughter we received Signing Time Volume One when it first came out in 2002. I have been an employee of Two Little Hands Productions for 4 years because I love the products and the benefits.

Signing with them has not only given us early communication has improved their fine motor skills and fostered their love of learning.  My oldest daughter started signing back a month later. We started signing with my second daughter at birth and she started signing back at just under 11 months. My son is 9 months old and currently signs milk, more and dog.

My oldest daughter has had teacher that used ASL in the classroom. My daughter loves that she already know what the signs mean and has been able to assist the other students learn.

You can  read more success stories on the Signing Time forums under Signing with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. http://www.signingtime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1639

Signing should be enjoyable for you and your child.

[early learning17]

Sorry for such a basic question, but I am completely new to this topic:
What does BST and ST dvds mean, please?

I have got a 20months old girl that grows up bilingually in Spanish and German and has now started going to an English nursery. She only speaks 9 words and they are almost all in Spanish (which bewilders me because I was at home with her all the time and I speak to her in German! We live in Spain though...) So I think she might be a bit speech delayed. Would it still be a good idea to start showing her signing DVDs at the age of 20m?

THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANSWERING
ISA

[PY]

Sorry for such a basic question, but I am completely new to this topic:
What does BST and ST dvds mean, please?

Hi there, I have the answer 4 your question,
BST (baby signing time)
ST(Signing time)
You can check their site: www.signingtime.com

It a great product, where you can purchase dvd's and teach your kids sign language.

[hypatia]

Valerie has been hitting her arm with the other hand and I'm not sure if she is trying to tell me something. Do you know what this may mean?

My daughter started doing this at 12 month: she does this when she is happy (i guessed it from the context: a catchy song, some food coming her way etc.) She does it a lot.

[tobias8]

Signing is a great second language for any child. I started teaching my son sign later(25months) because he was speech delayed. However there are studies that say that signing helps children speak, it should not be looked at as "well they can sign why would they talk." It should be looked at the same way as crawling is to walking. Children want to communicate, and they soon learn that talking is more effective then signing. And if you child is one of the late talkers you gave them a tool to express themselves and avoid frustration and behavior issues.

I completely agree with this response regarding signing.  It is a great transition in communication and continues to help build the parent child relationship...as any interpersonal communication can!

[Joha]

One more thing, do you sign with her throughout the day? It's really important for her to see you signing. It reinforces the videos, and hey, look, Mommy is signing ball. Cool, I might try it too.

We do sign with her throughout the day, but again, we don't know as many signs as we should. We always sign eat, drink, cereal, milk, hungry, sometimes car, train, pijamas, bath. I have to be honest besides the first signs I was telling you about I usually forget    I just need to be more aware of when I can use signs and start watching the videos with her.

[mother of faith]

The reason that I teach sign is because when the child gets to the terrible two's instead of screaming like they do anyway, hopefully he can sign to me instead of trying to use his words, and getting frustrated. So many children get so frustrated that they can't come up or say the word that they need, so signing helps with communication when it seems too hard to communicate. And if you go somewhere say to church and instead of correcting your child with noisy words or shush's we use sign, and it works. Also it helps them get a jump on a language that they can teach to others as they get older. They can volunteer at a nursing home or rehilibitation center, etc. I was taught sign when I was little and now I have had the opportunity to help children learn who had severe disabilities. You never know the outcome of teaching a child sometimes until they grow up. I see the children that I have helped out in the world succeding in areas where no one thought they could. using sign to communicate is a beautiful, and overwhelming accomplishment to so many others. Not to mention to educational aspects of using sign. Even though I was 9 when I was taught sign I have used it ever since.

[ruthflores]

Hello
My experience was a little bit of each of you one. I signed with my daughter since she was 4 month old. No a real sign until she was 9 months and a half. And she had an explosion of signs after that. be aware that she will sign almost the same sign for some signs like butterfly, rabbit, monkey etc. But you have to be aware what she is seeing so you can understand her. My daughter won't speak any word but dada until the age of 13 months. When she turned 14 months she had another explosion of words. She is 15 months and she can speak up to 60 words English and Spanish and she also say a two word together like bye bye daddy or mommy. It's amazing. keep it up!

[Quiet Cricket]

I think teaching signing is as valid as teaching any other foreign language to your child -- if you get a good book on ASL that explains the grammar you will gain a much deeper appreciation for ASL as a language (I am just starting to learn but have read some about the grammar and also deaf culture, which is important to understand that ASL is not just hand movements but also facial expressions and body movements that convey meaning).  I did some baby signs with my son starting when he was about 6 months old, but was not at all consistent with it -- by 12 months he was signing more, apple, banana, and a few others -- but he was an early talker so then I got lazy about continuing to try and teach him.  Now he is 25 months and I just started showing him Signing Time -- he loves it!  He is picking up new signs very quickly and loves to show them off.  Also, if we are talking about something and he wants to know the sign for it, we'll just go to the computer, pull up one of the free ASL dictionaries that are available (just Google "ASL dictionary") and learn the sign.

It probably also helps that we just recently started having play dates with our deaf neighbor and her hearing 3-year-old neice, whom she watches most days (and whom she communicates with in ASL).  It's great -- I can practice my ASL with our neighbor (and she is very patient and willing to teach me) while the kids play, and my son is starting to really understand what signing is about, and he is excited to learn more signs.

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